Descrizione del progetto
Ricevitore radar innovativo per un’osservazione della Terra potenziata
Il radar ad apertura sintetica (Synthetic Aperture Radar, SAR) è una tecnologia di telerilevamento ad alta risoluzione impiegata in tutto il mondo. Il progetto SPACEBEAM, finanziato dall’UE, si prefigge di migliorare l’uso di questa tecnologia sviluppando un nuovo ricevitore radar che renderà possibili SAR scan-on-receive (con scansione alla ricezione) riconfigurabili, multiraggio, utilizzabili per applicazioni di osservazione della Terra. Il ricevitore si baserà su una rete beamforming ottico realizzata a partire da un circuito fotonico integrato. Tale circuito eseguirà un beamforming continuo e preciso di segnali a banda larga nonché una retroconversione fotonica indipendente dalla frequenza, che consentirà la digitalizzazione diretta dei segnali in uscita. Le caratteristiche innovative del ricevitore radar miglioreranno il telerilevamento per le future applicazioni di osservazione della Terra.
Obiettivo
SPACEBEAM aims at designing, realizing and testing an innovative radar receiver that will enable the concept of reconfigurable multi-beam Scan-on-Receive Synthetic Aperture Radar for Earth observation applications. In order to comply with the requirements of future swarms and constellations of low-Earth orbit satellites and cubesats in terms of performance, size, weight, power consumption and cost, the envisioned receiver will be based on an optical beamforming network realized as a photonic integrated circuit (PIC). The PIC will implement a precise, continuous beamforming of wideband signals (>600MHz) from an array of 12 antenna elements into 3 beams of 4 antennas each, with the capability to flexibly change the set of antennas per beam, as well as the number of output beams (from 3 beams of 4 antennas each, to 2 of 6, to 1 of 12). At the same time, the PIC will also realize a frequency-agnostic photonic down-conversion of signals in the range from 5 to 40 GHz, down to 1.5 GHz, so that the output signals can be directly digitized. These innovative features make the SPACEBEAM PIC a powerful device for future Earth observation applications. The PIC will be implemented using two materials platforms, to achieve a compact “hybrid” chip-assembly including several active and passive functions (lasers, detectors, modulators, filters, switches, delays, phase shifters). The PIC will be controlled using a novel actuation technique based on low-power consuming piezo elements. In order to push forward the maturity of the SPACEBEAM technology (target TRL 6), the project will also develop and test a Space-compliant package for the PIC. The packaged PIC will be included in a specifically designed Engineering Qualified Model of the multi-beam SCORE-SAR sensor, to properly test the performance of the entire system. The photonics-based SCORE SAR system will therefore show more functionalities, better performance, and lower size, weight, and power consumption than the current systems.
Campo scientifico
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technology
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationsradio technologyradar
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physics
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinatore
56127 Pisa
Italia