Publications
Tagged As
The effectiveness of adaptive PRF selection in minimizing range obscuration in the TDWR system
July 27, 1989
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-164
Summary
An adaptive procedure for selecting radar pulse repetition frequency (PRF) has been developed as the primary means of minimizing the occurence of range aliased echoes within operationaly significant coverage aread (e.g., airport runways) of the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) system. This procedure underwent extensive testing at the S-Band TDWR testbed while located in Denver, CO, where it was judged to be highly successful at preserving the integrity of data collected within the vicinity of the Stapleton International Airport runways. The actual TDWR system will operate at a C-Band frequency, and an increase in potential range obscuration is expected over that experience by the S-band testbed. This report discusses the anticipated performance of the PRF selection procedure in the C-Band environment by extrapolating results obtained using S-Band testbed data. The results conclusively demonstrate the efficacy of adaptive PRF selection as a method by which to reduce potential range obscuration. A worst-case scenario, for example, indicates that over 20% of the TDWR radar collected about the airport runways has the potential for being contaminated with range aliased echoes at any given time during TDWR surveillance operations. With adaptive PRF selection, however, the expected obscuration is reduced to only 3%. (The corresponding figures for the S-Band testbed are shown to be 14& rather than 20% and 1% rather than 3%). While adaptive PRF selection can substantially reduce range obscuration, it cannot totally eliminate the problem. An enhancement to the PRF selection strategy, which further reduces the potential range obscuration, is introduced and recommended. Additionally, the complementary use of pulse-to-pulse phase modulation to exact valid velocity measurements in the presence of range contamination is discussed and preliminary experimental results presented.
Summary
An adaptive procedure for selecting radar pulse repetition frequency (PRF) has been developed as the primary means of minimizing the occurence of range aliased echoes within operationaly significant coverage aread (e.g., airport runways) of the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) system. This procedure underwent extensive testing at the S-Band TDWR...
READ MORE
ASR-9 weather channel test report
May 3, 1989
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-165
Summary
The ASR-9, the next generation airport surveillance radar, will be deployed by the FAA at over 100 locations throughout the United States. The system includes a weather channel designed to provide ATC personnel with timely and accurate weather reflectivity information as a supplement to normal aircraft information. This report presents results of an assessment of the ASR-9 weather channel performance. Two issues addressed are: (1) whether the ASR-9 weather channel performs according to FAA specifications, and (2) whether the ASR-9 weather channel adequately represents weather reflectivity for ATC purposes. These measurement results are intended to support the FAA in developing the operational use of ASR-9 weather information. Comparisons between data from an ASR-9 in Huntsville, Alabama, recorded during design qualification and testing, and data from two other "reference" radars were used as the basis for the assessment. Several storm cases were analyzed, comprised of stratiform rain, isolated convective storms, squall lines, and cold fronts containing multiple simultaneous convective storms. Results suggest that, with the exception of an apparent 3 dB discrepancy between the weather products of the ASR-9 and the "reference" radars, the ASR-9 weather channel seems to perform according to FAA specifications. Although the ASR-9 products give a reasonable representation of the extent and severity of potentially hazardous weather in Huntsville, the results suggest that the static storm model used to determine beamfill corrections for the ASR-9 should be optimized for the particular climatic region in which an ASR-9 will be operated.
Summary
The ASR-9, the next generation airport surveillance radar, will be deployed by the FAA at over 100 locations throughout the United States. The system includes a weather channel designed to provide ATC personnel with timely and accurate weather reflectivity information as a supplement to normal aircraft information. This report presents...
READ MORE
ASR-9 weather channel test report, executive summary
May 3, 1989
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-168
Summary
The ASR-9, the next generation Airport surveillance radar, will be deployed by the FAA at over 100 locations throughout the United States. The system includes a weather channel designed to provide ATC personnel with timely and accurate weather reflectivity information as a supplement to normal aircraft information. Comparisons between data from an ASR-9 in Huntsville, Alabama, recorded during design qualification and testing, and data from two other "reference" radars, were used as the basis for assessment of ASR-9 weather channel performance. Results suggest that, with the exception of an apparent 3 dB discrepancy between the weather products of the ASR-9 and the "reference" radars, the ASR-9 weather channel seems to perform according to FAA specifications.
Summary
The ASR-9, the next generation Airport surveillance radar, will be deployed by the FAA at over 100 locations throughout the United States. The system includes a weather channel designed to provide ATC personnel with timely and accurate weather reflectivity information as a supplement to normal aircraft information. Comparisons between data...
