ABSTRACT
Radar systems are increasingly used for space applications such as Jason-1/2, Seasat, Cloudsat, Quicksat, TanDEM-X, and Geosat with over 15 more systems deployed by a number of countries. A critical facet of implementing space-based radar systems is an understanding of extreme environment effects on the radar electronics. These systems are widely used in geoscience and remote sensing applications, planetary sensors, spacecraft landing radars, as well as other military and civilian applications that may require operation in extreme environments. Modern synthetic aperture radar systems also include the ability to infer additional material characteristics by adding techniques such as polarimetry and interferometry. The low-noise amplifier (LNA) plays a large role in determining the noise performance of the radar receiver. The LNA is the first amplifier in the receive chain and enhances sensitivity by providing gain with adding a minimum amount of noise to the signal.
