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Instrument Support Level 4
Instrument Support Level

Instrument Support Level 4

Manufacturer & Model

Bespoke build through collaboration with Officine Galileo and RAL (plus further enhancements)

Daily Facility Charge

£70

Calendar

Calendar 2:
94 GHz Galileo Cloud Radar

94 GHz Galileo Cloud Radar

The Galileo radar is a fully coherent W-band dual-polarisation pulsed Doppler radar designed for observations of cloud microphysics and climatology. It is based on a crystal-controlled reference and synthesisers plus frequency multiplier chains to generate all necessary RF and system timing signals. The transmitter is based on a high-power pulsed millimetre-wave extended interaction klystron amplifier (EIKA) tube manufactured by CPI (Communications and Power Industries, Canada Inc.), while the receiver is a single-conversion super-heterodyne. The transmitter incorporates a polarisation switch to allow sequences of H and V polarised pulses to be transmitted and there are separate IF receiver chains for each polarisation.  A pair of mutually aligned dishes in a bistatic configuration form the radar antenna to provide sufficient transmit-receive isolation.  

Parameter Value/comment
Operating frequency 94.008 GHz
Transmit polarisation Programmable sequences of H- and V-polarised pulses
Receive polarisation Simultaneous co- and cross-polar
Transmit power 1.5 kW peak pulse
Range resolution 60 m
Pulse repetition frequency 6250 Hz
Maximum unambiguous velocity 4.98 ms-1
Antenna type Two Cassegrain-fed parabolic dishes (bistatic)
Diameter 0.46 m
Gain 50.0 dBi
Beam width 0.49˚ (FWHM, -3 dB one-way)