WorldWideScience

Sample records for ranging radar earth

  1. VenSAR on EnVision: Taking earth observation radar to Venus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghail, Richard C.; Hall, David; Mason, Philippa J.; Herrick, Robert R.; Carter, Lynn M.; Williams, Ed

    2018-02-01

    Venus should be the most Earth-like of all our planetary neighbours: its size, bulk composition and distance from the Sun are very similar to those of Earth. How and why did it all go wrong for Venus? What lessons can be learned about the life story of terrestrial planets in general, in this era of discovery of Earth-like exoplanets? Were the radically different evolutionary paths of Earth and Venus driven solely by distance from the Sun, or do internal dynamics, geological activity, volcanic outgassing and weathering also play an important part? EnVision is a proposed ESA Medium class mission designed to take Earth Observation technology to Venus to measure its current rate of geological activity, determine its geological history, and the origin and maintenance of its hostile atmosphere, to understand how Venus and Earth could have evolved so differently. EnVision will carry three instruments: the Venus Emission Mapper (VEM); the Subsurface Radar Sounder (SRS); and VenSAR, a world-leading European phased array synthetic aperture radar that is the subject of this article. VenSAR will obtain images at a range of spatial resolutions from 30 m regional coverage to 1 m images of selected areas; an improvement of two orders of magnitude on Magellan images; measure topography at 15 m resolution vertical and 60 m spatially from stereo and InSAR data; detect cm-scale change through differential InSAR, to characterise volcanic and tectonic activity, and estimate rates of weathering and surface alteration; and characterise of surface mechanical properties and weathering through multi-polar radar data. These data will be directly comparable with Earth Observation radar data, giving geoscientists unique access to an Earth-sized planet that has evolved on a radically different path to our own, offering new insights on the Earth-sized exoplanets across the galaxy.

  2. Satellite-generated radar images of the earth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schanda, E.

    1980-01-01

    The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) on board of SEASAT was the first non-military satellite-borne radar producing high-resolution images of the earth. Several examples of European scenes are discussed to demonstrate the properties of presently available optically processes images. (orig.)

  3. Radar investigations of near-Earth asteroids at Arecibo and Goldstone

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brozovic, M.; Nolan, M.; Benner, L.; Busch, M.; Howell, E.; Taylor, P.; Springmann, A.; Giorgini, J.; Margot, J.; Magri, C.; Sheppard, M.; Naidu, S.

    2014-07-01

    Radar observations are a powerful technique to study near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). The Arecibo and Goldstone planetary radars can provide delay-Doppler images that can directly resolve surface features such as concavities, hills, ridges, and boulders. Goldstone's 3.75-m resolution capability is invaluable when attempting to image NEAs with diameters smaller than 50 m. To date, over 430 near-Earth asteroids and 136 main-belt asteroids have been observed with radar. 80 % of the radar-detected NEAs have been observed within the last 10 years. The radar detection rate in the last three years has tripled relative to the average in the previous decade due to an increase in funding and greater scheduling flexibility. Currently, ˜400 observing hours per year at Goldstone and ˜600 observing hours per year at Arecibo are devoted to observing asteroids. We strive to observe all strong and moderately strong imaging targets, Yarkovsky drift candidates, NEOWISE targets, asteroids with very low perihelia that can be used to measure solar oblateness, and as many other detectable asteroids as resources allow. We also regularly attempt to observe any asteroid that is flagged by the Near-Earth Object Human Spaceflight Accessible Targets Study (NHATS) list (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/nhats/). To date, we have observed more than 60 NHATS objects at Arecibo and Goldstone. In the past three years, ˜1/3 of the detected asteroids were targets of opportunity (TOOs), some of which we observed within 24 h from when the discoveries were announced. Many TOOs are small, rapidly moving objects that are detectable by radar only within few lunar distances. Radar astrometry is particularly important for these asteroids because they are too faint to be followed for long with optical telescopes. A radar-range measurement often secures their orbit for decades or centuries, where otherwise the object would be lost and require rediscovery. In one of the extreme cases, two delay and two Doppler

  4. Radar Images of the Earth and the World Wide Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapman, B.; Freeman, A.

    1995-01-01

    A perspective of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a center of planetary exploration, and its involvement in studying the earth from space is given. Remote sensing, radar maps, land topography, snow cover properties, vegetation type, biomass content, moisture levels, and ocean data are items discussed related to earth orbiting satellite imaging radar. World Wide Web viewing of this content is discussed.

  5. Arecibo Radar Observation of Near-Earth Asteroids: Expanded Sample Size, Determination of Radar Albedos, and Measurements of Polarization Ratios

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lejoly, Cassandra; Howell, Ellen S.; Taylor, Patrick A.; Springmann, Alessondra; Virkki, Anne; Nolan, Michael C.; Rivera-Valentin, Edgard G.; Benner, Lance A. M.; Brozovic, Marina; Giorgini, Jon D.

    2017-10-01

    The Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) population ranges in size from a few meters to more than 10 kilometers. NEAs have a wide variety of taxonomic classes, surface features, and shapes, including spheroids, binary objects, contact binaries, elongated, as well as irregular bodies. Using the Arecibo Observatory planetary radar system, we have measured apparent rotation rate, radar reflectivity, apparent diameter, and radar albedos for over 350 NEAs. The radar albedo is defined as the radar cross-section divided by the geometric cross-section. If a shape model is available, the actual cross-section is known at the time of the observation. Otherwise we derive a geometric cross-section from a measured diameter. When radar imaging is available, the diameter was measured from the apparent range depth. However, when radar imaging was not available, we used the continuous wave (CW) bandwidth radar measurements in conjunction with the period of the object. The CW bandwidth provides apparent rotation rate, which, given an independent rotation measurement, such as from lightcurves, constrains the size of the object. We assumed an equatorial view unless we knew the pole orientation, which gives a lower limit on the diameter. The CW also provides the polarization ratio, which is the ratio of the SC and OC cross-sections.We confirm the trend found by Benner et al. (2008) that taxonomic types E and V have very high polarization ratios. We have obtained a larger sample and can analyze additional trends with spin, size, rotation rate, taxonomic class, polarization ratio, and radar albedo to interpret the origin of the NEAs and their dynamical processes. The distribution of radar albedo and polarization ratio at the smallest diameters (≤50 m) differs from the distribution of larger objects (>50 m), although the sample size is limited. Additionally, we find more moderate radar albedos for the smallest NEAs when compared to those with diameters 50-150 m. We will present additional trends we

  6. Radar Remote Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosen, Paul A.

    2012-01-01

    This lecture was just a taste of radar remote sensing techniques and applications. Other important areas include Stereo radar grammetry. PolInSAR for volumetric structure mapping. Agricultural monitoring, soil moisture, ice-mapping, etc. The broad range of sensor types, frequencies of observation and availability of sensors have enabled radar sensors to make significant contributions in a wide area of earth and planetary remote sensing sciences. The range of applications, both qualitative and quantitative, continue to expand with each new generation of sensors.

  7. Earth-Space Link Attenuation Estimation via Ground Radar Kdp

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolen, Steven M.; Benjamin, Andrew L.; Chandrasekar, V.

    2003-01-01

    A method of predicting attenuation on microwave Earth/spacecraft communication links, over wide areas and under various atmospheric conditions, has been developed. In the area around the ground station locations, a nearly horizontally aimed polarimetric S-band ground radar measures the specific differential phase (Kdp) along the Earth-space path. The specific attenuation along a path of interest is then computed by use of a theoretical model of the relationship between the measured S-band specific differential phase and the specific attenuation at the frequency to be used on the communication link. The model includes effects of rain, wet ice, and other forms of precipitation. The attenuation on the path of interest is then computed by integrating the specific attenuation over the length of the path. This method can be used to determine statistics of signal degradation on Earth/spacecraft communication links. It can also be used to obtain real-time estimates of attenuation along multiple Earth/spacecraft links that are parts of a communication network operating within the radar coverage area, thereby enabling better management of the network through appropriate dynamic routing along the best combination of links.

  8. SRTM Radar Image, Wrapped Color as Height/EarthKam Optical Honolulu, Hawaii

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-01-01

    These two images of the eastern part of the island of Oahu, Hawaii provide information on regional topography and show the relationship between urban development and sensitive ecosystems. On the left is a topographic radar image collected by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM.) On the right is an optical image acquired by a digital camera on the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which carried SRTM. Features of interest in this scene include Diamond Head (an extinct volcano at the lower center), Waikiki Beach (just left of Diamond Head), the Punchbowl National Cemetery (another extinct volcano, at the foot of the Koolau Mountains), downtown Honolulu and Honolulu airport (lower left of center), and Pearl Harbor (at the left edge.)The topography shows the steep, high central part of the island surrounded by flatter coastal areas. The optical image shows the urban areas and a darker, forested region on the mountain slopes. The clouds in the optical image and the black areas on the topographic image are both a result of the steep topography. In this tropical region, high mountain peaks are usually covered in clouds. These steep peaks also cause shadows in the radar data, resulting in missing data 'holes.' A second pass over the island was obtained by SRTM and will be used to fill in the holes.The left image combines two types of SRTM data. Brightness corresponds to the strength of the radar signal reflected from the ground, while colors show the elevation. Each color cycle (from pink through blue and back to pink) represents 400 meters (1,300 feet) of elevation difference, like the contour lines on a topographic map. This image contains about 2,400 meters (8,000 feet) of total relief. The optical image was acquired by the Shuttle Electronic Still Camera with a lens focal length of 64 millimeters (2.5 inches) for the Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students (EarthKAM) project. EarthKAM has flown on five space shuttle missions since 1996. Additional information

  9. On preventing the destructive influence of the ionosphere on the resolution of a microwave trans-ionospheric radar system during remote Earth probing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shtejnshleger, V.B.; Dzenkevich, A.V.; Manakov, V.Yu.; Misezhnikov, G.S.

    1998-01-01

    The results presented testify to the efficiency of the proposed two-dimensional adaptive compensation of dispersion and fluctuation ionospheric distortions of signals from space radar station with synthesized equipment (RSE) of USW range waves. This creates a prerequisite for remote probing of the Earth using trans-ionospheric RSE of USW range wave, possessing an increased capability of penetrating through the plant mantle and upper layer of the Earth surface [ru

  10. A computer simulation of a long-range CWFM radar showing the tradeoffs of performance as a function of range

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordy, Robert S.; Zoledziowski, Severyn

    2011-06-01

    This paper describes a study of the operation of a long range CWFM radar using "System View" software for modeling and simulation. The System View software is currently offered by Agilent. The models that were studied include: a model illustrating the basic principle of operation of the CWFM radar, the range resolution of the radar, the effect of long range processing and the resultant approach with the tradeoff of detected range resolution due to Doppler frequency shift as a function of range distance. The study was performed as part of the design of an airborne CWFM radar. The radar can be designed with a single antenna or a dual antenna. The dual antenna approach is presented in this paper.

  11. A quantum inspired model of radar range and range-rate measurements with applications to weak value measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Escalante, George

    2017-05-01

    Weak Value Measurements (WVMs) with pre- and post-selected quantum mechanical ensembles were proposed by Aharonov, Albert, and Vaidman in 1988 and have found numerous applications in both theoretical and applied physics. In the field of precision metrology, WVM techniques have been demonstrated and proven valuable as a means to shift, amplify, and detect signals and to make precise measurements of small effects in both quantum and classical systems, including: particle spin, the Spin-Hall effect of light, optical beam deflections, frequency shifts, field gradients, and many others. In principal, WVM amplification techniques are also possible in radar and could be a valuable tool for precision measurements. However, relatively limited research has been done in this area. This article presents a quantum-inspired model of radar range and range-rate measurements of arbitrary strength, including standard and pre- and post-selected measurements. The model is used to extend WVM amplification theory to radar, with the receive filter performing the post-selection role. It is shown that the description of range and range-rate measurements based on the quantum-mechanical measurement model and formalism produces the same results as the conventional approach used in radar based on signal processing and filtering of the reflected signal at the radar receiver. Numerical simulation results using simple point scatterrer configurations are presented, applying the quantum-inspired model of radar range and range-rate measurements that occur in the weak measurement regime. Potential applications and benefits of the quantum inspired approach to radar measurements are presented, including improved range and Doppler measurement resolution.

  12. Specification for a surface-search radar-detection-range model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hattan, Claude P.

    1990-09-01

    A model that predicts surface-search radar detection range versus a variety of combatants has been developed at the Naval Ocean Systems Center. This model uses a simplified ship radar cross section (RCS) model and the U.S. Navy Oceanographic and Atmospheric Mission Library Standard Electromagnetic Propagation Model. It provides the user with a method of assessing the effects of the environment of the performance of a surface-search radar system. The software implementation of the model is written in ANSI FORTRAN 77, with MIL-STD-1753 extensions. The program provides the user with a table of expected detection ranges when the model is supplied with the proper environmental radar system inputs. The target model includes the variation in RCS as a function of aspect angle and the distribution of reflected radar energy as a function of height above the waterline. The modeled propagation effects include refraction caused by a multisegmented refractivity profile, sea-surface roughness caused by local winds, evaporation ducting, and surface-based ducts caused by atmospheric layering.

  13. Estimation of High-Frequency Earth-Space Radio Wave Signals via Ground-Based Polarimetric Radar Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolen, Steve; Chandrasekar, V.

    2002-01-01

    Expanding human presence in space, and enabling the commercialization of this frontier, is part of the strategic goals for NASA's Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) enterprise. Future near-Earth and planetary missions will support the use of high-frequency Earth-space communication systems. Additionally, increased commercial demand on low-frequency Earth-space links in the S- and C-band spectra have led to increased interest in the use of higher frequencies in regions like Ku and Ka-band. Attenuation of high-frequency signals, due to a precipitating medium, can be quite severe and can cause considerable disruptions in a communications link that traverses such a medium. Previously, ground radar measurements were made along the Earth-space path and compared to satellite beacon data that was transmitted to a ground station. In this paper, quantitative estimation of the attenuation along the propagation path is made via inter-comparisons of radar data taken from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) and ground-based polarimetric radar observations. Theoretical relationships between the expected specific attenuation (k) of spaceborne measurements with ground-based measurements of reflectivity (Zh) and differential propagation phase shift (Kdp) are developed for various hydrometeors that could be present along the propagation path, which are used to estimate the two-way path-integrated attenuation (PIA) on the PR return echo. Resolution volume matching and alignment of the radar systems is performed, and a direct comparison of PR return echo with ground radar attenuation estimates is made directly on a beam-by-beam basis. The technique is validated using data collected from the TExas and Florida UNderflights (TEFLUN-B) experiment and the TRMM large Biosphere-Atmosphere experiment in Amazonia (LBA) campaign. Attenuation estimation derived from this method can be used for strategiC planning of communication systems for

  14. Test results for triple-modulation radar electronics with improved range disambiguation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pollastrone, Fabio, E-mail: fabio.pollastrone@enea.it; Neri, Carlo

    2015-10-15

    Highlights: • A new digital radar electronic system based on triple-modulation has been developed. • The triple-modulation system uses an improved algorithm for the range-disambiguation. • The new radar electronics has been applied in the IVVS optical radar prototype for ITER. • The performances obtained with IVVS double and triple-modulation were compared. - Abstract: The In Vessel Viewing System (IVVS) is an optical radar with sub milimetrical resolution that will be used for imaging and metrology pourposes in ITER. The electronics of the system is based on a Digital Radar Electronics developed in ENEA Frascati laboratories during the past years. Until the present study, the system was based on amplitude modulation technique having double-modulation frequency. The power of the laser is sinusoidally modulated and the distance of the points scanned by the laser beam is obtained measuring the phase difference between outgoing and echo signals. Recently a triple-modulation radar electronics version and an algorithm able to solve the range disambiguation were developed. The aim of the upgrade was the increase of the robustness in the range disambiguation. The paper briefly describes the updates carried out on the Digital Radar Electronics and extensively the test results obtained by comparing the performance of the triple modulation versus the double modulation techniques.

