Millimeter-wave radars for remotely sensing clouds and precipitation

Since 1990 the University of Massachusetts Microwave Remote Sensing Laboratory has been actively developing innovative millimeter-wavelength radars intended specifically for atmospheric remote sensing. These instruments take advantage of several major technological developments that have only recently become commercially available: (1) compact, high-power extended interaction klystron amplifiers (EIAs) suitable for operation in the 35 and 95 GHz atmospheric transmission windows; (2) solid-state, low-loss switches, allowing pulse-to-pulse polarization agility; (3) commercial data acquisition and signal processing hardware designed for the industry standard VXI-bus.