Sensor-in-the-Loop Testbed to Enable Versatile/Intelligent/Dynamic Earth Observation (VIDEO)

There has been significant recent interest in sensor systems that are reconfigurable, i.e. where one or more of the spectral, spatial, radiometric, and geometric (i.e. viewing angle) properties of the sensor can be changed dynamically. However, no laboratory-based test resources exist to evaluate and optimize end-to-end performance in a realistic fashion. We develop in this proposed Advanced and Emerging Technology (AET) program a methodology and test approach to provide the capability for the scene measured by the sensor (or other sensors that are acting collaboratively) to inform how the sensor is configured in real time during the scene measurement. This innovative New Observing Strategy (NOS) has the capability to dramatically improve the resolution of the retrieved atmospheric fields in regions in which that improvement is most beneficial while conserving resources in regions where the atmospheric fields are relatively homogeneous and therefore free of significant high spatial frequency content. The use case for this proposal is a highly versatile scanning microwave atmospheric temperature profiling radiometer, where ALL of the sensor response functions (spectral, spatial, radiometric, and geometric) are dynamically reconfigurable. The technology to be developed and evaluated as part of this program has two components: (1) a Radiometric Scene Generator and its associated control software, and (2) intelligent processing and configuration software that would run on the sensor itself to detect and react to changes in the observed scene by dynamically optimizing the sensor response functions. This approach would significantly improve upon current state-of-the-art simulation-only approaches for this evaluation by placing an actual sensor in the observing loop, where the effects of sensor transfer function errors, calibration uncertainty, and processing algorithm imperfections are fully present in the end-to-end system evaluation and would be highly representative of on-orbit performance. A key aspect of this program to enable development, test, and evaluation of Versatile, Intelligent, and Dynamic Earth Observation (VIDEO) is the recent emergence of metamaterials for use in high-performance blackbody radiometric targets. These materials are very thin (~200 microns) and lightweight (tens of grams), allowing them to be easily scaled up to realize very large targets (> 1 m^2) to subtend an entire sensor field of regard during laboratory measurements. Furthermore, the thin planar structure of the metamaterials provides a relatively small thermal mass, thereby permitting the projection of thermal features with very high spatial frequency content into the sensor field of view at the subpixel level. We propose to adapt the metamaterials developed for the Miniaturized Microwave Absolute Calibration (MiniMAC) ACT-20 project (S. Reising, PI) for use here to produce a 50 cm x 75 cm (20" x 30") Radiometric Scene Generator (RSG) operating near 54 GHz with very large thermal contrast at the subpixel level for a typical spaceborne microwave radiometer full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) beamwidth in the range of 1-3 degrees. The RSG will be used to project spatial features into the radiometer field of regard that can be detected and acted upon by the intelligent processing algorithms. The intelligent processing algorithm will use feature detection and machine learning techniques to recognize regions of interest in the atmospheric scene and cause the sensor to react to the scene characteristics by changing the sensor response function. The project is led by MIT Lincoln Laboratory, who will provide the VIDEO software toolkit and execute the sensor-in-the-loop tests in collaboration with Colorado State U., who will provide the Radiometric Scene Generator. Entry TRL is 3 and exit TRL is projected to reach 5 after Year 2.

Advance Earth system science knowledge through the Identification, develop, and demonstrate innovative information systems technologies

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