Fabrication of a Miniaturized Spectrometer Based on MMIC Technology to Retrieve the 3-D Tropospheric Water Vapor Field

Knowledge of the temporal and spatial distribution of water vapor and liquid water in the troposphere is fundamental for short- and medium-range prediction of precipitation and severe weather. Recent maturation of monolithic microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuit (MMIC) technologies developed for the wireless communications and defense industries is expected to enable development of small, low power consumption and inexpensive radiometers. This work demonstrates the reduction of mass, size, power consumption and cost achieved by designing a MMIC-based water vapor radiometer to retrieve the 3-D tropospheric water vapor field