The Design of an L-/Ku- Band Shared Aperture Phased Array for Passive Airborne Remote Sensing

Soil moisture is a key parameter for climate modelling, weather forecasting and flood prediction. However, the usefulness of soil moisture information in those applications is currently limited by the low spatial resolution L- band (1.4 GHz) space borne radiometric results. While combing higher frequency (hence finer resolution) radiometric measurements for resolution enhancement is a promising candidate for the next satellite design concept, there is a lack of airborne radiometers to simulate this concept. This study focuses on the simulation design work of an unprecedented L-/Ku- band shared aperture radiometer antenna array with electronic beam scanning capabilities for airborne remote sensing.