READ MORE
Wind shear detection with pencil-beam radars
January 1, 1989
Journal Article
Published in:
Lincoln Laboratory Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, Fall 1989, pp. 483-510.
Topic:
R&D area:
R&D group:
Summary
Abrupt changes in the winds near the ground pose serious hazards to aircraft during approach or departure operations. Doppler weather radars can measure regions of winds and precipitation around airports, and automatically provide air traffic controllers and pilots with important warnings of hazardous weather events. Lincoln Laboratory, as one of several organizations under contract to the Federal Aviation Administration, has been instrumental in the design and development of radar systems and automated weather-hazard recognition techniques for this application. The Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) system uses automatic computer algorithms to ident* hazardous weather signatures. TDWR detects and warns aviation users about low-altitude wind shear hazards caused by microbursts and gust fronts. It also provides advance warning of the arrival of wind shifts at the airport complex. Extensive weather radar observations, obtained from a Lincoln-built transportable testbed radar system operated at several sites, have validated the TDWR system. As a result, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a procurement contract for the installation of 47 TDWR radar systems around the country.
Summary
Abrupt changes in the winds near the ground pose serious hazards to aircraft during approach or departure operations. Doppler weather radars can measure regions of winds and precipitation around airports, and automatically provide air traffic controllers and pilots with important warnings of hazardous weather events. Lincoln Laboratory, as one of...
READ MORE
Wind shear detection with airport surveillance radars
January 1, 1989
Journal Article
Published in:
Lincoln Laboratory Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, Fall 1989, pp. 511-526.
Summary
Airport surveillance radars (ASR) utilize a broad, cosecant-squared elevation beam pattern, rapid azimuthal antenna scanning, and coherent pulsed-Doppler processing to detect and track approaching and departing aircraft. These radars, because of location, rapid scan rate, and direct air traffic control (ATC) data link, can also provide flight controllers with timely information on weather conditions that are hazardous to aircraft. With an added processing channel, an upgraded ASR can automatically detect regions of low-altitude wind shear. This upgrade can provide wind shear warnings at airports where low traffic volume or infrequent thunderstorm activity precludes the deployment of a dedicated Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR). Field measurements and analysis conducted by Lincoln Laboratory indicate that the principal technical challenges for low-altitude wind shear detection with an ASR-groundclutter suppression, estimation of near-surface radial velocity, and automatic wind shear hazard recognition--can be successfully met for microbursts accompanied by rain at the surface.
Summary
Airport surveillance radars (ASR) utilize a broad, cosecant-squared elevation beam pattern, rapid azimuthal antenna scanning, and coherent pulsed-Doppler processing to detect and track approaching and departing aircraft. These radars, because of location, rapid scan rate, and direct air traffic control (ATC) data link, can also provide flight controllers with timely...
READ MORE
TDWR Scan Strategy Requirements
November 3, 1988
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-144
Summary
This report describes the requirements for the wan s+rategy to be employed M the
Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR). The report in divided into three main sections:
rationale, example scan strategy and requirements. The rationale for the TDWR scanstrategy
is presented in terms of 1) detection of meteorological phenomena, and 2) minimization of
range and velocity folding effects. Next, an example is provided based on an experimental scan
strategy used in Denver during the summer of 1987. Finally, the requirements for the TDWR
scan strategy are presented based on the preceding discussion. Also, an appendix is included describing the proposed criteria for switching between scan modes.
Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR). The report in divided into three main sections:
rationale, example scan strategy and requirements. The rationale for the TDWR scanstrategy
is presented in terms of 1) detection of meteorological phenomena, and 2) minimization of
range and velocity folding effects. Next, an example is provided based on an experimental scan
strategy used in Denver during the summer of 1987. Finally, the requirements for the TDWR
scan strategy are presented based on the preceding discussion. Also, an appendix is included describing the proposed criteria for switching between scan modes.
Summary
This report describes the requirements for the wan s+rategy to be employed M the
Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR). The report in divided into three main sections:
rationale, example scan strategy and requirements. The rationale for the TDWR scanstrategy
is presented in terms of 1) detection of meteorological phenomena, and...
READ MORE
TDWR PRF selection criteria
March 15, 1988
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-147
Summary
The Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) system shall provide high quality Doppler radar data on weather phenomena near high traffic airports. These data shall be used in real time by automated TDWR algorithms to detect weather situations which may be hazardous to the safe operation of aircraft within the vicinity of the airport. One of the major factors which could cause the degradation of the quality of these TDWR data is obscuration by 'distant' storm cells. This obscuration is caused by storms located beyond the range interval being sampled by the radar, yet whose radar echo ambiguously folds within the range interval of interest. These range aliased echoes could trigger false detections by the algorithms, and/or cause actual hazardous situations near the airport to remain undetected. By carefully selecting the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of the radar, range obscuration from distant storms can be minimized over specified airport regions. This document describes techniques for predicting the obscuration as a function of PRF, and details the criteria which shall be used by the TDWR system to automatically and adaptively select an optimal PRF in order to minimize these obscuration effects. Weather radar, Radar range obscuration, TDWR, Radar range aliasing, Radar pulse, Repetition Frequency (PRF).