  15. Investigating the stratigraphy of Mare Imbrium flow emplacement with Earth-based radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, G. A.; Campbell, B. A.; Campbell, D. B.; Hawke, B. R.

    2016-08-01

    The lunar maria are the product of extensive basaltic volcanism that flooded widespread portions of the Moon's surface. Constraining mare volcanic history therefore provides a window into the endogenic processes responsible for shaping the Moon. Due to the low magma viscosity and the associated thin nature of lava units, the majority of mare surface structures are masked and subdued by impact regolith. Subtle individual mare flow morphologies, coupled with spatial limitations in the use of crater size distributions to distinguish surface units close in age, restrict our understanding of mare stratigraphy. Earth-based 70 cm wavelength (P band) radar can reveal features beneath the regolith and highlight very subtle changes in the ilmenite content of the flows, providing a unique means to map mare units. Here we map volcanic units in Mare Imbrium using high-resolution (200 m/pixel), Earth-based P band data. Situated within the heat-producing potassium, rare earth element, and phosphorus terrane, Mare Imbrium experienced some of the most long-lived (and recent) lunar volcanism, and its surface exhibits a significant diversity of basaltic chemistry. Our investigation identifies at least four distinct stages of volcanic activity, originating from multiple sources within Imbrium. The most recent of these stages comprises extensive, yet relatively thin volcanic flow units that left remnant kipukas of older mare material distributed across much of the basin. From a future mission perspective, it may be possible to collect samples expressing a wide range in age from small areas of Mare Imbrium. Our map also places important constraints on the interpretation of the Chang'e-3 Lunar Penetrating Radar measurements.

  16. Investigation of hopped frequency waveforms for range and velocity measurements of radar targets

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Kathree, U

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available In the field of radar, High Range Resolution (HRR) profiles are often used to improve target tracking accuracy in range and to allow the radar system to produce an image of an object using techniques such as inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR...

  17. Radar Astrometry of Asteroid 99942 (2004 MN4): Predicting the 2029 Earth Encounter and Beyond

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giorgini, J. D.; Benner, L. A. M.; Nolan, M. C.; Ostro, S. J.

    2005-08-01

    Asteroid 2004 MN4 is expected to pass 4.6 (+/- 1.6) Earth-radii above the surface of the Earth on 2029-Apr-13. Such close approaches by objects as large as 2004 MN4 (D ≳ 0.3 km) are thought to occur at ≳ 1000-year intervals on average. 2004 MN4 is expected to reach 3rd magnitude and thus be visible to the unaided eye. With a disk 2-4 arcseconds across, it may be resolved by ground-based telescopes. Arecibo (2380-MHz) delay-Doppler radar astrometry, obtained in late January 2005, significantly corrected 2004 MN4's orbit by revealing a 1.4 arcsecond bias in pre-discovery optical measurements. Doppler-shifted echoes were acquired 4.8σ (176.4 mm/s) away from the predicted frequency on Jan 27. Range on Jan 29 was found to be 747 km (2.8σ ) closer to Earth than the pre-radar orbit predicted. Incorporation of these delay-Doppler measurements into a new weighted least-squares orbit solution moved the 2029-Apr-13 encounter prediction 5σ closer to the Earth, illustrating the problematic nature of prediction and statistical analysis with single-apparition optical data-sets. Without delay-Doppler data, the bias was not apparent, even when optical measurements spanned a full orbit period. The current combined data-set does not permit reliable trajectory propagation to encounters beyond 2029; Monte Carlo analysis shows that, by 2036, the 3σ confidence region wraps >300 degrees of heliocentric longitude around the Sun, with some sections of this statistical region experiencing low-probability encounters with the Earth in the 2030's, gravitationally scattering some possible trajectories inward to the orbit of Venus, or outward toward Mars. Future measurements from radar opportunities in August 2005 and May 2006 (SNR ≈5-10) have the potential to eliminate statistical encounters in the 2030's. Delay-Doppler astrometry from 2013 (SNR ≈30) should permit deterministic encounter prediction through 2070, shrinking the along-track uncertainty in 2036 by two orders of magnitude

  18. Monitoring Strategies of Earth Dams by Ground-Based Radar Interferometry: How to Extract Useful Information for Seismic Risk Assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Pasquale, Andrea; Nico, Giovanni; Pitullo, Alfredo; Prezioso, Giuseppina

    2018-01-16

    The aim of this paper is to describe how ground-based radar interferometry can provide displacement measurements of earth dam surfaces and of vibration frequencies of its main concrete infrastructures. In many cases, dams were built many decades ago and, at that time, were not equipped with in situ sensors embedded in the structure when they were built. Earth dams have scattering properties similar to landslides for which the Ground-Based Synthetic Aperture Radar (GBSAR) technique has been so far extensively applied to study ground displacements. In this work, SAR and Real Aperture Radar (RAR) configurations are used for the measurement of earth dam surface displacements and vibration frequencies of concrete structures, respectively. A methodology for the acquisition of SAR data and the rendering of results is described. The geometrical correction factor, needed to transform the Line-of-Sight (LoS) displacement measurements of GBSAR into an estimate of the horizontal displacement vector of the dam surface, is derived. Furthermore, a methodology for the acquisition of RAR data and the representation of displacement temporal profiles and vibration frequency spectra of dam concrete structures is presented. For this study a Ku-band ground-based radar, equipped with horn antennas having different radiation patterns, has been used. Four case studies, using different radar acquisition strategies specifically developed for the monitoring of earth dams, are examined. The results of this work show the information that a Ku-band ground-based radar can provide to structural engineers for a non-destructive seismic assessment of earth dams.

  19. Radar meteors range distribution model. I. Theory

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Pecinová, Drahomíra; Pecina, Petr

    2007-01-01

    Roč. 37, č. 2 (2007), s. 83-106 ISSN 1335-1842 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/03/1405 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : physics of meteors * radar meteors * range distribution Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

  20. Ground Radar Polarimetric Observations of High-Frequency Earth-Space Communication Links

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolen, Steve; Chandrasekar, V.; Benjamin, Andrew

    2002-01-01

    Strategic roadmaps for NASA's Human Exploration and Development of Space (REDS) enterprise support near-term high-frequency communication systems that provide moderate to high data rates with dependable service. Near-earth and human planetary exploration will baseline Ka-Band, but may ultimately require the use of even higher frequencies. Increased commercial demand on low-frequency earth-space bands has also led to increased interest in the use of higher frequencies in regions like K u - and K,- band. Data is taken from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR), which operates at 13.8 GHz, and the true radar reflectivity profile is determined along the PR beam via low-frequency ground based polarimetric observations. The specific differential phase (Kdp) is measured along the beam and a theoretical model is used to determine the expected specific attenuation (k). This technique, called the k-Kdp method, uses a Fuzzy-Logic model to determine the hydrometeor type along the PR beam from which the appropriate k-Kdp relationship is used to determine k and, ultimately, the total path-integrated attenuation (PIA) on PR measurements. Measurements from PR and the NCAR S-POL radar were made during the TEFLUN-B experiment that took place near Melbourne, FL in 1998, and the TRMM-LBA campaign near Ji-Parana, Brazil in 1999.

  1. Nonlinear inversion of borehole-radar tomography data to reconstruct velocity and attenuation distribution in earth materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, C.; Liu, L.; Lane, J.W.

    2001-01-01

    A nonlinear tomographic inversion method that uses first-arrival travel-time and amplitude-spectra information from cross-hole radar measurements was developed to simultaneously reconstruct electromagnetic velocity and attenuation distribution in earth materials. Inversion methods were developed to analyze single cross-hole tomography surveys and differential tomography surveys. Assuming the earth behaves as a linear system, the inversion methods do not require estimation of source radiation pattern, receiver coupling, or geometrical spreading. The data analysis and tomographic inversion algorithm were applied to synthetic test data and to cross-hole radar field data provided by the US Geological Survey (USGS). The cross-hole radar field data were acquired at the USGS fractured-rock field research site at Mirror Lake near Thornton, New Hampshire, before and after injection of a saline tracer, to monitor the transport of electrically conductive fluids in the image plane. Results from the synthetic data test demonstrate the algorithm computational efficiency and indicate that the method robustly can reconstruct electromagnetic (EM) wave velocity and attenuation distribution in earth materials. The field test results outline zones of velocity and attenuation anomalies consistent with the finding of previous investigators; however, the tomograms appear to be quite smooth. Further work is needed to effectively find the optimal smoothness criterion in applying the Tikhonov regularization in the nonlinear inversion algorithms for cross-hole radar tomography. ?? 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. TDMA X-band FMCW MIMO radar for short range surveillance applications

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Belfiori, F.; Maas, A.P.M.; Hoogeboom, P.; Rossum, W.L. van

    2011-01-01

    The work presented in this paper was aimed at the design of a compact radar device to be used for private area surveillance applications. The radar is connected to a pan tilt zoom camera and it provides the camera system with high accuracy position information (bearing and range) of moving targets;

  3. Automotive FMCW Radar-Enhanced Range Estimation via a Local Resampling Fourier Transform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cailing Wang

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available In complex traffic scenarios, more accurate measurement and discrimination for an automotive frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW radar is required for intelligent robots, driverless cars and driver-assistant systems. A more accurate range estimation method based on a local resampling Fourier transform (LRFT for a FMCW radar is developed in this paper. Radar signal correlation in the phase space sees a higher signal-noise-ratio (SNR to achieve more accurate ranging, and the LRFT - which acts on a local neighbour as a refinement step - can achieve a more accurate target range. The rough range is estimated through conditional pulse compression (PC and then, around the initial rough estimation, a refined estimation through the LRFT in the local region achieves greater precision. Furthermore, the LRFT algorithm is tested in numerous simulations and physical system experiments, which show that the LRFT algorithm achieves a more precise range estimation than traditional FFT-based algorithms, especially for lower bandwidth signals.

  4. Radar meteors range distribution model. IV. Ionization coefficient

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Pecinová, Drahomíra; Pecina, Petr

    2008-01-01

    Roč. 38, č. 1 (2008), s. 12-20 ISSN 1335-1842 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/03/1405 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : physics of meteors * radar meteors * range distribution Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

  5. Arecibo and Goldstone radar images of near-Earth Asteroid (469896) 2005 WC1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawrence, Kenneth J.; Benner, Lance A. M.; Brozovic, Marina; Ostro, Steven J.; Jao, Joseph S.; Giorgini, Jon D.; Slade, Martin A.; Jurgens, Raymond F.; Nolan, Michael C.; Howell, Ellen S.; Taylor, Patrick A.

    2018-01-01

    We report radar observations of near-Earth asteroid (469896) 2005 WC1 that were obtained at Arecibo (2380 MHz, 13 cm) and Goldstone (8560 MHz, 3.5 cm) on 2005 December 14-15 during the asteroid's approach within 0.020 au The asteroid was a strong radar target. Delay-Doppler images with resolutions as fine as 15 m/pixel were obtained with 2 samples per baud giving a correlated pixel resolution of 7.5 m. The radar images reveal an angular object with 100 m-scale surface facets, radar-dark regions, and an estimated diameter of 400 ± 50 m. The rotation of the facets in the images gives a rotation period of ∼2.6 h that is consistent with the estimated period of 2.582 h ± 0.002 h from optical lightcurves reported by Miles (private communication). 2005 WC1 has a circular polarization ratio of 1.12 ± 0.05 that is one of the highest values known, suggesting a structurally-complex near-surface at centimeter to decimeter spatial scales. It is the first asteroid known with an extremely high circular polarization ratio, relatively low optical albedo, and high radar albedo.

  6. Radar equations for modern radar

    CERN Document Server

    Barton, David K

    2012-01-01

    Based on the classic Radar Range-Performance Analysis from 1980, this practical volume extends that work to ensure applicability of radar equations to the design and analysis of modern radars. This unique book helps you identify what information on the radar and its environment is needed to predict detection range. Moreover, it provides equations and data to improve the accuracy of range calculations. You find detailed information on propagation effects, methods of range calculation in environments that include clutter, jamming and thermal noise, as well as loss factors that reduce radar perfo

  7. Sparse Representation Based Range-Doppler Processing for Integrated OFDM Radar-Communication Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bo Kong

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In an integrated radar-communication network, multiuser access techniques with minimal performance degradation and without range-Doppler ambiguities are required, especially in a dense user environment. In this paper, a multiuser access scheme with random subcarrier allocation mechanism is proposed for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM based integrated radar-communication networks. The expression of modulation Symbol-Domain method combined with sparse representation (SR for range-Doppler estimation is introduced and a parallel reconstruction algorithm is employed. The radar target detection performance is improved with less spectrum occupation. Additionally, a Doppler frequency detector is exploited to decrease the computational complexity. Numerical simulations show that the proposed method outperforms the traditional modulation Symbol-Domain method under ideal and realistic nonideal scenarios.

  8. Recent Radar Astrometry of Asteroid 2004 MN4

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giorgini, J. D.; Benner, L. A. M.; Nolan, M. C.; Ostro, S. J.

