NEC's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) obtains observation images from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite

*** For immediate use March 25, 2014

The Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) on board the core satellite of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) program successfully obtained its first images of Earth.

The GPM program is an international cooperative mission led by Japan and the United States for highly precise, frequent measurement of global precipitation.

The DPR is the world's most advanced radar of its kind, and helps to identify rainfall throughout the world from its position in space on the GPM core satellite, which plays the central role in the GPM program.

NEC and NEC TOSHIBA Space Systems, Ltd. received an order from JAXA and Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) to design and produce two types of radar for the mission: a Ku-band precipitation radar (13.6 GHz), which uses a phased array antenna, consisting of 128 antenna elements and is capable of changing the direction of sending and receiving radio waves without being turned around, as well as a Ka-band precipitation radar (35.55 GHz). The two companies are scheduled to continue working with JAXA until the end of August in order to support the initial check of DPR functions and other tasks.

NEC boasts an accomplished record in developing state-of-the-art space technologies through the production of 67 satellites, including Osumi, Japan's first satellite, and the Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa.



The DPR is the successor to the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission/Precipitation Radar (TRMM/PR*), which was launched in 1997 as the world's first satellite-based precipitation radar. TRMM/PR has been in use for more than 13 years, far exceeding its design life of three years.

The DPR makes detailed observations of precipitation using two frequencies. This is enabled through the combination of precipitation radar that uses Ku-band radio waves – the same type of radar used by TRMM/PR for observation of heavy precipitation – and a Ka-band precipitation radar suited to observing light precipitation. GPM is aimed at enabling global precipitation measurement to be conducted with high precision every three hours, based on data from the GPM core satellite and sub-satellites.

Please see the attachment for an overview of the GPM core satellite and the DPR.

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[Attachment] Specifications of the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR)