Design and Implementation of a Software Defined Radio-Based Radiometer Operating from a Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Passive remote sensing services are indispensable in modern society as they provide crucial information for Earth science and climate studies. In parallel, modern society also depends heavily on active wireless communication technologies for daily routines, with emerging technologies such as 5G further increasing this dependence. Unfortunately, the growth of active wireless systems often increases radio frequency interference (RFI) experienced by passive systems. This necessitates development of coexistence techniques and creation of new technology that enhances the existing and future wireless infrastructure. To study this problem, we are developing a unique testbed for collecting remote sensing datasets with ground truth in real-world settings, which will enable training, optimization, and benchmarking the coexistence solutions. The testbed includes (1) a software defined radio (SDR) based radiometer, incorporated with a dual-polarized microwave antenna operating in the L-band (1400 MHz–1427 MHz) and (2) prototyping SDR-based communication systems. This paper presents design and implementation of such radiometer from an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for supporting different scenarios and geometries.