    2005-05-01

    Arecibo (2380-MHz) delay-Doppler radar astrometry obtained in late January of 2005 significantly corrected 2004 MN4's orbit. Doppler-shifted echoes were acquired 4.8-sigma away from the predicted frequency on Jan 27, while range to the object on Jan 29 was found to be 747 km (2.8-sigma) closer to Earth than the pre-radar orbit solution predicted. Incorporation of these radar measurements into least-squares orbit solution #82 resulted in a new predicted Earth encounter on 2029-Apr-13 of 36000 +/- 9900 km (3-sigma formal uncertainties), or 5.6 +/- 1.6 Earth radii, from Earth's center. This is inside geosynchronous orbit and 27700 km (4.3 Earth radii) closer to Earth than predicted by the pre-radar ephemeris -- a 5-sigma change compared to the pre-radar orbit solution, illustrating the problematic nature of prediction and statistical analysis when only single-apparition optical data-sets are available. The current data-set does not permit reliable trajectory propagation to encounters later than 2029; this may not be possible until data from 2012-2013 are available. The corrected nominal approach distance in 2029 is approximately twice the classical Roche limit and closer than any known past or future approach by a natural object larger than 10 m, other than those detected after already impacting the Earth or it's atmosphere. Such close approaches by objects as large as 2004 MN4 (D ≳ 0.3 km) are currently thought to occur at ≳ 1000-year intervals on average. 2004 MN4 is expected to reach 3rd magnitude for observers in Europe, western Asia, and Africa, and thus be visible to the unaided eye. The asteroid's disk will be 2-4 arcseconds across and potentially resolvable with small ground-based telescopes.

  9. Sparse Representation Denoising for Radar High Resolution Range Profiling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Min Li

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Radar high resolution range profile has attracted considerable attention in radar automatic target recognition. In practice, radar return is usually contaminated by noise, which results in profile distortion and recognition performance degradation. To deal with this problem, in this paper, a novel denoising method based on sparse representation is proposed to remove the Gaussian white additive noise. The return is sparsely described in the Fourier redundant dictionary and the denoising problem is described as a sparse representation model. Noise level of the return, which is crucial to the denoising performance but often unknown, is estimated by performing subspace method on the sliding subsequence correlation matrix. Sliding window process enables noise level estimation using only one observation sequence, not only guaranteeing estimation efficiency but also avoiding the influence of profile time-shift sensitivity. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the return, leading to a high-quality profile.

  10. A Technique for Real-Time Ionospheric Ranging Error Correction Based On Radar Dual-Frequency Detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyu, Jiang-Tao; Zhou, Chen

    2017-12-01

    Ionospheric refraction is one of the principal error sources for limiting the accuracy of radar systems for space target detection. High-accuracy measurement of the ionospheric electron density along the propagation path of radar wave is the most important procedure for the ionospheric refraction correction. Traditionally, the ionospheric model and the ionospheric detection instruments, like ionosonde or GPS receivers, are employed for obtaining the electron density. However, both methods are not capable of satisfying the requirements of correction accuracy for the advanced space target radar system. In this study, we propose a novel technique for ionospheric refraction correction based on radar dual-frequency detection. Radar target range measurements at two adjacent frequencies are utilized for calculating the electron density integral exactly along the propagation path of the radar wave, which can generate accurate ionospheric range correction. The implementation of radar dual-frequency detection is validated by a P band radar located in midlatitude China. The experimental results present that the accuracy of this novel technique is more accurate than the traditional ionospheric model correction. The technique proposed in this study is very promising for the high-accuracy radar detection and tracking of objects in geospace.

  11. Frequency Diverse Array Radar Cramér-Rao Lower Bounds for Estimating Direction, Range, and Velocity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yongbing Wang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Different from phased-array radar, frequency diverse array (FDA radar offers range-dependent beampattern and thus provides new application potentials. But there is a fundamental question: what estimation performance can achieve for an FDA radar? In this paper, we derive FDA radar Cramér-Rao lower bounds (CRLBs for estimating direction, range (time delay, and velocity (Doppler shift. Two different data models including pre- and postmatched filtering are investigated separately. As the FDA radar has range-angle coupling, we use a simple transmit subaperturing strategy which divides the whole array into two subarrays, each uses a distinct frequency increment. Assuming temporally white Gaussian noise and linear frequency modulated transmit signal, extensive simulation examples are performed. When compared to conventional phased-array radar, FDA can yield better CRLBs for estimating the direction, range, and velocity. Moreover, the impacts of the element number and frequency increment are also analyzed. Simulation results show that the CRLBs decrease with the increase of the elements number and frequency increment.

  12. Investigating nearby exoplanets via interstellar radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheffer, Louis K.

    2014-01-01

    Interstellar radar is a potential intermediate step between passive observation of exoplanets and interstellar exploratory missions. Compared with passive observation, it has the traditional advantages of radar astronomy. It can measure surface characteristics, determine spin rates and axes, provide extremely accurate ranges, construct maps of planets, distinguish liquid from solid surfaces, find rings and moons, and penetrate clouds. It can do this even for planets close to the parent star. Compared with interstellar travel or probes, it also offers significant advantages. The technology required to build such a radar already exists, radar can return results within a human lifetime, and a single facility can investigate thousands of planetary systems. The cost, although too high for current implementation, is within the reach of Earth's economy.

  13. A comparison on radar range profiles between in-flight measurements and RCS-predictions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heiden, R. van der; Ewijk, L.J. van; Groen, F.C.A.

    1998-01-01

    The validation of Radar Cross Section (RCS) prediction techniques against real measurements is crucial to acquire confidence in predictions when measurements are nut available. In this paper we present the results of a comparison on one-dimensional signatures, i.e. radar range profiles. The profiles

  14. Registration-Based Range-Dependence Compensation for Bistatic STAP Radars

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lapierre Fabian D

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available We address the problem of detecting slow-moving targets using space-time adaptive processing (STAP radar. Determining the optimum weights at each range requires data snapshots at neighboring ranges. However, in virtually all configurations, snapshot statistics are range dependent, meaning that snapshots are nonstationary with respect to range. This results in poor performance. In this paper, we propose a new compensation method based on registration of clutter ridges and designed to work on a single realization of the stochastic snapshot at each range. The method has been successfully tested on simulated, stochastic snapshots. An evaluation of performance is presented.

  15. Photonics-based real-time ultra-high-range-resolution radar with broadband signal generation and processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Fangzheng; Guo, Qingshui; Pan, Shilong

    2017-10-23

    Real-time and high-resolution target detection is highly desirable in modern radar applications. Electronic techniques have encountered grave difficulties in the development of such radars, which strictly rely on a large instantaneous bandwidth. In this article, a photonics-based real-time high-range-resolution radar is proposed with optical generation and processing of broadband linear frequency modulation (LFM) signals. A broadband LFM signal is generated in the transmitter by photonic frequency quadrupling, and the received echo is de-chirped to a low frequency signal by photonic frequency mixing. The system can operate at a high frequency and a large bandwidth while enabling real-time processing by low-speed analog-to-digital conversion and digital signal processing. A conceptual radar is established. Real-time processing of an 8-GHz LFM signal is achieved with a sampling rate of 500 MSa/s. Accurate distance measurement is implemented with a maximum error of 4 mm within a range of ~3.5 meters. Detection of two targets is demonstrated with a range-resolution as high as 1.875 cm. We believe the proposed radar architecture is a reliable solution to overcome the limitations of current radar on operation bandwidth and processing speed, and it is hopefully to be used in future radars for real-time and high-resolution target detection and imaging.

  16. Research on the range side lobe suppression method for modulated stepped frequency radar signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yinkai; Shan, Tao; Feng, Yuan

    2018-05-01

    The magnitude of time-domain range sidelobe of modulated stepped frequency radar affects the imaging quality of inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR). In this paper, the cause of high sidelobe in modulated stepped frequency radar imaging is analyzed first in real environment. Then, the chaos particle swarm optimization (CPSO) is used to select the amplitude and phase compensation factors according to the minimum sidelobe criterion. Finally, the compensated one-dimensional range images are obtained. Experimental results show that the amplitude-phase compensation method based on CPSO algorithm can effectively reduce the sidelobe peak value of one-dimensional range images, which outperforms the common sidelobe suppression methods and avoids the coverage of weak scattering points by strong scattering points due to the high sidelobes.

  17. Dynamic Gesture Recognition with a Terahertz Radar Based on Range Profile Sequences and Doppler Signatures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Zhi; Cao, Zongjie; Pi, Yiming

    2017-12-21

    The frequency of terahertz radar ranges from 0.1 THz to 10 THz, which is higher than that of microwaves. Multi-modal signals, including high-resolution range profile (HRRP) and Doppler signatures, can be acquired by the terahertz radar system. These two kinds of information are commonly used in automatic target recognition; however, dynamic gesture recognition is rarely discussed in the terahertz regime. In this paper, a dynamic gesture recognition system using a terahertz radar is proposed, based on multi-modal signals. The HRRP sequences and Doppler signatures were first achieved from the radar echoes. Considering the electromagnetic scattering characteristics, a feature extraction model is designed using location parameter estimation of scattering centers. Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) extended to multi-modal signals is used to accomplish the classifications. Ten types of gesture signals, collected from a terahertz radar, are applied to validate the analysis and the recognition system. The results of the experiment indicate that the recognition rate reaches more than 91%. This research verifies the potential applications of dynamic gesture recognition using a terahertz radar.

  18. Interim report - performance of laser and radar ranging devices in adverse environmental conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nicholas Hillier; Julian Ryde; Eleonora WidzykCapehart; Graham Brooker; Javier Martinez; Andrew Denman [CSIRO (Australia)

    2008-10-15

    CSIRO in conjunction with CRC Mining and the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR) conducted a series of controlled experiments to examine the performance of three scanning range devices: two scanning infrared laser range finders and millimetrewave radar. Within the controlled environment, the performance of the devices were tested in various rain, mist and dustcloud conditions. Subsequently, these sensors were installed on a P&H 2800BLE electric rope shovel at the Bracalba Quarry, near Caboolture, Queensland, and the system performance was evaluated. The three scanning range sensors tested as part of this study were: 1. A Riegl LMSQ120 scanning laser range finder; 2. A SICK LMS291S05 scanning laser range finder; and, 3. ACFR's prototype 95GHz millimetrewave radar (2D HSS). The range data from these devices is to be used to construct accurate models of the environment in which the electric rope shovel operates and to, subsequently, make control decisions for its operation. Of the currently available range sensing technologies, it is considered that the infrared laser range finders and millimetrewave radar offer the best means of obtaining this data. This report summarises the results of both the controlled (laboratory) and field testing and presents key findings on sensor performance that are likely to impact the creation of digital models of the terrain surrounding a mining shovel.

  19. Goldstone radar imaging of near-Earth asteroids (469896) 2007 WV4, 2014 JO25, 2017 BQ6, and 2017 CS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naidu, S.; Benner, L.; Brozovic, M.; Giorgini, J. D.; Busch, M.; Jao, J. S.; Lee, C. G.; Snedeker, L. G.; Silva, M. A.; Slade, M. A.; Lawrence, K. J.

    2017-12-01

    We present Goldstone radar imaging of four near-Earth asteroids during Feb-Jun 2017. The signal-to-noise ratios were very strong for each object and we obtained detailed images with range resolutions as fine as 3.75 m/pixel. 2017 BQ6 was discovered on Jan 26 and approached Earth within 6.5 lunar distances on Feb 7. Radar images show that it is a strikingly angular object roughly 200 m in diameter with a rotation period of 3 h. Its multi-faceted shape challenges the expectation that it is a rubble pile. 2017 CS was discovered on Feb 2 and approached within 8 lunar distances on May 29. It appears rounded on large scales but has considerable fine-scale topography evident along its leading edges. The images suggest a diameter of 1 km and a spin period consistent with the 40 h period obtained from photometry by P. Pravec (pers. comm.). The highest resolution images show evidence for meter-size boulders, ridges, and broad concavities. 2007 WV4 was imaged in late May and early June, has a diameter of 900 meters, and appears distinctly angular with at least three large facets > 100 m in extent. Tracking of features in the images gives a rotation period of about 12 hours. 2014 JO25 approached within 4.6 lunar distances on April 19. This was the closest encounter by an asteroid with an absolute magnitude brighter than 18 known in advance until 2027, when 1999 AN10 will approach within one lunar distance. Radar imaging shows that 2014 JO25 is an irregular object, consisting of two components connected by a narrow neck. The asteroid has pole on dimensions of roughly 1 x 0.6 km in the images. Imaging with 3.75 m/pixel resolution places thousands of pixels on the object and reveals ridges, concavities, flat regions up to 200 meters long, and radar-bright spots suggestive of boulders. Tracking of features in the images yields a rotation period of about 4.5 hours that is among the fastest of the 50 known contact binaries in the near-Earth population.

  20. Reducing Surface Clutter in Cloud Profiling Radar Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanelli, Simone; Pak, Kyung; Durden, Stephen; Im, Eastwood

    2008-01-01

    An algorithm has been devised to reduce ground clutter in the data products of the CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), which is a nadir-looking radar instrument, in orbit around the Earth, that measures power backscattered by clouds as a function of distance from the instrument. Ground clutter contaminates the CPR data in the lowest 1 km of the atmospheric profile, heretofore making it impossible to use CPR data to satisfy the scientific interest in studying clouds and light rainfall at low altitude. The algorithm is based partly on the fact that the CloudSat orbit is such that the geodetic altitude of the CPR varies continuously over a range of approximately 25 km. As the geodetic altitude changes, the radar timing parameters are changed at intervals defined by flight software in order to keep the troposphere inside a data-collection time window. However, within each interval, the surface of the Earth continuously "scans through" (that is, it moves across) a few range bins of the data time window. For each radar profile, only few samples [one for every range-bin increment ((Delta)r = 240 m)] of the surface-clutter signature are available around the range bin in which the peak of surface return is observed, but samples in consecutive radar profiles are offset slightly (by amounts much less than (Delta)r) with respect to each other according to the relative change in geodetic altitude. As a consequence, in a case in which the surface area under examination is homogenous (e.g., an ocean surface), a sequence of consecutive radar profiles of the surface in that area contains samples of the surface response with range resolution (Delta)p much finer than the range-bin increment ((Delta)p 10 dB and a reduction of the contaminated altitude over ocean from about 1 km to about 0.5 km (over the ocean). The algorithm has been embedded in CloudSat L1B processing as of Release 04 (July 2007), and the estimated flat surface clutter is removed in L2B-GEOPROF product from the

  1. Characterization of the range effect in synthetic aperture radar images of concrete specimens for width estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alzeyadi, Ahmed; Yu, Tzuyang

    2018-03-01

    Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) is an indispensable approach for the sustainability of critical civil infrastructure systems such as bridges and buildings. Recently, microwave/radar sensors are widely used for assessing the condition of concrete structures. Among existing imaging techniques in microwave/radar sensors, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging enables researchers to conduct surface and subsurface inspection of concrete structures in the range-cross-range representation of SAR images. The objective of this paper is to investigate the range effect of concrete specimens in SAR images at various ranges (15 cm, 50 cm, 75 cm, 100 cm, and 200 cm). One concrete panel specimen (water-to-cement ratio = 0.45) of 30-cm-by-30-cm-by-5-cm was manufactured and scanned by a 10 GHz SAR imaging radar sensor inside an anechoic chamber. Scatterers in SAR images representing two corners of the concrete panel were used to estimate the width of the panel. It was found that the range-dependent pattern of corner scatters can be used to predict the width of concrete panels. Also, the maximum SAR amplitude decreases when the range increases. An empirical model was also proposed for width estimation of concrete panels.

