Cygnss constellation intercalibration

The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission uses a constellation of 8 satellites to measure ocean winds in the tropics with high temporal resolution (~3 hr median, 7 hr mean revisit). Focusing on the measurement of winds in tropical cyclones, each satellite contains a Global Navigation Satellite System reflectometry (GNSS-R) receiver capable of measuring reflections from 4 Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite transmitters under all precipitating conditions over the full range of tropical cyclone winds. In order to provide wind estimates that are consistent from receiver to receiver, the data from each must be intercalibrated. This presentation describes the intercalibration method to be used for CYGNSS. Once the constellation is in operational mode (expected mid to late April 2017), on-orbit data will be used to provide intercalibration offsets between the receivers in order to provide consistent constellation wind estimates.