PIC-ASIC Spectrometer Demonstration for Ultrawideband and Hyperspectral Microwave Sounding (PICASIC)

We will develop a photonic subsystem to develop, calibrate, and test a spectrometer instrument prototype. We will validate the prototype’s performance by measuring microwave emissions in a lab setting. This will advance Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC), Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) component technologies to TRL 4.

PIC, ASIC, and ML technologies can play a critical role in enabling ultrawideband (~100 GHz), hyperspectral resolution (~500 KHz) heterodyne spectrometers for atmospheric remote sensing applications in the microwave, mm-wave, and sub-mm-wave regions of the electromagnetic spectrum for both Earth Science and Planetary Science applications. This type of spectrometer design is not currently realizable with traditional electronic technology. Integrating these technologies into a single heterodyne spectrometer which can simultaneously process the entire bandwidth, enable multiple atmospheric measurement geometries and improve information content and vertical resolution in the temperature retrieval.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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