  2. Laser radar: historical prospective-from the East to the West

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molebny, Vasyl; McManamon, Paul; Steinvall, Ove; Kobayashi, Takao; Chen, Weibiao

    2017-03-01

    This article discusses the history of laser radar development in America, Europe, and Asia. Direct detection laser radar is discussed for range finding, designation, and topographic mapping of Earth and of extraterrestrial objects. Coherent laser radar is discussed for environmental applications, such as wind sensing and for synthetic aperture laser radar development. Gated imaging is discussed through scattering layers for military, medical, and security applications. Laser microradars have found applications in intravascular studies and in ophthalmology for vision correction. Ghost laser radar has emerged as a new technology in theoretical and simulation applications. Laser radar is now emerging as an important technology for applications such as self-driving cars and unmanned aerial vehicles. It is also used by police to measure speed, and in gaming, such as the Microsoft Kinect.

  3. Precision metrology of NSTX surfaces using coherent laser radar ranging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kugel, H.W.; Loesser, D.; Roquemore, A. L.; Menon, M. M.; Barry, R. E.

    2000-01-01

    A frequency modulated Coherent Laser Radar ranging diagnostic is being used on the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) for precision metrology. The distance (range) between the 1.5 microm laser source and the target is measured by the shift in frequency of the linearly modulated beam reflected off the target. The range can be measured to a precision of < 100microm at distances of up to 22 meters. A description is given of the geometry and procedure for measuring NSTX interior and exterior surfaces during open vessel conditions, and the results of measurements are elaborated

  4. Flood Monitoring using X-band Dual-polarization Radar Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chandrasekar, V.; Wang, Y.; Maki, M.; Nakane, K.

    2009-09-01

    A dense weather radar network is an emerging concept advanced by the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA). Using multiple radars observing over a common will create different data outcomes depending on the characteristics of the radar units employed and the network topology. To define this a general framework is developed to describe the radar network space, and formulations are obtained that can be used for weather radar network characterization. Current weather radar surveillance networks are based upon conventional sensing paradigm of widely-separated, standalone sensing systems using long range radars that operate at wavelengths in 5-10 cm range. Such configuration has limited capability to observe close to the surface of the earth because of the earth's curvature but also has poorer resolution at far ranges. The dense network radar system, observes and measures weather phenomenon such as rainfall and severe weather close to the ground at higher spatial and temporal resolution compared to the current paradigm. In addition the dense network paradigm also is easily adaptable to complex terrain. Flooding is one of the most common natural hazards in the world. Especially, excessive development decreases the response time of urban watersheds and complex terrain to rainfall and increases the chance of localized flooding events over a small spatial domain. Successful monitoring of urban floods requires high spatiotemporal resolution, accurate precipitation estimation because of the rapid flood response as well as the complex hydrologic and hydraulic characteristics in an urban environment. This paper reviews various aspects in radar rainfall mapping in urban coverage using dense X-band dual-polarization radar networks. By reducing the maximum range and operating at X-band, one can ensure good azimuthal resolution with a small-size antenna and keep the radar beam closer to the ground. The networked topology helps to achieve satisfactory

  5. Detection Range Estimation of UV Spectral Band Laser Radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. A. Gorodnichev

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Recently, has come into existence an interest in the systems operating in the ultra-violet (UF band of wavelengths, which use other spectral information (coefficients of reflection or radiation in UF range about location objects, than laser systems in the visible, near or average infrared bands. Thus, a point is not only to receive additional (in another spectral range information on location objects. Laser radiation in the UF spectral band of 0.315 – 0.4 microns is safer than laser radiation with the wavelengths of 0.38 – 1.4 microns.The work presents a comparative estimation of the detection systems range of laser radars in the UV and visible spectral bands for the following wavelengths of radiation:- UF band: 0.266 microns (the fourth harmonic of YAG-laser activated by neodymium ions, 0.308 microns (the XeCl-excimer laser, 0.355 microns (the third harmonic of YAG-laser activated by neodymium ions;- visible band: 0.532 microns (the second harmonic of YAG-laser activated by neodymium ions.Results of calculations show that for the horizontal pathway in the terrestrial atmosphere at the selected radiation wavelengths a detection range is in the range of 2510m – 5690 m.The maximum range of detection corresponds to the visible spectral band. A sweep range decreases with transition to the UF band. This is caused by the fact that with transition to the UF band there is a rise of atmosphere attenuation (generally, because of absorption by ozone, this effect being smoothed by reducing background radiation.In the UF band a wavelength of 0.355 microns is the most acceptable. For this wavelength a detection range is about 1,5 times less (in comparison with the visible band of 0.532 microns. However, this is the much more eye-safe wavelength. With transition to the UV band a detection range decreases not that much and can be compensated by changing parameters of transmitting or receiving channels of laser radar.

  6. Radar and photometric observations and shape modeling of contact binary near-Earth Asteroid 1996 HW1

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Magri, Christopher; Howell, Ellen S.; Nolan, Michael C.; Taylor, Patrick A.; Fernández, Yanga R.; Mueller, Michael; Vervack, Ronald J.; Benner, Lance A. M.; Giorgini, Jon D.; Ostro, Steven J.; Scheeres, Daniel J.; Hicks, Michael D.; Rhoades, Heath; Somers, James M.; Gaftonyuk, Ninel M.; Kouprianov, Vladimir V.; Krugly, Yurij N.; Molotov, Igor E.; Busch, Michael W.; Margot, Jean-Luc; Benishek, Vladimir; Protitch-Benishek, Vojislava; Galád, Adrian; Higgins, David; Kušnirák, Peter; Pray, Donald P.

    2011-01-01

    We observed near-Earth Asteroid (8567) 1996 HW1 at the Arecibo Observatory on six dates in September 2008, obtaining radar images and spectra. By combining these data with an extensive set of new lightcurves taken during 2008-2009 and with previously published lightcurves from 2005, we were able to

  7. Sixteenth International Laser Radar Conference, Part 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mccormick, M.P.

    1992-07-01

    Given here are extended abstracts of papers presented at the 16th International Laser Radar Conference, held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 20-24, 1992. Topics discussed include the Mt. Pinatubo volcanic dust laser observations, global change, ozone measurements, Earth mesospheric measurements, wind measurements, imaging, ranging, water vapor measurements, and laser devices and technology

  8. Application of ranging technique of radar level meter for draft survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    SHEN Yijun

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available [Objectives] This paper aims to solve the problems of the high subjectivity and low accuracy and efficiency of draft surveying relying on human visual inspection.[Methods] Radar-level oil and liquid measurement technology products are widely used in the petrochemical industry. A device is developed that uses radar to survey the draft of a boat, designed with data series optimization formulae to ensure that the data results are true and correct. At the same time, a test is designed to prove the accuracy of the results.[Results] According to the conditions of the ship,the device is composed of a radar sensor, triangular bracket and display,and is put to use in the test.[Conclusions] With 15 vessels as the research objects,the comparison experiment shows a difference in range between 0.001-0.022 meters, with an average difference rate of 0.028%, which meets the requirements for ship draft survey accuracy.

  9. Ultra-wideband short-pulse radar with range accuracy for short range detection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rodenbeck, Christopher T; Pankonin, Jeffrey; Heintzleman, Richard E; Kinzie, Nicola Jean; Popovic, Zorana P

    2014-10-07

    An ultra-wideband (UWB) radar transmitter apparatus comprises a pulse generator configured to produce from a sinusoidal input signal a pulsed output signal having a series of baseband pulses with a first pulse repetition frequency (PRF). The pulse generator includes a plurality of components that each have a nonlinear electrical reactance. A signal converter is coupled to the pulse generator and configured to convert the pulsed output signal into a pulsed radar transmit signal having a series of radar transmit pulses with a second PRF that is less than the first PRF.

  10. A 100,000 Scale Factor Radar Range.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blanche, Pierre-Alexandre; Neifeld, Mark; Peyghambarian, Nasser

    2017-12-19

    The radar cross section of an object is an important electromagnetic property that is often measured in anechoic chambers. However, for very large and complex structures such as ships or sea and land clutters, this common approach is not practical. The use of computer simulations is also not viable since it would take many years of computational time to model and predict the radar characteristics of such large objects. We have now devised a new scaling technique to overcome these difficulties, and make accurate measurements of the radar cross section of large items. In this article we demonstrate that by reducing the scale of the model by a factor 100,000, and using near infrared wavelength, the radar cross section can be determined in a tabletop setup. The accuracy of the method is compared to simulations, and an example of measurement is provided on a 1 mm highly detailed model of a ship. The advantages of this scaling approach is its versatility, and the possibility to perform fast, convenient, and inexpensive measurements.

  11. Radar and optical observations and physical modeling of triple near-Earth Asteroid (136617) 1994 CC

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Brozovic, M.; Benner, L. A. M.; Taylor, P.A.; Nolan, M. C.; Howell, E. S.; Magri, C.; Scheeres, D.J.; Giorgini, J. D.; Pollock, J.; Pravec, Petr; Galád, Adrián; Fang, J.; Margot, J. L.; Busch, M.W.; Shepard, M.K.; Reichart, D. E.; Ivarsen, K.M.; Haislip, J.B.; LaCluyze, A.; Jao, J.; Slade, M. A.; Lawrence, K. J.; Hicks, M. D.

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 216, č. 1 (2011), s. 241-256 ISSN 0019-1035 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/09/1107 Grant - others:SAV(SK) Vega 2/0016/09 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : asteroids * radar observations * near-Earth objects * satellites of asteroids Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 3.385, year: 2011

  12. Foliage penetration radar detection and characterization of objects under trees

    CERN Document Server

    Davis, Mark

    2011-01-01

    This book covers all aspects of foliage penetration (FOPEN) radar, concentrating on both airborne military radar systems as well as earth resource mapping radars. It is the first concise and thorough treatment of FOPEN, covering the results of a decade-long investment by DARPA in characterizing foliage and earth surface with ultrawideband UHF and VHF synthetic aperture radar (SAR).

  13. Coherent laser radar with dual-frequency Doppler estimation and interferometric range detection

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Onori, D.; Scotti, F.; Laghezza, F.; Scaffardi, M.; Bogoni, A.

    2016-01-01

    The concept of a coherent interferometric dual frequency laser radar, that measures both the target range and velocity, is presented and experimentally demonstrated. The innovative architecture combines the dual frequency lidar concept, allowing a precise and robust Doppler estimation, with the

  14. Lava flows in mare imbrium: An evaluation of anomalously low earth-based radar reflectivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaber, G.G.; Thompson, T.W.; Zisk, S.H.

    1975-01-01

    The lunar maria reflect two to five times less Earth-based radar power than the highlands, the spectrally blue maria surfaces returning the lowest power levels. This effect of weakening signal return has been attributed to increased signal absorption related to the electrical and magnetic characteristics of the mineral ilmenite (FeTiO3). The surface of Mare Imbrium contains some of the most distinct red-blue colorimetric boundaries and depolarized 70 cm wavelength reflectivity variations on the near side of the Moon. The weakest levels of both 3.8 cm and 70 cm reflectivity within Imbrium are confined to regional mare surfaces of the blue spectral type that can be recognized as stratigraphically unique flow surfaces. Frequency distributions of the 70 cm polarized and depolarized radar return power for five mare surfaces within the basin indicate that signal absorption, and probably the ilmenite content, increases generally from the beginning of the Imbrian Period to the end of the Eratosthenian Period with slight reversal between the end of the Imbrian and beginning of the Eratosthenian. TiO2 calibrated radar reflectivity curves can be utilized for lunar maria geochemical mapping in the same manner as the TiO2 calibrated spectral reflectivity curves of Charette et al. (1974). The long wavelength radar data may be a sensitive indicator of mare chemical variations as it is unaffected by the normal surface rock clutter that includes ray materials from large impact craters. ?? 1975 D. Reidel Publishing Company.

  15. A computer simulation of a CWFM radar showing the tradeoffs of performance as a function of range

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordy, Robert S.; Zoledziowski, Severyn

    2010-04-01

    This paper describes a study of the operation of CWFM radar using "System View" software for modeling and simulation. The System View software is currently offered by Agilent; a link to the website is given in the footnote. The models that were studied include: a model illustrating the basic principle of operation of the CWFM radar, the range resolution of the radar, the effect of nonlinear distortions on the detected signals, and the effect of interference and jamming on the reception of CWFM signals. The study was performed as part of the design of an airborne CWFM radar.

  16. Performance Analysis of Ultra-Wideband Channel for Short-Range Monopulse Radar at Ka-Band

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naohiko Iwakiri

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available High-range resolution is inherently provided with Ka-band ultra-wideband (UWB vehicular radars. The authors have developed a prototype UWB monopulse radar equipped with a two-element receiving antenna array and reported its measurement results. In this paper, a more detailed verification using these measurements is presented. The measurements were analyzed employing matched filtering and eigendecomposition, and then multipath components were extracted to examine the behavior of received UWB monopulse signals. Next, conventional direction finding algorithms based on narrowband assumption were evaluated using the extracted multipath components, resulting in acceptable angle-of-arrival (AOA from the UWB monopulse signal regardless of wideband signals. Performance degradation due to a number of averaging the received monopulses was also examined to design suitable radar's waveforms.

  17. A 100 GHz Polarimetric Compact Radar Range for Scale-Model Radar Cross Section Measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-10-01

    common radar bands. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to thank David Jillson (UML STL – Electrical Engineer) for efforts involved in RF and DC wiring...Waldman J., Fetterman H.R., Duffy P.E., Bryant T.G., Tannenwald P.E., “Submillimeter Model Measurements and Their Applications to Millimeter Radar

  18. Range performance calculations using the NVEOL-Georgia Tech Research Institute 0.1- to 100-GHz radar performance model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodak, S. P.; Thomas, N. I.

    1983-05-01

    A computer model that can be used to calculate radar range performance at any frequency in the 0.1-to 100-GHz electromagnetic spectrum is described. These different numerical examples are used to demonstrate how to use the radar range performance model. Input/output documentation are included for each case that was run on the MERADCOM CDC 6600 computer at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

  19. Radar Fundamentals, Presentation

    OpenAIRE

    Jenn, David

    2008-01-01

    Topics include: introduction, radar functions, antennas basics, radar range equation, system parameters, electromagnetic waves, scattering mechanisms, radar cross section and stealth, and sample radar systems.

