| PROPOSAL NUMBER: | 02-II E1.03-8410 (For NASA Use Only - Chron: 023589 ) |
| PHASE-I CONTRACT NUMBER: | NAS5-03020 |
| SUBTOPIC TITLE: | In Situ Terrestrial Sensors |
| PROPOSAL TITLE: | Microwave Rain Gauge |
SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN:
(Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Center for Remote Sensing, Inc.
3702 Pender Drive Suite 170
Fairfax , VA 22030 - 6044
(703 ) 385 - 7717
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER:
(Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Suman Ganguly
sganguly@cfrsi.com
3702 Pender Drive Suite 170
Fairfax , VA 22030 - 6044
(703 ) 385 - 7717
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
This proposal describes a plan to design, develop and demonstrate the capabilities of microwave techniques for precise and accurate measurements of various parameters associated with rain and snow fall. We have developed and demonstrated the capabilities of multi-frequency (13.6, 27 and 35 GHz) forward and backscatter measurements with high precision using a single instrument during Phase I. We propose to extend the development of this radar and perform experiments in order to define the requirements of fully flexible, high precision, scientific quality radar. We next build a complete field deployable prototype system and install it at Wallops Island. We continue scientific observation of snow and rain, determination of DSD, etc. We finally design and develop an inexpensive field portable device for general use for rain and snow measurements.
POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The rain and snow measuring instruments will provide valuable contribution to Earth Sciences. These will be used to:
a. Calibrate the Rain Radars, such as TRMM, GPM, etc.
b. Provide Ground Truth and area averaged Rain measurement at Wallops Island and other monitoring sites.
c. Provide simple, inexpensive means of measuring rainfall drop size distribution (DSD), Discriminate between rain and snow, estimate snow water contract, etc.
POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
Simple, portable, inexpensive, accurate instrument for measuring rain and snow parameter will have large scale impact in monitoring and prediction of hydrologic, meteorological events. These are useful for Hydrologic applications, agriculture, electric power utilities, etc., in predicting River Run-off, power failures, total snow and rain fall, etc. These are also crucial for global environment.