First experimental results of a K-band RFI detection payload for PocketQubes

Abstract

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) are disturbing signals in the radio frequency spectrum, which can arise from various external sources, intentional or not. These disturbances can degrade the performance of other signals present in the band. One of such bands of remarkable importance is the 23.8 GHz band, used to retrieve the water vapor concentration in the atmosphere. The Frequency Allocations in Remote Sensing (FARS) Technical Committee from the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) tasked the development and testing of a low-power consumption pico-satellite payload to monitor the possible presence of RFI in the 24 GHz band due to 5G services. This paper presents the testing and characterization of the RFI detection payload.

This work was sponsored by the Frequency Allocations in Remote Sensing (FARS) Technical Committee of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS). This project was also sposored in part by the project ”GENESIS: GNSS Environmental and Societal Missions – Subproject UPC”, Grant PID2021-126436OB-C21 funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Investigación (MCIN)/Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI)/10.13039/501100011033 and EU FEDER “Una manera de hacer Europa”.

Peer Reviewed

Postprint (author's final draft)