  20. A systematic method for characterizing the time-range performance of ground penetrating radar

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strange, A D

    2013-01-01

    The fundamental performance of ground penetrating radar (GPR) is linked to the ability to measure the signal time-of-flight in order to provide an accurate radar-to-target range estimate. Having knowledge of the actual time range and timing nonlinearities of a trace is therefore important when seeking to make quantitative range estimates. However, very few practical methods have been formally reported in the literature to characterize GPR time-range performance. This paper describes a method to accurately measure the true time range of a GPR to provide a quantitative assessment of the timing system performance and detect and quantify the effects of timing nonlinearity due to timing jitter. The effect of varying the number of samples per trace on the true time range has also been investigated and recommendations on how to minimize the effects of timing errors are described. The approach has been practically applied to characterize the timing performance of two commercial GPR systems. The importance of the method is that it provides the GPR community with a practical method to readily characterize the underlying accuracy of GPR systems. This in turn leads to enhanced target depth estimation as well as facilitating the accuracy of more sophisticated GPR signal processing methods. (paper)

  1. Simulation of recording the microwave holograms of complex objects by the near range radars

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. V. Razevig

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Radar is an object-detection technology that uses radio waves to determine the presence, range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. In the recent time, there is an increasingly arising interest to the near range microwave imaging that allows detection of the shape and, in some cases, the inner structure of the investigated objects.For design engineering and efficiency evaluation of the cutting-edge radars as well as for testing the developed recovery algorithms a set of microwave holograms of various objects obtained under different conditions is needed. Microwave holograms cannot be obtained only on the basis of the experimental researches related to the measurements of electromagnetic scattering by the real objects since such experiments are time consuming and quite expensive. Therefore, to simulate electromagnetic scattering processes via objects examination is quite a challenge.This investigation goal is to develop a computer simulation method to record the microwave holograms of complex objects by the near range radars.To specify the shape of the investigated objects, Autodesk 3ds Max (3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, and images is used. At a second stage the surface of the created object is described by a set of triangular facets. While calculating the reflected field, a final representation of the object as a set of point reflectors is used. Thus, the model of single scattering, is used without taking into consideration re-reflection and cross-influence of reflectors.Methods are also described to form the focused images of the microwave holograms that allow us to obtain a function describing object reflectivity, by which in most cases an object shape can be easily recognized.A comparison of computer-simulated holograms with experimental data proves the model adequacy.The model can be used to find a dependence of the plane resolution on used frequency, step of scanning, and distance to the object and a

  2. Range Sidelobe Suppression Using Complementary Sets in Distributed Multistatic Radar Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xuezhi; Song, Yongping; Huang, Xiaotao; Moran, Bill

    2017-01-01

    We propose an alternative waveform scheme built on mutually-orthogonal complementary sets for a distributed multistatic radar. Our analysis and simulation show a reduced frequency band requirement for signal separation between antennas with centralized signal processing using the same carrier frequency. While the scheme can tolerate fluctuations of carrier frequencies and phases, range sidelobes arise when carrier frequencies between antennas are significantly different. PMID:29295566

  3. Short-Range Vital Signs Sensing Based on EEMD and CWT Using IR-UWB Radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xikun Hu

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The radar sensor described realizes healthcare monitoring capable of detecting subject chest-wall movement caused by cardiopulmonary activities and wirelessly estimating the respiration and heartbeat rates of the subject without attaching any devices to the body. Conventional single-tone Doppler radar can only capture Doppler signatures because of a lack of bandwidth information with noncontact sensors. In contrast, we take full advantage of impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB radar to achieve low power consumption and convenient portability, with a flexible detection range and desirable accuracy. A noise reduction method based on improved ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD and a vital sign separation method based on the continuous-wavelet transform (CWT are proposed jointly to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR in order to acquire accurate respiration and heartbeat rates. Experimental results illustrate that respiration and heartbeat signals can be extracted accurately under different conditions. This noncontact healthcare sensor system proves the commercial feasibility and considerable accessibility of using compact IR-UWB radar for emerging biomedical applications.

  4. Frequency Diverse Array Radar Signal Processing via Space-Range-Doppler Focus (SRDF Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Xiaolong

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available To meet the urgent demand of low-observable moving target detection in complex environments, a novel method of Frequency Diverse Array (FDA radar signal processing method based on Space-Rang-Doppler Focusing (SRDF is proposed in this paper. The current development status of the FDA radar, the design of the array structure, beamforming, and joint estimation of distance and angle are systematically reviewed. The extra degrees of freedom provided by FDA radar are fully utilizsed, which include the Degrees Of Freedom (DOFs of the transmitted waveform, the location of array elements, correlation of beam azimuth and distance, and the long dwell time, which are also the DOFs in joint spatial (angle, distance, and frequency (Doppler dimensions. Simulation results show that the proposed method has the potential of improving target detection and parameter estimation for weak moving targets in complex environments and has broad application prospects in clutter and interference suppression, moving target refinement, etc..

  5. San Gabriel Mountains, California, Radar image, color as height

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-01-01

    This topographic radar image shows the relationship of the urban area of Pasadena, California to the natural contours of the land. The image includes the alluvial plain on which Pasadena and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory sit, and the steep range of the San Gabriel Mountains. The mountain front and the arcuate valley running from upper left to the lower right are active fault zones, along which the mountains are rising. The chaparral-covered slopes above Pasadena are also a prime area for wildfires and mudslides. Hazards from earthquakes, floods and fires are intimately related to the topography in this area. Topographic data and other remote sensing images provide valuable information for assessing and mitigating the natural hazards for cities along the front of active mountain ranges.This image combines two types of data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The image brightness corresponds to the strength of the radar signal reflected from the ground, while colors show the elevation as measured by SRTM. Colors range from blue at the lowest elevations to white at the highest elevations. This image contains about 2300 meters (7500 feet) of total relief. White speckles on the face of some of the mountains are holes in the data caused by steep terrain. These will be filled using coverage from an intersecting pass.The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), launched on February 11,2000, uses the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. The mission is designed to collect three-dimensional measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter-long (200-foot) mast, an additional C-band imaging antenna and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) and the

  6. Radar meteors range distribution model. II. Shower flux density and mass distribution index

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Pecinová, Drahomíra; Pecina, Petr

    2007-01-01

    Roč. 37, č. 2 (2007), s. 107-124 ISSN 1335-1842 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/03/1405 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : physics of meteors * radar meteors * range distribution Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

  7. Radar meteors range distribution model. III. Ablation, shape-density and self-similarity parameters

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Pecinová, Drahomíra; Pecina, Petr

    2007-01-01

    Roč. 37, č. 3 (2007), s. 147-160 ISSN 1335-1842 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/03/1405 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : physics of meteors * radar meteors * range distribution Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

  8. Joint inference of dominant scatterer locations and motion parameters of an extended target in high range-resolution radar

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    De Freitas, A

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available of scatterers using the PF method are compared with those obtained using standard range-Doppler inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging when using the same radar returns for both cases. The PF infers the location of scatterers more accurately than ISAR...

  9. In-flight measurements and RCS-predictions: A comparison on broad-side radar range profiles of a Boeing 737

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heiden, R. van der; Ewijk, L.J. van; Groen, F.C.A.

    1997-01-01

    The validation of Radar Cross Section (RCS) prediction techniques against real measurements is crucial to acquire confidence in predictions when measurements are not available. In this paper we present the first results of a comparison on one dimensional images, i.e., radar range profiles. The

  10. An earth remote sensing satellite- 1 Synthetic Aperture Radar Mosaic of the Tanana River Basin in Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wivell, Charles E.; Olmsted, Coert; Steinwand, Daniel R.; Taylor, Christopher

    1993-01-01

    Because the pixel location in a line of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image data is directly related to the distance the pixel is from the radar, terrain elevations cause large displacement errors in the geo-referenced location of the pixel. This is especially true for radar systems with small angles between the nadir and look vectors. Thus, to geo-register a SAR image accurately, the terrain of the area must be taken into account. (Curlander et al., 1987; Kwok et al., 1987, Schreier et al., 1990; Wivell et al., 1992). As part of the 1992 National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Observing System Version 0 activities, a prototype SAR geocod-. ing and terrain correction system was developed at the US. Geological Survey's (USGS) E~os Data Center (EDC) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Using this system with 3-arc-second digital elevation models (DEMs) mosaicked at the ED^ Alaska Field Office, 21 ERS-I s.4~ scenes acquired at the Alaska SAR Facility were automatically geocoded, terrain corrected, and mosaicked. The geo-registered scenes were mosaicked using a simple concatenation.

  11. Space Radar Image of Wenatchee, Washington

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-01-01

    This spaceborne radar image shows a segment of the Columbia River as it passes through the area of Wenatchee, Washington, about 220 kilometers (136 miles) east of Seattle. The Wenatchee Mountains, part of the Cascade Range, are shown in green at the lower left of the image. The Cascades create a 'rain shadow' for the region, limiting rainfall east of the range to less than 26 centimeters (10 inches) per year. The radar's ability to see different types of vegetation is highlighted in the contrast between the pine forests, that appear in green and the dry valley plain that shows up as dark purple. The cities of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee are the grid-like areas straddling the Columbia River in the left center of the image. With a population of about 60,000, the region produces about half of Washington state's lucrative apple crop. Several orchard areas appear as green rectangular patches to the right of the river in the lower right center. Radar images such as these can be used to monitor land use patterns in areas such as Wenatchee, that have diverse and rapidly changing urban, agricultural and wild land pressures. This image was acquired by Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) onboard the space shuttle Endeavour on October 10, 1994. The image is 38 kilometers by 45 kilometers (24 miles by 30 miles) and is centered at 47.3 degrees North latitude, 120.1 degrees West longitude. North is toward the upper left. The colors are assigned to different radar frequencies and polarizations of the radar as follows: red is L-band, horizontally transmitted and received; green is L-band, horizontally transmitted, vertically received; and blue is C-band, horizontally transmitted, vertically received. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the German, Italian, and United States space agencies, is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth.

  12. Observations of NEAs at Arecibo Observatory and NASA's IRTF: Combining Radar and Thermal Measurements to Better Understand NEA Physical Properties

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nolan, Michael C.; Vervack, R. J.; Howell, E. S.; Magri, C.; Fernandez, Y. R.; Taylor, P. A.; Mueller, M.; Rivkin, A. S.; Benner, L. A. M.

    2010-01-01

    As we sample ever-smaller sizes of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs), we see an increasing variation in the range of physical properties. Radar experiments show a diverse range of shapes, surface features, and rotation states among NEAs. Infrared observations of these objects are equally varied,

  13. Measurements of mesospheric ice aerosols using radars and rockets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Strelnikova, Irina; Li, Qiang; Strelnikov, Boris; Rapp, Markus [Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Kuehlungsborn (Germany)

    2010-07-01

    Polar summer mesopause is the coldest region of Earth's atmosphere with temperatures as low as minus 130 C. In this extreme environment ice aerosol layers have appeared. Larger aerosols can be seen from the ground as clouds known as NLC (Noctilucent clouds). Ice aerosols from sub-visible range give rise to the phenomena known as Polar Mesosphere Sommer Echo (PMSE). For efficient scattering, electron number density must be structured at the radar half wavelength (Bragg condition). The general requirement to allow for the observation of structures at VHF and higher frequencies is that the dust size (and charge number) must be large enough to extend the convective-diffusive subrange of the energy spectrum of electrons (by reducing their diffusivity) to the wavelength which is shorter than the Bragg-scale of the probing radar. In this paper we present main results of ice particles measurements inside the PMSE layers obtained from in situ rocket soundings and newly developed radar techniques.

  14. A digital beamforming processor for the joint DoD/NASA space based radar mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischman, Mark A.; Le, Charles; Rosen, Paul A.

    2004-01-01

    The Space Based Radar (SBR) program includes a joint technology demonstration between NASA and the Air Force to design a low-earth orbiting, 2x50 m L-band radar system for both Earth science and intelligence related observations.

  15. Understanding radar systems

    CERN Document Server

    Kingsley, Simon

    1999-01-01

    What is radar? What systems are currently in use? How do they work? This book provides engineers and scientists with answers to these critical questions, focusing on actual radar systems in use today. It is a perfect resource for those just entering the field, or as a quick refresher for experienced practitioners. The book leads readers through the specialized language and calculations that comprise the complex world of radar engineering as seen in dozens of state-of-the-art radar systems. An easy to read, wide ranging guide to the world of modern radar systems.

  16. Improving Weather Radar Precipitation Estimates by Combining two Types of Radars

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jesper Ellerbæk; Thorndahl, Søren Liedtke; Rasmussen, Michael R.

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents a demonstration of how Local Area Weather Radar (LAWR) X-band measurements can be combined with meteorological C–band measurements into a single radar product. For this purpose, a blending method has been developed which combines the strengths of the two radar systems. Combining...... the two radar types achieves a radar product with both long range and high temporal resolution. It is validated that the blended radar product performs better than the individual radars based on ground observations from laser disdrometers. However, the data combination is challenged by lower performance...... of the LAWR. Although both radars benefits from the data combination, it is also found that advection based temporal interpolation is a more favourable method for increasing the temporal resolution of meteorological C–band measurements....

  17. Radar and ARPA manual

    CERN Document Server

    Bole, A G

    2013-01-01

    Radar and ARPA Manual focuses on the theoretical and practical aspects of electronic navigation. The manual first discusses basic radar principles, including principles of range and bearing measurements and picture orientation and presentation. The text then looks at the operational principles of radar systems. Function of units; aerial, receiver, and display principles; transmitter principles; and sitting of units on board ships are discussed. The book also describes target detection, Automatic Radar Plotting Aids (ARPA), and operational controls of radar systems, and then discusses radar plo

  18. The Role of Cloud and Precipitation Radars in Convoys and Constellations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanelli, Simone; Durden, Stephen L.; Im, Eastwood; Sadowy, Gregory A.

    2013-01-01

    We provide an overview of which benefits a radar, and only a radar, can provide to any constellation of satellites monitoring Earth's atmosphere; which aspects instead are most useful to complement a radar instrument to provide accurate and complete description of the state of the troposphere; and finally which goals can be given a lower priority assuming that other types of sensors will be flying in formation with a radar.

  19. Synthetic range profiling, ISAR imaging of sea vessels and feature extraction, using a multimode radar to classify targets: initial results from field trials

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Abdul Gaffar, MY

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available tanazi@kacst.edu.sa, aazamil@kacst.edu.sa Abstract?This paper describes the design and working principles of an experimental multimode radar with a stepped-frequency Synthetic Range Profiling (SRP) and Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR...

  20. Unambiguous range-Doppler LADAR processing using 2 giga-sample-per-second noise waveforms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cole, Z.; Roos, P.A.; Berg, T.; Kaylor, B.; Merkel, K.D.; Babbitt, W.R.; Reibel, R.R.

