A compact W-band breadboard radar for Atmospheric Measurements

We present the W-band channel breadboard and first-light measurements of a new atmospheric profiling radar, called CloudCube. CloudCube is intended to be a multifrequency, ultra-compact, low-cost, modularized radar for vertical profiling of clouds, convection and precipitation structures and dynamics from space. The instrument uses a radar architecture, where the baseband signal is directly upconverted to the RF band without any addition of intermediate frequencies or further multiplication scheme. This architecture, combined with pulse compression techniques, provides a simple and effective solution while achieving the required performance and robustness of an airborne or space flight radar instrument.