RKS: Technology of creation of high-precision orbital radio altimeter for space geodetic and oceanographic systems

2023: Development of technology for high-precision orbital radio altimeter for space geodetic and oceanographic systems

Specialists of the Russian Space Systems Holding (RKS, part of the Roscosmos State Corporation) have developed a technology for creating a high-precision orbital radio altimeter for space geodetic and oceanographic systems, confirming one of the historical technological competencies of the RKS. The data obtained with its help will be needed to clarify the shape of the geoid, research of the natural resources of the Earth, environmental monitoring, meteorology, oceanography and navigation. This was reported on January 25, 2023 by the RKS.

Orbital altimeters are part of Earth remote sensing (remote sensing) spacecraft. These devices are needed for satellite altimetry - measuring the height of the satellite above the surface of the Earth. The altimeter emits a signal that reflects off the planet's surface and returns back to the satellite. From the time that the signal path takes, the height of the set is determined.

Such devices help to solve a number of scientific and applied tasks of oceanology, marine transport, ecology, ensuring the safety of oil production in the waters of the seas and oceans. The findings help investigate gravitational anomalies and bottom relief anomalies on the shelves, monitor tides, ebbs and flows, tsunamis, sea currents, surface wind speeds, and many other processes in the oceans.

In the RKS, an analysis of current methods for improving the accuracy of satellite altimetry was carried out. The key factor is the error in the formation of the sounding signal. For experimental signal quality assessment, a specialized synthesizer based on a programmable logic integrated circuit and a high-speed digital-to-analog converter was designed. With its help, the potential capabilities of an altimeter built on both discrete components and integrated circuits were analyzed. Synthesizer has extreme speed and high capacity of amplitude and phase representation. Integrated circuits are attracted by their small size and low power consumption, which is especially important for on-board spacecraft equipment. Both approaches can be used to build different types of radar equipment, noted the head of the department for creating onboard navigation systems RKS, Candidate of Technical Sciences Vladimir POLISHKAROV.

The requirements for instruments of the satellite altimetric complex continue to grow - most scientific problems are solved only with high accuracy of height measurement. Progress in the last decade is obvious: from instruments suitable for performing exclusively geodetic missions, there has been a transition to the most complex space complexes for solving the problems of fundamental climatology and oceanography with an error of 2-3 cm when measuring altitudes of about 1000 km.