    2007-01-01

    We demonstrate sub-nanosecond range and unambiguous sub-50-Hz Doppler resolved laser radar (LADAR) measurements using spectral holographic processing in rare-earth ion doped crystals. The demonstration utilizes pseudo-random-noise 2 giga-sample-per-second baseband waveforms modulated onto an optical carrier

  1. Unambiguous range-Doppler LADAR processing using 2 giga-sample-per-second noise waveforms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cole, Z. [S2 Corporation, 2310 University Way 4-1, Bozeman, MT 59715 (United States)]. E-mail: cole@s2corporation.com; Roos, P.A. [Spectrum Lab, Montana State University, P.O. Box 173510, Bozeman, MT 59717 (United States); Berg, T. [S2 Corporation, 2310 University Way 4-1, Bozeman, MT 59715 (United States); Kaylor, B. [S2 Corporation, 2310 University Way 4-1, Bozeman, MT 59715 (United States); Merkel, K.D. [S2 Corporation, 2310 University Way 4-1, Bozeman, MT 59715 (United States); Babbitt, W.R. [Spectrum Lab, Montana State University, P.O. Box 173510, Bozeman, MT 59717 (United States); Reibel, R.R. [S2 Corporation, 2310 University Way 4-1, Bozeman, MT 59715 (United States)

    2007-11-15

    We demonstrate sub-nanosecond range and unambiguous sub-50-Hz Doppler resolved laser radar (LADAR) measurements using spectral holographic processing in rare-earth ion doped crystals. The demonstration utilizes pseudo-random-noise 2 giga-sample-per-second baseband waveforms modulated onto an optical carrier.

  2. Synthetic pulse radar including a microprocessor based controller

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fowler, J.C.; Rubin, L.A.; Still, W.L.

    1980-01-01

    This invention relates to pulse radar detection of targets in extended media, including natural phenomena such as oil, coal and ore deposits within the earth. In particular, this invention relates to a pulse radar system employing a synthetic pulse formed from a fourier spectrum of frequencies generated and detected by a digitally controlled transmitter and receiver circuits

  3. Range resolution improvement in passive bistatic radars using nested FM channels and least squares approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arslan, Musa T.; Tofighi, Mohammad; Sevimli, Rasim A.; ćetin, Ahmet E.

    2015-05-01

    One of the main disadvantages of using commercial broadcasts in a Passive Bistatic Radar (PBR) system is the range resolution. Using multiple broadcast channels to improve the radar performance is offered as a solution to this problem. However, it suffers from detection performance due to the side-lobes that matched filter creates for using multiple channels. In this article, we introduce a deconvolution algorithm to suppress the side-lobes. The two-dimensional matched filter output of a PBR is further analyzed as a deconvolution problem. The deconvolution algorithm is based on making successive projections onto the hyperplanes representing the time delay of a target. Resulting iterative deconvolution algorithm is globally convergent because all constraint sets are closed and convex. Simulation results in an FM based PBR system are presented.

  4. Real-time multi-target ranging based on chaotic polarization laser radars in the drive-response VCSELs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhong, Dongzhou; Xu, Geliang; Luo, Wei; Xiao, Zhenzhen

    2017-09-04

    According to the principle of complete chaos synchronization and the theory of Hilbert phase transformation, we propose a novel real-time multi-target ranging scheme by using chaotic polarization laser radar in the drive-response vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). In the scheme, to ensure each polarization component (PC) of the master VCSEL (MVCSEL) to be synchronized steadily with that of the slave VCSEL, the output x-PC and y-PC from the MVCSEL in the drive system and those in the response system are modulated by the linear electro-optic effect simultaneously. Under this condition, by simulating the influences of some key parameters of the system on the synchronization quality and the relative errors of the two-target ranging, related operating parameters can be optimized. The x-PC and the y-PC, as two chaotic radar sources, are used to implement the real-time ranging for two targets. It is found that the measured distances of the two targets at arbitrary position exhibit strong real-time stability and only slight jitter. Their resolutions are up to millimeters, and their relative errors are very small and less than 2.7%.

  5. A Pedestrian Detection Scheme Using a Coherent Phase Difference Method Based on 2D Range-Doppler FMCW Radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hyun, Eugin; Jin, Young-Seok; Lee, Jong-Hun

    2016-01-01

    For an automotive pedestrian detection radar system, fast-ramp based 2D range-Doppler Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar is effective for distinguishing between moving targets and unwanted clutter. However, when a weak moving target such as a pedestrian exists together with strong clutter, the pedestrian may be masked by the side-lobe of the clutter even though they are notably separated in the Doppler dimension. To prevent this problem, one popular solution is the use of a windowing scheme with a weighting function. However, this method leads to a spread spectrum, so the pedestrian with weak signal power and slow Doppler may also be masked by the main-lobe of clutter. With a fast-ramp based FMCW radar, if the target is moving, the complex spectrum of the range- Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is changed with a constant phase difference over ramps. In contrast, the clutter exhibits constant phase irrespective of the ramps. Based on this fact, in this paper we propose a pedestrian detection for highly cluttered environments using a coherent phase difference method. By detecting the coherent phase difference from the complex spectrum of the range-FFT, we first extract the range profile of the moving pedestrians. Then, through the Doppler FFT, we obtain the 2D range-Doppler map for only the pedestrian. To test the proposed detection scheme, we have developed a real-time data logging system with a 24 GHz FMCW transceiver. In laboratory tests, we verified that the signal processing results from the proposed method were much better than those expected from the conventional 2D FFT-based detection method. PMID:26805835

  6. A Pedestrian Detection Scheme Using a Coherent Phase Difference Method Based on 2D Range-Doppler FMCW Radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eugin Hyun

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available For an automotive pedestrian detection radar system, fast-ramp based 2D range-Doppler Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW radar is effective for distinguishing between moving targets and unwanted clutter. However, when a weak moving target such as a pedestrian exists together with strong clutter, the pedestrian may be masked by the side-lobe of the clutter even though they are notably separated in the Doppler dimension. To prevent this problem, one popular solution is the use of a windowing scheme with a weighting function. However, this method leads to a spread spectrum, so the pedestrian with weak signal power and slow Doppler may also be masked by the main-lobe of clutter. With a fast-ramp based FMCW radar, if the target is moving, the complex spectrum of the range- Fast Fourier Transform (FFT is changed with a constant phase difference over ramps. In contrast, the clutter exhibits constant phase irrespective of the ramps. Based on this fact, in this paper we propose a pedestrian detection for highly cluttered environments using a coherent phase difference method. By detecting the coherent phase difference from the complex spectrum of the range-FFT, we first extract the range profile of the moving pedestrians. Then, through the Doppler FFT, we obtain the 2D range-Doppler map for only the pedestrian. To test the proposed detection scheme, we have developed a real-time data logging system with a 24 GHz FMCW transceiver. In laboratory tests, we verified that the signal processing results from the proposed method were much better than those expected from the conventional 2D FFT-based detection method.

  7. Non-Cooperative Target Recognition by Means of Singular Value Decomposition Applied to Radar High Resolution Range Profiles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patricia López-Rodríguez

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Radar high resolution range profiles are widely used among the target recognition community for the detection and identification of flying targets. In this paper, singular value decomposition is applied to extract the relevant information and to model each aircraft as a subspace. The identification algorithm is based on angle between subspaces and takes place in a transformed domain. In order to have a wide database of radar signatures and evaluate the performance, simulated range profiles are used as the recognition database while the test samples comprise data of actual range profiles collected in a measurement campaign. Thanks to the modeling of aircraft as subspaces only the valuable information of each target is used in the recognition process. Thus, one of the main advantages of using singular value decomposition, is that it helps to overcome the notable dissimilarities found in the shape and signal-to-noise ratio between actual and simulated profiles due to their difference in nature. Despite these differences, the recognition rates obtained with the algorithm are quite promising.

  8. Spin-image surface matching based target recognition in laser radar range imagery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Wang; Jian-Feng, Sun; Qi, Wang

    2010-01-01

    We explore the problem of in-plane rotation-invariance existing in the vertical detection of laser radar (Ladar) using the algorithm of spin-image surface matching. The method used to recognize the target in the range imagery of Ladar is time-consuming, owing to its complicated procedure, which violates the requirement of real-time target recognition in practical applications. To simplify the troublesome procedures, we improve the spin-image algorithm by introducing a statistical correlated coefficient into target recognition in range imagery of Ladar. The system performance is demonstrated on sixteen simulated noise range images with targets rotated through an arbitrary angle in plane. A high efficiency and an acceptable recognition rate obtained herein testify the validity of the improved algorithm for practical applications. The proposed algorithm not only solves the problem of in-plane rotation-invariance rationally, but also meets the real-time requirement. This paper ends with a comparison of the proposed method and the previous one. (classical areas of phenomenology)

  9. Full Waveform Analysis for Long-Range 3D Imaging Laser Radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wallace AndrewM

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The new generation of 3D imaging systems based on laser radar (ladar offers significant advantages in defense and security applications. In particular, it is possible to retrieve 3D shape information directly from the scene and separate a target from background or foreground clutter by extracting a narrow depth range from the field of view by range gating, either in the sensor or by postprocessing. We discuss and demonstrate the applicability of full-waveform ladar to produce multilayer 3D imagery, in which each pixel produces a complex temporal response that describes the scene structure. Such complexity caused by multiple and distributed reflection arises in many relevant scenarios, for example in viewing partially occluded targets, through semitransparent materials (e.g., windows and through distributed reflective media such as foliage. We demonstrate our methodology on 3D image data acquired by a scanning time-of-flight system, developed in our own laboratories, which uses the time-correlated single-photon counting technique.

  10. System aspects of the Indian MST radar facility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viswanathan, G.

    1986-01-01

    One of the major objectives of the Indian Middle Atmosphere Program is to investigate the motions of the middle atmosphere on temporal and spatial scales and the interaction between the three height regions of the middle atmosphere. Realizing the fact that radar technique has proven to be a very powerful tool for the study of Earth atmosphere, the Indian Middle Atmosphere Program has recommended establishing a mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere (MST) radar as a national facility for atmospheric research. The major landmarks in this attempt to setup the MST radar as a national facility are described.

  11. Aercibo S-band radar program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Campbell, D.B.

    1988-01-01

    The high powered 12.6 cm wavelength radar on the 1000-ft Arecibo reflector is utilized for a number of solar system studies. Chief among these are: (1) surface reflectivity mapping of Venus, Mercury and the Moon. Resolutions achievable on Venus are less than 1.5 km over some areas, for Mercury about 30 km and for the Moon 200 m at present, (2) high time resolution ranging measurements to the surfaces of the terrestrial planets. These measurements are used to obtain profiles and scattering parameters in the equatorial region. They can also be used to test relativistic and gravitational theories by monitoring the rate of advance of the perihelion of the orbit of Mercury and placing limits on the stability of the gravitational constant, (3) measurements of the orbital parameters, figure, spin vector and surface properties of asteroids and comets, and (4) observations of the Galilean Satellites of Jupiter and the satellites of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. The Galilean Satellites of Jupiter were re-observed with the 12.6 cm radar for the first time since 1981. Much more accurate measurements of the scattering properties of the three icy satellites were obtained that generally confirmed previous observations. Unambiguous measurements of the cross section and circular polarizations ratio of Io were also obtained for the first time. The radar scattering properties of four mainbelt asteroids and one near-earth asteroid were studied

  12. Radar network communication through sensing of frequency hopping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dowla, Farid; Nekoogar, Faranak

    2013-05-28

    In one embodiment, a radar communication system includes a plurality of radars having a communication range and being capable of operating at a sensing frequency and a reporting frequency, wherein the reporting frequency is different than the sensing frequency, each radar is adapted for operating at the sensing frequency until an event is detected, each radar in the plurality of radars has an identification/location frequency for reporting information different from the sensing frequency, a first radar of the radars which senses the event sends a reporting frequency corresponding to its identification/location frequency when the event is detected, and all other radars in the plurality of radars switch their reporting frequencies to match the reporting frequency of the first radar upon detecting the reporting frequency switch of a radar within the communication range. In another embodiment, a method is presented for communicating information in a radar system.

  13. Radar principles for the nonspecialist, 3rd edition

    CERN Document Server

    Toomay, John

    2004-01-01

    Radar Principles for the Non-specialist, Third Edition continues its popular tradition: to distill the very complex technology of radar into its fundamentals, tying them to the laws of nature on one end and to the most modern and complex systems on the other. It starts with electromagnetic propagation, describes a radar of the utmost simplicity, and derives the radar range equation from that simple radar. Once the range equation is available, the book attacks the meaning of each term in it, moving through antennas, detection and tracking, radar cross-section, waveforms andsignal proces

  14. Goldstone radar images of near-Earth asteroids (469896) 2007 WV4, 2014 JO25, 2017 BQ6, and 2017 CS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brozovic, Marina; Benner, Lance A. M.; Naidu, Shantanu P.; Giorgini, Jon D.; Busch, Michael; Jao, Joseph; Lee, Clement; Snedeker, Lawrence; Silva, Marc; Slade, Martin A.; Lawrence, Kenneth J.