Summary
The Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) system shall provide high quality Doppler radar data on weather phenomena near high traffic airports. These data shall be used in real time by automated TDWR algorithms to detect weather situations which may be hazardous to the safe operation of aircraft within the vicinity...
READ MORE
TDWR clutter residue map generation and usage
January 29, 1988
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-148
Summary
The Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) system is designed to provide high quality low altitude Doppler radar data near airports. Ground clutter suppression will be a major challenge to supplying such high quality Doppler data. To confront this challenge the FAA has specified stringent clutter suppression requirements in the TDWR technical specifications. These specifications are designed to provide an effective clutter suppression system. In particular, the specifications require an antenna with narrow beam width and low side-lobes to minimize ground target illumination. Also, a high pass frequency filter (with a stop attenuation in excess of 50 dB) is required to reduce stationary clutter. FInally, a clutter reisdue map editing system is used to remove remaining clutter. This report describes the algorithms used to generate and use the clutter residue editing system. The major issues are discussed followed by a description of the algorithms designed to address these issues. Finally, preliminary experimental results using a clutter residue map are presented.
Summary
The Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) system is designed to provide high quality low altitude Doppler radar data near airports. Ground clutter suppression will be a major challenge to supplying such high quality Doppler data. To confront this challenge the FAA has specified stringent clutter suppression requirements in the TDWR...
READ MORE
Ground clutter processing for wind measurements with airport surveillance radars
November 4, 1987
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-143
Summary
Modern airport surveillance radars (ASR) are coherent pulsed-Doppler radars used for detecting and tracking aircraft in terminal area air-space. These radars might serve an additional role by making radial wind measurements in the immediate vicinity of an airport to provide data on low altitude wind shear (LAWS). One factor that will affect their capability in this role is the requirement that intense low-beam ground clutter be filtered from the signals prior to estimation of the reflectivity and radial velocity of weather scatterers. This report describes and analyzes a specific signal processing algorithm for ASR weather parameter measurements. An adaptively selected Finite Impulse Repsonse high-pass filter is used for ground clutter suppression, followed by pulse-pair weather reflectivity and radial velocity estimation. Measurements from a Lincoln Laboratory-developed testbed ASR in Huntsville, Alabama are used to characterize the ground clutter environment under siting ocnditions that are representative of operational ASRs. Temporal fluctuations in ground clutter intensity are analyzed with attention to their impact on the adaptive clutter-filter selection procedure. The performance of the signal processing algorithms is then analyzed using the testbed ASR ground clutter measurements in combination with simulated or real weather signals. We conclude that ground clutter and hte requisite clutter filtering will not severely distort ASR wind shear measurements when the reflectivity factor of the microburst or gust front is approximately 20 dBz or greater. This is typically the case for microbursts ocurring in moist conditions such as prevail over the Eastern United States during summer.
Summary
Modern airport surveillance radars (ASR) are coherent pulsed-Doppler radars used for detecting and tracking aircraft in terminal area air-space. These radars might serve an additional role by making radial wind measurements in the immediate vicinity of an airport to provide data on low altitude wind shear (LAWS). One factor that...
READ MORE
Study of microburst detection performance during 1985 in Memphis, TN
August 5, 1987
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-142
Topic:
R&D area:
R&D group:
Summary
This report focuses on the detectability of microbursts using pulse Doppler weather radars and surface anemometers. The data used for this study were collected in the Memphis, TN area during the FLOWS project of 1985. The methods used for declaring a microburst from both Doppler radar and surface anemometer data are described. The main objective of this report was to identify the results that were generated by comparing the 1985 radar detected microbursts (which impacted the surface anemometer system) wit the surface mesonet detected microbursts. In so doing, the issue of missed microburst detections, for which there occurred two (both by the radar), is identified. Possible reasons as to why there two microbursts were not detected are discussed in detail.
Summary
This report focuses on the detectability of microbursts using pulse Doppler weather radars and surface anemometers. The data used for this study were collected in the Memphis, TN area during the FLOWS project of 1985. The methods used for declaring a microburst from both Doppler radar and surface anemometer data...
READ MORE