Abstract
Abstract. Results from airborne field deployments emphasized the need to obtain concurrently high temporal and spatial resolution measurements of 3-D winds and microphysics. A phased array radar on an airborne platform using dual-polarization antenna has the potential for retrieving high-resolution, collocated 3-D winds and microphysical measurements. Recently, ground-based phased array radar (PAR) has demonstrated the high time-resolution estimation of accurate Doppler velocity and reflectivity of precipitation and clouds when compared to mechanically scanning radar. PAR uses the electronic scanning (e-scan) to rapidly collect radar measurements. Since an airborne radar has a limited amount of time to collect measurements over a specified sample volume, the e-scan will significantly enhance temporal and spatial resolution of airborne radar observations. At present, airborne weather radars use mechanical scans, and they are not designed for collecting dual-polarization measurements to remotely estimate microphysics. This paper presents a possible configuration of a novel airborne phased array radar (APAR) to be installed on an aircraft for retrieving improved dynamical and microphysical scientific products. The proposed APAR would replace the aging, X-band Electra Doppler radar (ELDORA). The ELDORA X-band radar's penetration into precipitation is limited by attenuation. Since attenuation at C-band is lower than at X-band, the design specification of a C-band airborne phased array radar (APAR) and its measurement accuracies are presented. Preliminary design specifications suggest the proposed APAR will meet or exceed ELDORA's current sensitivity, spatial resolution and Doppler measurement accuracies of ELDORA and it will also acquire dual-polarization measurements.
Highlights
NCAR’s ELDORA/ASTRAIA (Electra Doppler radar/Analyese Steroscopic par Impulsions Aeroporte, hereafter referred as ELDORA) with dual-beam slotted waveguide array antennas using dual-transmitter, dualbeam, rapid scan and step-chirped waveform significantly improved the along track spatial resolution from 750 to 300 m when compared to NOAA’s airborne tail Doppler radar (TDR) (Hildebrand et al, 1996)
This paper presents a possible configuration of a novel, airborne phased array radar (APAR) to be installed on the NSF/NCAR C-130 aircraft
Since this paper uses a number of acronyms to describe the scientific and engineering aspects of a weather radar system, an appendix lists all of the acronyms and their respective expansions
Summary
NCAR’s ELDORA/ASTRAIA (Electra Doppler radar/Analyese Steroscopic par Impulsions Aeroporte, hereafter referred as ELDORA) with dual-beam slotted waveguide array antennas using dual-transmitter, dualbeam, rapid scan and step-chirped waveform significantly improved the along track spatial resolution from 750 to 300 m when compared to NOAA’s airborne tail Doppler radar (TDR) (Hildebrand et al, 1996). The ELDORA was jointly developed by NCAR and the Center de Recherché en Physique de l’Environment Terrestre et Planetaire, France It collects research quality Doppler and reflectivity measurements that continue to set the standard for airborne radar; ELDORA X-band radar’s penetration into precipitation is limited by attenuation and it is not designed to collect polarimetric measurements to remotely estimate microphysics. Since measurements of ELDORA are recognized by the community as the best available for conducting scientific research, it is necessary for the performance of the generation airborne radar to exceed that of ELDORA. 5. Since airborne radar measurements are perturbed by platform motion, it is necessary to estimate true beam pointing direction and radial velocity by taking into account pitch, roll, drift, east–west velocity and north–south velocity of the aircraft. Since this paper uses a number of acronyms to describe the scientific and engineering aspects of a weather radar system, an appendix lists all of the acronyms and their respective expansions
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