    2017-10-01

    We report Goldstone delay-Doppler radar imaging of four NEAs obtained during February-June 2017. The signal-to-noise ratios were very strong for each object and we obtained detailed images with range resolutions as fine as 3.75 m/pixel. Delay-Doppler imaging revealed that 2017 BQ6 is a strikingly angular object roughly ~200 m in diameter with a rotation period of ~3 h. The multi-faceted shape is puzzling assuming a rubble-pile structure of this asteroid. 2017 CS was discovered by Pan-STARRS 1 on February 2 and approached within 8 lunar distances on May 29. 2017 CS appears rounded on large scales but has considerable fine-scale topography evident along its leading edges. The images suggest a diameter of ~1 km and rotation visible in the images is consistent with the 40 h rotation period obtained independently by from photometry by P. Pravec (pers. comm.). The highest resolution images show evidence for meter-size boulders, ridges, and broad concavities. 2007 WV4 was imaged in late May and early June. 2007 WV4 appears distinctly angular, with a diameter in the realm of 900 meters, and with at least three large facets more than 100 m in extent. Tracking of features in the images gives a rotation period of about 12 hours. The echoes show a persistent, small topographic feature that extends out from the surface. The nature of this feature is unknown, but it may be a large boulder similar to Yoshinodai seen on 25143 Itokawa. 2014 JO25 approached within 4.6 lunar distances on April 19. This was the closest encounter by an asteroid with an absolute magnitude brighter than 18 known in advance until 2027, when 1999 AN10 will approach within one lunar distance. Radar imaging shows that 2014 JO25 is an irregular object, which consists of two components connected by a narrow neck. The asteroid has a long axis of about 1 km and a short axis of roughly 600 m. The 3.75 m range resolution imaging placed thousands of pixels on the object and reveals ridges, hills, concavities, flat

  15. Signal processing in noise waveform radar

    CERN Document Server

    Kulpa, Krzysztof

    2013-01-01

    This book is devoted to the emerging technology of noise waveform radar and its signal processing aspects. It is a new kind of radar, which use noise-like waveform to illuminate the target. The book includes an introduction to basic radar theory, starting from classical pulse radar, signal compression, and wave radar. The book then discusses the properties, difficulties and potential of noise radar systems, primarily for low-power and short-range civil applications. The contribution of modern signal processing techniques to making noise radar practical are emphasized, and application examples

  16. Earth observation from the manned low Earth orbit platforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Huadong; Dou, Changyong; Zhang, Xiaodong; Han, Chunming; Yue, Xijuan

    2016-05-01

    The manned low Earth orbit platforms (MLEOPs), e.g., the U.S. and Russia's human space vehicles, the International Space Station (ISS) and Chinese Tiangong-1 experimental space laboratory not only provide laboratories for scientific experiments in a wide range of disciplines, but also serve as exceptional platforms for remote observation of the Earth, astronomical objects and space environment. As the early orbiting platforms, the MLEOPs provide humans with revolutionary accessibility to the regions on Earth never seen before. Earth observation from MLEOPs began in early 1960s, as a part of manned space flight programs, and will continue with the ISS and upcoming Chinese Space Station. Through a series of flight missions, various and a large amount of Earth observing datasets have been acquired using handheld cameras by crewmembers as well as automated sophisticated sensors onboard these space vehicles. Utilizing these datasets many researches have been conducted, demonstrating the importance and uniqueness of studying Earth from a vantage point of MLEOPs. For example, the first, near-global scale digital elevation model (DEM) was developed from data obtained during the shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM). This review intends to provide an overview of Earth observations from MLEOPs and present applications conducted by the datasets collected by these missions. As the ISS is the most typical representative of MLEOPs, an introduction to it, including orbital characteristics, payload accommodations, and current and proposed sensors, is emphasized. The advantages and challenges of Earth observation from MLEOPs, using the ISS as an example, is also addressed. At last, a conclusive note is drawn.

  17. Research on effect of rough surface on FMCW laser radar range accuracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tao, Huirong

    2018-03-01

    The non-cooperative targets large scale measurement system based on frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) laser detection and ranging technology has broad application prospects. It is easy to automate measurement without cooperative targets. However, the complexity and diversity of the surface characteristics of the measured surface directly affects the measurement accuracy. First, the theoretical analysis of range accuracy for a FMCW laser radar was studied, the relationship between surface reflectivity and accuracy was obtained. Then, to verify the effect of surface reflectance for ranging accuracy, a standard tool ball and three standard roughness samples were measured within 7 m to 24 m. The uncertainty of each target was obtained. The results show that the measurement accuracy is found to increase as the surface reflectivity gets larger. Good agreements were obtained between theoretical analysis and measurements from rough surfaces. Otherwise, when the laser spot diameter is smaller than the surface correlation length, a multi-point averaged measurement can reduce the measurement uncertainty. The experimental results show that this method is feasible.

  18. Doppler radar observation of thunderstorm circulation in the 1977 trip program. [triple Doppler radar network for lightning detection and ranging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lhermitte, R. M.; Conte, D.; Pasqualucci, F.; Lennon, C.; Serafin, R. J.

    1978-01-01

    Storm data obtained on August 1, 1977 are examined in an attempt to interpret the relationship between lightning occurrence and the thunderstorm inner dynamics and precipitation processes. Horizontal maps are presented which indicated the position of radiation sources detected by the Lightning Detection and Ranging (LDAR) network, together with the horizontal motion fields and radar reflectivity data. Detailed inspection of these fields showed that, although radiation sources are found in the vicinity of precipitation cells, they are not located in the heavy precipitation areas, but rather on their rear side in regions where the configuration of the wind fields suggests the presence of updrafts.

  19. Exploring Vesta's Surface Roughness and Dielectric Properties Using VIR Spectrometer and Bistatic Radar Observations by the Dawn Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer, E. M.; Heggy, E.; Capria, M. T.; Tosi, F.; Kofman, W. W.; Russell, C. T.

    2014-12-01

    Multiple lines of evidence from NASA's Dawn mission suggest transient volatile presence at the surface of asteroid Vesta. Radar remote sensing is a useful technique for the investigation of volatile content at the surface and shallow subsurface, but requires the use of accurate dielectric and topographic models in order to deconvolve the effect of surface roughness from the total observed radar backscatter. Toward this end, we construct a dielectric model for the dry, volatile-poor case of Vesta's surface to represent average surface conditions, and to assess the expected average range of dielectric properties due to known variations in mineralogy, temperature, and density as inferred from Dawn VIR data. We employ dielectric studies of lunar samples to serve as a suitable analog to the Vestan regolith, and in the case of 10-wavelength penetration depth of X-band frequency radar observations, our model yields ɛ' from 2.5 to 2.6 from the night to dayside of Vesta, and tan δ from 0.011 to 0.014. Our estimation of ɛ' corresponds to specular surface reflectivity of ~0.05. In addition to modeling, we have also conducted an opportunistic bistatic radar (BSR) experiment at Vesta using the communications antennas aboard Dawn and on Earth. In this configuration, Dawn transmits a continuous radar signal toward the Earth while orbiting Vesta. As the Dawn spacecraft passes behind Vesta (entering an occultation), the line of sight between Dawn and Earth intersects Vesta's surface, resulting in a reflection of radar waves from the surface and shallow subsurface, which are then received on Earth for analysis. The geometry of the Dawn BSR experiment results in high incidence angles on Vesta's surface, and leads to a differential Doppler shift of only a few 10s of Hz between the direct signal and the surface echo. As a consequence, this introduces ambiguity in the measurement of bandwidth and peak power of each surface echo. We report our interpretations of each surface echo in

  20. A review of array radars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brookner, E.

    1981-10-01

    Achievements in the area of array radars are illustrated by such activities as the operational deployment of the large high-power, high-range-resolution Cobra Dane; the operational deployment of two all-solid-state high-power, large UHF Pave Paws radars; and the development of the SAM multifunction Patriot radar. This paper reviews the following topics: array radars steered in azimuth and elevation by phase shifting (phase-phase steered arrays); arrays steered + or - 60 deg, limited scan arrays, hemispherical coverage, and omnidirectional coverage arrays; array radars steering electronically in only one dimension, either by frequency or by phase steering; and array radar antennas which use no electronic scanning but instead use array antennas for achieving low antenna sidelobes.

  1. Range Sidelobe Response from the Use of Polyphase Signals in Spotlight Synthetic Aperture Radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-12-01

    the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL December 2015 Approved by...depicted in Figure 30. Figure 30. Top- Level Diagram of Radar Operation Adapted from [1]: M. Skolnik, Introduction to Radar Systems, 3rd ed., New York...Figure 37. Notional Synthetic Aperture Data Matrix In this chapter, we reviewed top- level radar concepts and generated the equations that describe

  2. Davenport Ranges, Northern Territory, Australia, SRTM Shaded Relief and Colored Height

    Science.gov (United States)

    2005-01-01

    The Davenport Ranges of central Australia have been inferred to be among the oldest persisting landforms on Earth, founded on the belief that the interior of Australia has been tectonically stable for at least 700 million years. New rock age dating techniques indicate that substantial erosion has probably occurred over that time period and that the landforms are not nearly that old, but landscape evolution certainly occurs much slower here (at least now) than is typical across Earth's surface. Regardless of their antiquity, the Davenport Ranges exhibit a striking landform pattern as shown in this display of elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Quartzites and other erosion resistant strata form ridges within anticlinal (arched up) and synclinal (arched down) ovals and zigzags. These structures, if not the landforms, likely date back at least hundreds of millions of years, to a time when tectonic forces were active. Maximum local relief is only about 60 meters (about 200 feet), which is enough to contrast greatly with the extremely low relief surrounding terrain. Two visualization methods were combined to produce this image: shading and color coding of topographic height. The shade image was derived by computing topographic slope in the northeast-southwest (image top to bottom) direction, so that northeast slopes appear bright and southwest slopes appear dark. Color coding is directly related to topographic height, with green at the lower elevations, rising through yellow and tan, to white at the highest elevations. Elevation data used in this image were acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data

  3. Digital Beamforming Synthetic Aperture Radar Developments at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rincon, Rafael; Fatoyinbo, Temilola; Osmanoglu, Batuhan; Lee, Seung Kuk; Du Toit, Cornelis F.; Perrine, Martin; Ranson, K. Jon; Sun, Guoqing; Deshpande, Manohar; Beck, Jaclyn; hide

    2016-01-01

    Advanced Digital Beamforming (DBF) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology is an area of research and development pursued at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Advanced SAR architectures enhances radar performance and opens a new set of capabilities in radar remote sensing. DBSAR-2 and EcoSAR are two state-of-the-art radar systems recently developed and tested. These new instruments employ multiple input-multiple output (MIMO) architectures characterized by multi-mode operation, software defined waveform generation, digital beamforming, and configurable radar parameters. The instruments have been developed to support several disciplines in Earth and Planetary sciences. This paper describes the radars advanced features and report on the latest SAR processing and calibration efforts.

  4. Toward a Framework for Systematic Error Modeling of NASA Spaceborne Radar with NOAA/NSSL Ground Radar-Based National Mosaic QPE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirstettier, Pierre-Emmanual; Honh, Y.; Gourley, J. J.; Chen, S.; Flamig, Z.; Zhang, J.; Howard, K.; Schwaller, M.; Petersen, W.; Amitai, E.

    2011-01-01

    Characterization of the error associated to satellite rainfall estimates is a necessary component of deterministic and probabilistic frameworks involving space-born passive and active microwave measurement") for applications ranging from water budget studies to forecasting natural hazards related to extreme rainfall events. We focus here on the error structure of NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) at ground. The problem is addressed by comparison of PR QPEs with reference values derived from ground-based measurements using NOAA/NSSL ground radar-based National Mosaic and QPE system (NMQ/Q2). A preliminary investigation of this subject has been carried out at the PR estimation scale (instantaneous and 5 km) using a three-month data sample in the southern part of US. The primary contribution of this study is the presentation of the detailed steps required to derive trustworthy reference rainfall dataset from Q2 at the PR pixel resolution. It relics on a bias correction and a radar quality index, both of which provide a basis to filter out the less trustworthy Q2 values. Several aspects of PR errors arc revealed and quantified including sensitivity to the processing steps with the reference rainfall, comparisons of rainfall detectability and rainfall rate distributions, spatial representativeness of error, and separation of systematic biases and random errors. The methodology and framework developed herein applies more generally to rainfall rate estimates from other sensors onboard low-earth orbiting satellites such as microwave imagers and dual-wavelength radars such as with the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission.

  5. Space Radar Image of West Texas - SAR scan

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-01-01

    This radar image of the Midland/Odessa region of West Texas, demonstrates an experimental technique, called ScanSAR, that allows scientists to rapidly image large areas of the Earth's surface. The large image covers an area 245 kilometers by 225 kilometers (152 miles by 139 miles). It was obtained by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) flying aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on October 5, 1994. The smaller inset image is a standard SIR-C image showing a portion of the same area, 100 kilometers by 57 kilometers (62 miles by 35 miles) and was taken during the first flight of SIR-C on April 14, 1994. The bright spots on the right side of the image are the cities of Odessa (left) and Midland (right), Texas. The Pecos River runs from the top center to the bottom center of the image. Along the left side of the image are, from top to bottom, parts of the Guadalupe, Davis and Santiago Mountains. North is toward the upper right. Unlike conventional radar imaging, in which a radar continuously illuminates a single ground swath as the space shuttle passes over the terrain, a Scansar radar illuminates several adjacent ground swaths almost simultaneously, by 'scanning' the radar beam across a large area in a rapid sequence. The adjacent swaths, typically about 50 km (31 miles) wide, are then merged during ground processing to produce a single large scene. Illumination for this L-band scene is from the top of the image. The beams were scanned from the top of the scene to the bottom, as the shuttle flew from left to right. This scene was acquired in about 30 seconds. A normal SIR-C image is acquired in about 13 seconds. The ScanSAR mode will likely be used on future radar sensors to construct regional and possibly global radar images and topographic maps. The ScanSAR processor is being designed for 1996 implementation at NASA's Alaska SAR Facility, located at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and will produce digital images from the

  6. Effects of Analog-to-Digital Converter Nonlinearities on Radar Range-Doppler Maps

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Doerry, Armin Walter [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Dubbert, Dale F. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Tise, Bertice L. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2014-07-01

    Radar operation, particularly Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) radar modes, are very sensitive to anomalous effects of system nonlinearities. These throw off harmonic spurs that are sometimes detected as false alarms. One significant source of nonlinear behavior is the Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). One measure of its undesired nonlinearity is its Integral Nonlinearity (INL) specification. We examine in this report the relationship of INL to GMTI performance.

  7. Radar-to-Radar Interference Suppression for Distributed Radar Sensor Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wen-Qin Wang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Radar sensor networks, including bi- and multi-static radars, provide several operational advantages, like reduced vulnerability, good system flexibility and an increased radar cross-section. However, radar-to-radar interference suppression is a major problem in distributed radar sensor networks. In this paper, we present a cross-matched filtering-based radar-to-radar interference suppression algorithm. This algorithm first uses an iterative filtering algorithm to suppress the radar-to-radar interferences and, then, separately matched filtering for each radar. Besides the detailed algorithm derivation, extensive numerical simulation examples are performed with the down-chirp and up-chirp waveforms, partially overlapped or inverse chirp rate linearly frequency modulation (LFM waveforms and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (ODFM chirp diverse waveforms. The effectiveness of the algorithm is verified by the simulation results.

  8. Detection of buried pipes by polarimetric borehole radar; Polarimetric borehole radar ni yoru maisetsukan no kenshutsu jikken

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sato, M.; Niitsuma, H. [Tohoku University, Sendai (Japan); Nakauchi, T. [Osaka Gas Co. Ltd., Osaka (Japan)

    1997-05-27

    If the borehole radar is utilized for detection of buried pipes, the underground radar measurement becomes possible even in the situation where the mesurement on the earth surface is difficult, for example, such a place as under the road where there is much traffic. However, since buried pipes are horizontally installed and the existing borehole radar can send/receive only vertical polarization, the measurement conducted comes to be poor in efficiency from a viewpoint of the polarization utilization. Therefore, by introducing the polarimetric borehole radar to the detection of buried pipes, a basic experiment was conducted for the effective detection of horizontal buried pipes. Proposing the use of a slot antenna which can send/receive horizontal polarization in borehole in addition to a dipole antenna which sends/receives vertical polarization, developed was a step frequency type continuous wave radar of a network analyzer basis. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that reflection from buried pipes is largely dependent on polarization. Especially, it was found that in the slot dipole cross polarization mesurement, reflection from buried pipes can be emphasized. 4 refs., 5 figs.

