Within our Microwave Sensors business line, we design, develop, and test custom active sensors (i.e. radars) and passive sensors and their subsystems from 1 to 100 GHz. We also perform feasibility studies and pre-studies. In addition, we can refurbish old legacy instruments. Microwave sensors have a wide application range in remote sensing, space, military, and industrial applications. Some of our reference projects are presented below.
Harp Technologies has developed a stepped-frequency, fully polarimetric radar system (SodScat – Sodankylä Scatterometer) for the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), for scientific use. The SodScat radar is operated in the Arctic Space Centre of FMI in Sodankylä, in Finnish Lapland. SodScat is a ground-based instrument mountable on e.g. tower platforms, enabling measurements of the ground surface at a slanted angle. The main purpose of SodScat is to enable detailed investigations of the microwave signatures of soil, vegetation, and snow cover through a wide frequency range (1-10 GHz) and at all four polarisations (VV, HH, VH, HV). The system has been designed for the harsh environmental conditions of Sodankylä (-50°C…+30°C; heavy snowfall and wind) and it includes internal temperature and humidity control.
Harp Technologies has refurbished the lower-frequency radiometers of a legacy HUTRAD system. The HUTRAD system was originally developed in the mid-1990s at the Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University, Espoo, Finland). The refurbished HUTRAD radiometers were successfully applied in the CIMRex flight campaign in the Arctic in March 2019 to support the future passive microwave satellite mission CIMR (Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer). The refurbished system with dual-polarisation 6.8-GHz, 10.65-GHz, and 18.7-GHz receivers is compatible with the widely used DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft and with Arctic conditions. The work was carried out under a programme of, and funded by, the European Space Agency (ESA) and under the leadership of the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).
As part of the radar altimeter development for a planetary lander, Harp Technologies has developed a transmit/receive (T/R) module for a planetary altimeter radar, Engineering Model (EM). The T/R module features a servo-type FMCW radar transceiver at 13 GHz and it was designed to have form-fit-function correspondence with a future Flight Model design. The module features, e.g., +17 dBm output power, an 80-dB dynamic range with an automatic gain control, a noise figure of < 5 dB, and power consumption of 2.7 W. The project was funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the overall altimeter development was under the leadership of the company EFACEC Energia, Máquinas e Equipamentos Eléctricos.