Passive MM-wave radiometer to provide runway image in fog

17 Jun 2002

NASA Langley Research Center is working with a consortium led by TRW Space and Electronics Group to test a passive millimeter-wave "camera", allowingairplane pilots "visibility" in bad weather. The ability of millimeter waves to sustain fidelity through visible moisture makes should allow pilots a clear enough runwayimage to land an aircraft in a thick fog. The camera will use a staring focal plane array of 1,040 detectors, each a discrete radio frequency receiver with its ownantenna, and will detect radiation at 89 GHz. Flight demonstrations are scheduled for September.
(courtesy Aviation Week and Space Technology, July 7, 1997)