Miniature Ka-Band Automated Swath Mapper (KASM)

This proposal discusses the development and demonstration of a swath-based airborne instrument suite intended as a calibration and validation with relevance to the ICESat II, SWOT and CryoSAT II missions. In particular our innovation will leverage prior NASA developments to focus on system miniaturization and increased performance. It will also support NASA's airborne science missions by utilizing long-endurance unmanned aircraft such as the Ikhana or the Global Hawk. These platforms become directly relevant due to the often remote nature of regions of interest, particularly as one considers the cryosphere. The Phase I will result in a system design that can be realized in a Phase II effort. During the Phase I, measurement requirements will be revisited and key technologies will be identified and incorporated where advantageous into a revised design. Data volume and system automation will be specifically evaluated and a plan for on-board data storage and compression/processing will be proposed. An accommodation feasibility study for the Ikhana will be evaluated. The Phase II effort will realize a prototype of this sensor. At the end of the Phase I, a technology readiness level of 3 will be achieved.

For radar interferometry, the high frequency (Ka‐band) of operation enables improved accuracy with a constrained antenna and baseline size and as such has been proposed as a potential solution for interplanetary ice mapping missions (e.g. Europa) and planetary topography mapping missions. mini-KASM componentry, integrated subsystems and techniques including the compact, low-power implementation and calibration methodologies could readily be integrated, or adapted for the specific system requirements. This innovation will also support NASA's airborne science missions by utilizing long-endurance unmanned aircraft such as the Ikhana or alternately the Global Hawk. These platforms become directly relevant and even enabling due to the often remote nature of regions of interest, particularly as one considers the cryosphere. It is also aligned with NASA's initiative to expand the utility of Ikhana to Arctic missions, as the Marginal Ice Zone Observations and Processes Experiment exemplifies.

Mini-KASM and its technology also fill technology gaps that exist in several other commercial and governmental applications. A wide area, long-duration, day/night surveillance capability independent of cloud cover as provided by mini-KASM could provide a powerful coastal integrity monitoring capability. Identification of shipping and detection of debris or pollutant spills and transportation are potential applications relevant to the integrity and health of our coastal environments. Prior to landfalling ocean storms that threaten populated areas, a mini-KASM system could be flown to provide spatial measurements of the storm surge that may threaten these areas. As the storm makes landfall and passes, a mini-KaSM could be deployed to map the flood state over large regions when such information is time critical. Recent work has shown that the velocity width of a river can be used to relate its discharge rate to stage level. US Coast Guard and USGS have expressed interest in using mini-KASM to build such a data base for high use (recreational and navigation) rivers. This would improve the performance of models used to predict discharge rate and flow patterns of rivers that use stage level data from in situ river gauges, and in the future, from SWOT elevation. A mini-KASM system could be used to provide 3D terrestrial imaging. Such data would be of interest by providing topography data sets to emergency planning, land management and resource monitoring.

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