TRMM precipitation radar

Abstract

Precipitation Radar (PR) is a key sensor of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) that is a U.S./Japan joint project to measure tropical and sub-tropical rainfall from space. The preliminary design of the PR has been completed and currently an engineering model is being developed. The PR consists of 128 T/R modules to construct an active phased array system at 13.8 GHz, and has the minimum measurable rain rate as low as 0.7 mm/h with a range resolution of 250 m, a horizontal resolution of about 4 km, and a swath width of 215 km. A combined internal and external calibration scheme is also being developed. In the presentation, system design, system parameters and calibration scheme as well as the development status of the PR are outlined.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>