The global navigation satellite systems reflectometry (GNSS-R) microwave interferometric reflectometer: Hardware, calibration, and validation experiments

Abstract

This manuscript describes the Microwave Interferometric Reflectometer (MIR) instrument, a multi-beam dual-band GNSS-Reflectometer with beam-steering capabilities built to assess the performance of a PAssive Reflectrometry and Interferometry System—In Orbit Demonstrator (PARIS-IoD) like instrument and to compare the performance of different GNSS-R techniques and signals. The instrument is capable of tracking up to 4 different GNSS satellites, two at L1/E1 band, and two at L5/E5 band. The calibration procedure of the up-and down-looking arrays is presented, the calibration performance is evaluated, and the results of the validation experiments carried out before the field experiments are shown in this paper.