Research project

CIMR - Phase A/B1 of Passive Microwave Imaging Mission (DIT.AD012.085)

Thematic area

Engineering, ICT and technologies for energy and transportation

Project area

Tecnologie per l'Aerospazio e l'Osservazione della Terra (DIT.AD012)

Structure responsible for the research project

Institute of Electronics, Computer and Telecommunication Engineering (IEIIT)

Other structures collaborating in the research project

Project manager

OSCARANTONIO PEVERINI
Phone number: 0110905419
Email: 0scar.peverini@ieiit.cnr.it

Abstract

The present project concerns the Phase A and B1 trade-off and design study of the Copernicus Imagining Microwave Radiometer (CIMR). The European Commission has established together with the European Space Agency and EUMETSAT the program called Copernicus for creating a European capacity for Earth Observation to better understand the environment (atmosphere, marine, land) and climate change and to mitigate these effects, to provide emergency services and to ensure civil security.
Copernicus, previously known as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), consists of services, a ground segment and a space segment. The Copernicus Space Component (CSC) covers currently seven missions whose Earth observation satellites and hosted instruments are called "Sentinels". Please ref to the following table for details.
The CSC-candidate CIMR would complement the existing Sentinel observations and is to provide routine all-weather sea ice concentration (SIC) with daily coverage of the arctic and pan-arctic oceans and the Greenlandic and Antarctic regions, as well as routine all-weather Sea Surface Temperature (SST) with global daily coverage.

Goals

The CIMR instrument is a passive conical scanning total power radiometer operating at multiple frequencies. The reuse of existing solutions and results from predecessor activities is strongly considered and will be one of the main focuses during A/B1 Phase. Lengthy or complex technology developments should be avoided; in case a pre-development is identified as necessary, its shall be concluded in a time frame compatible with the following start of the B2 Phase. The mission Prime is Thales Alenia Space Italia, whereas the instrument Prime is OHB-I.
In the framework of the current project, CNR-IEIIT is responsible for the trade-off and preliminary design activities covering the following instrument aspects: antenna-system, receivers, calibration strategy, and radiometric performance evaluation. To accomplish these tasks, IEIIT-CNR contributes to the project through an integrated research group of researchers with complementary expertise working in three territorial sites (Torino, Milano, and Bologna).

Start date of activity

26/03/2018

Keywords

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Last update: 28/03/2024