An L-Band Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) Detection and Mitigation Testbed

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) can render microwave radiometer measurements useless. We have proposed a method and an architecture that can be used to identify sources of RFI and identify an optimal scheme for the mitigation of RFI. The system consists of a fully functional digital radiometer that can collect data in the field and pipe the pre-detected signal into, for example, a spectrum analyzer for in-situ analysis or into removable flash memory for later analysis. The digital radiometer employs a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) for employing flexible mitigation strategies. It will also use a programmable noise source for generation of artificial RFI in the laboratory setting, allowing for efficient mitigation algorithm development in a laboratory setting, independent of actual RFI, which may be intermittent. Thus the proposed instrument can be used to identify RFI, develop mitigation approaches for RFI, and validate the mitigation strategy. The Phase II effort will fabricate and test an L-band version of the proposed system.