An Improved UWB Microwave Radar for Very Long-Range Measurements of Snow Cover

We present an ultrawideband (UWB) frequency-modulated (FM) microwave radar instrument capable of preserving cm-scale vertical resolution from a very long range (verified up to ~6 km). The system can operate either as a conventional continuous-wave FM radar (2–18 GHz) or in time-delayed stretch processing mode (2–14 GHz), providing high sensitivity, fine range resolution, and very low-range sidelobes. We present an overview of the system and laboratory test results to validate its performance. As a practical demonstration of its capabilities, we tested the system’s ability to map snow cover thickness on the Arctic marine ice. We present sample results from airborne measurements carried out at altitudes between ~500 m and ~6 km above the ground level onboard a long-range fixed-wing platform.