System design and analysis of L-band aperture synthesis microwave radiometer

With three years of painstaking efforts, Xi'an Institute of Space Radio Technology has developed the Prototype of L-band Aperture Synthesis Microwave Radiometer (PLASMR). In this experiment, a large physical observation aperture by a thinned array of single small-aperture antennas has been designed to avoid the large size and weight of large-aperture antennas, to obtain high space resolution, and more importantly to better serve the satellite application and to observe and measure the sea salinity and soil moisture. Firstly, the paper presents the system design method and the structure of the Prototype of L-band Aperture Synthesis Microwave Radiometer (PLASMR). Secondly, the verification experiment was introduced. Lastly, the result of the nature target imaging is given. The development of the Prototype of L-band Aperture Synthesis Microwave Radiometer establishes engineering application for measuring the sea salinity and soil moisture.