A Framework for Simulating Water Vapour Radiometers

Water vapour radiometers (WVR) use a variety of topologies and calibration techniques. This paper presents a simulation framework that can be used to simulate different radiometer topologies, calibration techniques, and other error sources, using Python and Cadence AWR Design Environment. Each design choice can be isolated and simulated in a controlled environment to investigate their effects on the system and data retrieval. It was found that an increased system noise temperature (Tsys) increased the linearity of the system response. This approach will, for the first time, allow for simulation optimization of WVRs considering RF electronics, calibration, and data processing.