[Satellite TODAY 06-26-13] ITT Exelis has received a $3.2 million contract from Ball Aerospace & Technologies to design an advanced receiver chain for the U.S. Air Force Weather Satellite Follow-on (WSF) program. The new design will improve measurements of ocean surface winds used for severe weather forecasting. 

 

    Exelis will enhance the design of a digital receiver, based on its subsystem used on the Global Precipitation Measurement Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument, for incorporation into a future WSF GMI. The WSF program and GMI will provide the U.S. Air Force with next-generation weather forecasting capabilities.

 

    The new Exelis receiver design will offer enhanced detection of natural microwave radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface. Forecasters can use those measurements to describe ocean surface winds from space.