Frequency Estimation of Linear FM Scatterometer Pulses Received by the SeaWinds Calibration Ground Station

The SeaWinds Calibration Ground Station (CGS) is a passive ground station used to receive and sample transmissions from the SeaWinds scatterometer. During post processing, the received transmissions are characterized in order to verify proper instrument operation and to eliminate error in satellite telemetry and in data products generated from processing SeaWinds data. Sources of instrument error include uncertainties in transmitted power, pulse timing, and carrier frequency drift. Identifying these errors prevents their propagation to data products. A key aspect of this analysis involves accurately estimating the parameters of the SeaWinds transmissions. As better parameter estimates are researched and developed, the scatterometer can be more finely calibrated and better characterized, allowing improved accuracy of environmental measurements. This work explores several methods to estimate SeaWinds frequency parameters by parametrically modeling the signal as a series of linear FM pulses. Improved frequency estimates are obtained by transforming the signal into appropriate signal spaces. These methods are compared and their tradeoffs revealed. SNR regions are assigned to each method to mark appropriate performance bounds, and improvements over previous SeaWinds data analysis methods are shown. Finally, recent estimates of SeaWinds parameters are disclosed. This analysis helps to advance the level to which future scatterometer instruments may be calibrated, providing the potential for more accurate scatterometer data products.

Name thesis:degree_name

MS

Grantor dc:publisher

Brigham Young University - Provo

Author dc:creator

• Haycock, Spencer S.

• SeaWinds
• scatterometer
• linear FM
• LFM
• calibration
• ground station
• frequency
• estimate
• Electrical and Computer Engineering

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/182

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-1181