Pilot signal correction and physical temperature compensation of drift in total power radiometers

textA radiometer detects electromagnetic radiation and relates it to the temperature of a black body emitting an equivalent amount of power. The simplest and least expensive radiometer design is the total power radiometer. Unfortunately, it suffers greatly from slow drifts in its output. This dissertation examines some sources of the drift and gives two different methods to correct the output of a total power radiometer. The first uses a pilot signal to give insight into changes in amplifier gain and adjusts the output accordingly. The second uses the physical temperature of the radiometer to indicate the correction needed. This work refers to the two methods as the pilot signal correction method and the temperature compensation method. Both utilize training or calibration periods to determine the appropriate output adjustment given a change in the pilot signal or physical temperature. The two methods are effective in correcting the drift. However, the pilot signal does not supply any information that cannot be derived from the simple physical temperature measurement. Therefore, the complication of introducing and monitoring the pilot signal makes the temperature correction method superior.Electrical and Computer Engineerin