Comparisons of weather and aircraft surveillance radar requirements to determine key features for a 10-cm multi-function phased array radar

Abstract

Surveillance capabilities of the ARSR-4 and ASR-9/11 for aircraft detection and tracking, and the TDWR and the WSR-88D for weather surveillance are reviewed to determine requirements for a 10-cm wavelength polarimetric Multifunction Phased Array Radar (MPAR) that can match present day performance. Low sidelobes, polarimetric purity, and well matched H and V radiation patterns required for the weather radar surveillance mission are among those issues that place stringent requirements on the MPAR. Attenuation of 10-cm radiation to meet the ARSR-4 performance is addressed. Matching the angular resolution requirements of the WSR-88D and the ARSR-4 sets the size of the MPAR. To match the height resolution of the TDWR for the detection of low altitude wind shear along the approach and departure corridors of an airport and also to serve the ASR-9/11 function, the MPAR needs to be located on the airport at or near the present site of the ASR-9/11. Time multiplexing of the surveillance functions allows independent control of each function, while offering the potential of freeing spectral space. It is concluded that a network of 10-cm wavelength MPARs could meet the present day requirements of airport and long range surveillance of aircraft, and provide faster weather surveillance without compromising data quality.

Command and Control for Multifunction Phased Array Radar

“…Stringent antenna sidelobe requirements for SENSR's high-resolution weather mission are based on the capabilities of the WSR-88D [27]. Achieving these using a phased array antenna is possible, but will require rigorous array calibration and continuous monitoring.…”

The Impact of Elevation Sidelobe Contamination on Radar Data Quality for Operational Interpretation

“…Since the simulated pattern is the convolution of the scatteringcenter weights with the intrinsic WSR-88D pattern, we need precise knowledge of the WSR-88D pattern in addition to the known weights to be able to calculate the sidelobe levels of the simulated patterns. Unfortunately, only certain cuts of the WSR-88D pattern are available Zrnić 1998, 2006), so the simulated 2D patterns cannot be obtained precisely. An alternative approach to quantify sidelobes is through measuring the relative sidelobe degradations compared to the WSR-88D pattern, which eliminates the need to build representative models for WSR-88D patterns at different sites.…”

“…For example, pattern sidelobe levels for a phased-array antenna can be reduced using tapering (i.e., an uneven weighting of the signals transmitted and/or received by each antenna element). In this case, if the beamwidth is to be preserved, the size of the antenna must be increased, which is more costly to build and operate (Doviak and Zrnić 2006).…”

High‐Isolation Low Cross‐Polarization Phased‐Array Antenna for MPAR Application

“…PPPAR, however, has fundamental shortcomings in beam characteristics changing and polarization coupling depending on beam direction, and limitations in making high‐quality weather measurements. It is crucial to design and develop a high‐performance array antenna to achieve the goals of MPAR (Doviak, ; Lei et al, ). Since in cylindrical array antenna for weather surveillance applications the maximum required scan angle is 20° in the elevation direction, and a cylindrical array along its axis is similar to a linear array of circular array, it is easier to characterize the radiation characteristics of an element in a linear or planar array.…”