The Meteorological Atmospheric Measurement Bolometer Array (MAMBA) is an all-sky infrared sensor designed to characterize atmospheric transmittance to support tactical and space sensors testing and operations. By continually and simultaneously monitoring atmospheric conditions, MAMBA enables superior weather situational awareness.
Premiered at...
MAMBA was introduced at the 2015 Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS) Conference and Exhibition. AMOS is the premier technical conference devoted to space situational awareness/space domain awareness across the spectrum of private sector, government, and academic organizations.
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Superior weather situational awareness
The Meteorological Atmospheric Measurement Bolometer Array (MAMBA) is an all-sky infrared sensor designed to characterize atmospheric transmittance to support tactical and space sensors testing and operations. By continually and simultaneously monitoring atmospheric conditions, MAMBA enables superior weather situational awareness.
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A fourth-generation design
MAMBA is now a fourth-generation design with improved optics and sky coverage, enhanced resolution, a sun blocker that enables measurement of solar forward scatter, and noise filtering properties. MAMBA is able to characterize atmospheric transmittance to within a few percentage points, providing day and night weather situational awareness for airports or aircraft operators, equipment that is sensitive to atmospheric transmission loss, and for tactical purposes.
The new system takes an image of the entire sky in thermal infrared and maps atmospheric structure in slices at intervals of distance and altitude. High-resolution atmospheric mapping is of huge value for over-horizon radio communications, cloud cover and cloud formation mapping, astronomical observations, and more.
Data captured by MAMBA can be persistently driven to the cloud for real-time meteorological and situational awareness, enhancing local weather data and models. MAMBA continually and simultaneously monitors atmospheric conditions, supporting industries that are sensitive to atmospheric transmission loss, such as astronomy observation, solar power cloud prediction, and telecommunications.
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Applications across sectors
In 2017, MAMBA was demonstrated for the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command at Naval Air Station Patuxent River and successfully completed all technical objectives in characterizing atmospheric transmittance.
Oceanit is developing MAMBA beyond the initial Navy-focused mission, developing future uses for aircraft operations and the renewable energy sector – providing precise cloud cover and cloud formation maps for solar energy applications, airplane turbulence avoidance, and astronomical and climatological uses.
At a glance
4th Gen MAMBA Features
IR atmospheric transmittance Improved optics with single-point, diamond-turned surfaces Modular construction: retains alignment and can be set up and active in <1 hour All-sky thermal infra-red for 24-hour cloud monitoring Precipitable water vapor tracking Revised cleaning procedure allows user to wash mirror (DI water rise/wash with technical soap) Provisioned for remote monitoring and control of system power, temperature, and reboot
