In 2022 at the end of the initial NSO funding of NL-RIA a radar test board had been developed by our partner Rfx, for details see this post. The NL-RIA Alticube project that was kicked of in December 2023 gave the opportunity to finalize this test board and test it. The results can be used in the development of a prototype altimeter radar board at TRL-6 level or higher by Robin Radar Systems, meant for operation onboard a CubeSat.
After completion and some troubleshooting, the fully operational test board was examined in the lab and in a field experiment. The church tower in Welberg, owned by Rens Swart of Swartvast served as a far field outdoor test range for the system which was able to pick up corner reflectors at 3.5 km distance. Read the full story here. A detailed report on the signal processing architecture for altimeters and the consequent radar system design, development and laboratory test can be found on the resources page (available for NL-RIA members only). Find the report easily by sorting this page on the column update date.