  9. Detection performance improvement of FMCW radar using frequency shift

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wu, Y.; Linnartz, J.P.M.G.

    2011-01-01

    Frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radars have been widely used for measuring target range and speed. In this paper, we present a mathematical model that quantifies the system-level performance of FMCW radar systems. In FMCW radar, the target range is measured through measuring the beat

  10. Meteor detection on ST (MST) radars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Avery, S.K.

    1987-01-01

    The ability to detect radar echoes from backscatter due to turbulent irregularities of the radio refractive index in the clear atmosphere has lead to an increasing number of established mesosphere - stratosphere - troposphere (MST or ST) radars. Humidity and temperature variations are responsible for the echo in the troposphere and stratosphere and turbulence acting on electron density gradients provides the echo in the mesosphere. The MST radar and its smaller version, the ST radar, are pulsed Doppler radars operating in the VHF - UHF frequency range. These echoes can be used to determine upper atmosphere winds at little extra cost to the ST radar configuration. In addition, the meteor echoes can supplement mesospheric data from an MST radar. The detection techniques required on the ST radar for delineating meteor echo returns are described

  11. IoSiS: a radar system for imaging of satellites in space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jirousek, M.; Anger, S.; Dill, S.; Schreiber, E.; Peichl, M.

    2017-05-01

    Space debris nowadays is one of the main threats for satellite systems especially in low earth orbit (LEO). More than 700,000 debris objects with potential to destroy or damage a satellite are estimated. The effects of an impact often are not identifiable directly from ground. High-resolution radar images are helpful in analyzing a possible damage. Therefor DLR is currently developing a radar system called IoSiS (Imaging of Satellites in Space), being based on an existing steering antenna structure and our multi-purpose high-performance radar system GigaRad for experimental investigations. GigaRad is a multi-channel system operating at X band and using a bandwidth of up to 4.4 GHz in the IoSiS configuration, providing fully separated transmit (TX) and receive (RX) channels, and separated antennas. For the observation of small satellites or space debris a highpower traveling-wave-tube amplifier (TWTA) is mounted close to the TX antenna feed. For the experimental phase IoSiS uses a 9 m TX and a 1 m RX antenna mounted on a common steerable positioner. High-resolution radar images are obtained by using Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) techniques. The guided tracking of known objects during overpass allows here wide azimuth observation angles. Thus high azimuth resolution comparable to the range resolution can be achieved. This paper outlines technical main characteristics of the IoSiS radar system including the basic setup of the antenna, the radar instrument with the RF error correction, and the measurement strategy. Also a short description about a simulation tool for the whole instrument and expected images is shown.

  12. Mapping ionospheric backscatter measured by the SuperDARN HF radars – Part 2: Assessing SuperDARN virtual height models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. K. Yeoman

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN network of HF coherent backscatter radars form a unique global diagnostic of large-scale ionospheric and magnetospheric dynamics in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Currently the ground projections of the HF radar returns are routinely determined by a simple rangefinding algorithm, which takes no account of the prevailing, or indeed the average, HF propagation conditions. This is in spite of the fact that both direct E- and F-region backscatter and 1½-hop E- and F-region backscatter are commonly used in geophysical interpretation of the data. In a companion paper, Chisham et al. (2008 have suggested a new virtual height model for SuperDARN, based on average measured propagation paths. Over shorter propagation paths the existing rangefinding algorithm is adequate, but mapping errors become significant for longer paths where the roundness of the Earth becomes important, and a correct assumption of virtual height becomes more difficult. The SuperDARN radar at Hankasalmi has a propagation path to high power HF ionospheric modification facilities at both Tromsø on a ½-hop path and SPEAR on a 1½-hop path. The SuperDARN radar at Þykkvibǽr has propagation paths to both facilities over 1½-hop paths. These paths provide an opportunity to quantitatively test the available SuperDARN virtual height models. It is also possible to use HF radar backscatter which has been artificially induced by the ionospheric heaters as an accurate calibration point for the Hankasalmi elevation angle of arrival data, providing a range correction algorithm for the SuperDARN radars which directly uses elevation angle. These developments enable the accurate mappings of the SuperDARN electric field measurements which are required for the growing number of multi-instrument studies of the Earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere.

  13. Radar rainfall image repair techniques

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephen M. Wesson

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available There are various quality problems associated with radar rainfall data viewed in images that include ground clutter, beam blocking and anomalous propagation, to name a few. To obtain the best rainfall estimate possible, techniques for removing ground clutter (non-meteorological echoes that influence radar data quality on 2-D radar rainfall image data sets are presented here. These techniques concentrate on repairing the images in both a computationally fast and accurate manner, and are nearest neighbour techniques of two sub-types: Individual Target and Border Tracing. The contaminated data is estimated through Kriging, considered the optimal technique for the spatial interpolation of Gaussian data, where the 'screening effect' that occurs with the Kriging weighting distribution around target points is exploited to ensure computational efficiency. Matrix rank reduction techniques in combination with Singular Value Decomposition (SVD are also suggested for finding an efficient solution to the Kriging Equations which can cope with near singular systems. Rainfall estimation at ground level from radar rainfall volume scan data is of interest and importance in earth bound applications such as hydrology and agriculture. As an extension of the above, Ordinary Kriging is applied to three-dimensional radar rainfall data to estimate rainfall rate at ground level. Keywords: ground clutter, data infilling, Ordinary Kriging, nearest neighbours, Singular Value Decomposition, border tracing, computation time, ground level rainfall estimation

  14. Monitoring civil infrastructure using satellite radar interferometry

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chang, L.

    2015-01-01

    Satellite radar interferometry (InSAR) is a precise and efficient technique to monitor deformation on Earth with millimeter precision. Most InSAR applications focus on geophysical phenomena, such as earthquakes, volcanoes, or subsidence. Monitoring civil infrastructure with InSAR is relatively new,

  15. Solvent extraction treatment of PCB contaminated soil at Sparrevohn Long Range Radar Station, Alaska

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weimer, L. D.

    1999-01-01

    On-site soil treatment at a long range radar station in Alaska, which was contaminated with between 50 and 350 mg/kg of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is described. The stock-piled soil was treated by the Terra Kleen Response Group, using a solvent extraction process. After the treatment, PCB concentrations in the treated soil were found to have been reduced to less than the target treatment level of 15 mg/kg. Not only was the process successful, it also saved the government about $ 1 million over what hauling and off-site treatment and disposal would have cost. 1 tab

  16. Space Radar Image of Bahia

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-01-01

    limited by the nearly continuous cloud cover in the region and heavy rainfall, which occurs more than 150 days each year. The ability of the shuttle radars to 'see' through the forest canopy to the cultivated cacao below -- independent of weather or sunlight conditions --will allow researchers to distinguish forest from cabruca in unprecedented detail. This SIR-C/X-SAR image was produced by assigning red to the L-band, green to the C-band and blue to the X-band. The Una Reserve is located in the middle of the image west of the coastline and slightly northwest of Comandatuba River. The reserve's primary forests are easily detected by the pink areas in the image. The intensity of red in these areas is due to the high density of forest vegetation (biomass) detected by the radar's L-band (horizontally transmitted and vertically received) channel. Secondary forest is visible along the reserve's eastern border. The Serrado Mar mountain range is located in the top left portion of the image. Cabruca forest to the west of Una Reserve has a different texture and a yellow color. The removal of understory in cabruca forest reduces its biomass relative to primary forest, which changes the L-band and C-band penetration depth and returns, and produces a different texture and color in the image. The region along the Atlantic is mainly mangrove swamp, agricultural fields and urban areas. The high intensity of blue in this region is a result of increasing X-band return in areas covered with swamp and low vegetation. The image clearly separates the mangrove region (east of coastal Highway 001, shown in blue) from the taller and dryer forest west of the highway. The high resolution capability of SIR-C/X-SAR imaging and the sensitivity of its frequency and polarization channels to various land covers will be used for monitoring and mapping areas of importance for conservation. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar(SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth

  17. Survey of Ultra-wideband Radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mokole, Eric L.; Hansen, Pete

    The development of UWB radar over the last four decades is very briefly summarized. A discussion of the meaning of UWB is followed by a short history of UWB radar developments and discussions of key supporting technologies and current UWB radars. Selected UWB radars and the associated applications are highlighted. Applications include detecting and imaging buried mines, detecting and mapping underground utilities, detecting and imaging objects obscured by foliage, through-wall detection in urban areas, short-range detection of suicide bombs, and the characterization of the impulse responses of various artificial and naturally occurring scattering objects. In particular, the Naval Research Laboratory's experimental, low-power, dual-polarized, short-pulse, ultra-high resolution radar is used to discuss applications and issues of UWB radar. Some crucial issues that are problematic to UWB radar are spectral availability, electromagnetic interference and compatibility, difficulties with waveform control/shaping, hardware limitations in the transmission chain, and the unreliability of high-power sources for sustained use above 2 GHz.

  18. Space Radar Image of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-01-01

    This is a deformation map of the south flank of Kilauea volcano on the big island of Hawaii, centered at 19.5 degrees north latitude and 155.25 degrees west longitude. The map was created by combining interferometric radar data -- that is data acquired on different passes of the space shuttle which are then overlayed to obtain elevation information -- acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar during its first flight in April 1994 and its second flight in October 1994. The area shown is approximately 40 kilometers by 80 kilometers (25 miles by 50 miles). North is toward the upper left of the image. The colors indicate the displacement of the surface in the direction that the radar instrument was pointed (toward the right of the image) in the six months between images. The analysis of ground movement is preliminary, but appears consistent with the motions detected by the Global Positioning System ground receivers that have been used over the past five years. The south flank of the Kilauea volcano is among the most rapidly deforming terrains on Earth. Several regions show motions over the six-month time period. Most obvious is at the base of Hilina Pali, where 10 centimeters (4 inches) or more of crustal deformation can be seen in a concentrated area near the coastline. On a more localized scale, the currently active Pu'u O'o summit also shows about 10 centimeters (4 inches) of change near the vent area. Finally, there are indications of additional movement along the upper southwest rift zone, just below the Kilauea caldera in the image. Deformation of the south flank is believed to be the result of movements along faults deep beneath the surface of the volcano, as well as injections of magma, or molten rock, into the volcano's 'plumbing' system. Detection of ground motions from space has proven to be a unique capability of imaging radar technology. Scientists hope to use deformation data acquired by SIR-C/X-SAR and future imaging

  19. Bistatic radar

    CERN Document Server

    Willis, Nick

    2004-01-01

    Annotation his book is a major extension of a chapter on bistatic radar written by the author for the Radar Handbook, 2nd edition, edited by Merrill Skolnik. It provides a history of bistatic systems that points out to potential designers the applications that have worked and the dead-ends not worth pursuing. The text reviews the basic concepts and definitions, and explains the mathematical development of relationships, such as geometry, Ovals of Cassini, dynamic range, isorange and isodoppler contours, target doppler, and clutter doppler spread.Key Features * All development and analysis are

  20. Radar Observations of Asteroid 101955 Bennu and the OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nolan, M. C.; Benner, L.; Giorgini, J. D.; Howell, E. S.; Kerr, R.; Lauretta, D. S.; Magri, C.; Margot, J. L.; Scheeres, D. J.

    2017-12-01

    On September 24, 2023, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will return a sample of asteroid (101955) Bennu to the Earth. We chose the target of this mission in part because of the work we did over more than a decade using the Arecibo and Goldstone planetary radars to observe this asteroid. We observed Bennu (then known as 1999 RQ36) at Arecibo and Goldstone in 1999 and 2005, and at Arecibo in 2011. Radar imaging from the first two observing epochs provided a shape and size for Bennu, which greatly simplified mission planning. We know that the spacecraft will encounter a roundish asteroid 500 m in diameter with a distinct equatorial ridge [Nolan et al., 2013]. Bennu does not have the dramatic concavities seen in Itokawa and comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the Hayabusa and Rosetta mission targets, respectively, which would have been obvious in radar imaging. Further radar ranging in 2011 provided a detection of the Yarkovsky effect, allowing us to constrain Bennu's mass and bulk density from radar measurement of non-gravitational forces acting on its orbit [Chesley et al., 2014]. The 2011 observations were particularly challenging, occurring during a management transition at the Arecibo Observatory, and would not have been possible without significant extra cooperation between the old and new managing organizations. As a result, we can predict Bennu's position to within a few km over the next 100 years, until its close encounter with the Earth in 2135. We know its shape to within ± 10 m (1σ) on the long and intermediate axes and ± 52 m on the polar diameter, and its pole orientation to within 5 degrees. The bulk density is 1260 ± 70 kg/m3 and the rotation is retrograde with a 4.297 ± 0.002 h period The OSIRIS-REx team is using these constraints to preplan the initial stages of proximity operations and dramatically reduce risk. The Figure shows the model and Arecibo radar images from 1999 (left), 2005 (center), and 2011 (right). Bennu is the faint dot near the center of

  1. Multi-Gigahertz radar range processing of baseband and RF carrier modulated signals in Tm:YAG

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Merkel, K.D.; Krishna Mohan, R.; Cole, Z.; Chang, T.; Olson, A.; Babbitt, W.R.

    2004-01-01

    An optical device is described and demonstrated that uses a spatial-spectral holographic material to perform coherent signal processing operations on analog, high-bandwidth optical signals with large time-bandwidth-products. Signal processing is performed as the material records the coherent spectral interference (or cross-power spectrum) of modulated optical signals as a spatial-spectral population grating between electronic transition states. Multiple exposures of processing pulse sequences are integrated with increasing grating strength. The device, coined as the Spatial-Spectral Coherent Holographic Integrating Processor (or S 2 -CHIP), is described as currently envisioned for a broadband, mid-to-high pulse repetition frequency range-Doppler radar signal processing system. Experiments were performed in Tm:YAG (0.1 at% at 5 K) to demonstrate time delay variation, integration dynamics, and effects of coding as applied to a radar range processor. These demonstrations used baseband modulation with a 1 gigabit per second (GPBS) bit rate and code length of 512 bits (512 ns), where delays up to 1.0 μs were resolved with greater than a 40 dB peak to RMS sidelobe ratio after 800 processing shots. Multi-GHz processing was demonstrated using a bit rate of 2.5 GBPS (baseband modulation) and code length of 2048 bits (819.2 ns). Processing of double-sideband modulated signals on a radio frequency (RF) carrier was demonstrated, where 512 bit, 1.0 GBPS codes were modulated on a 1.75 GHz carrier and then modulated on the optical carrier

  2. A GIS-based disaggregate spatial watershed analysis using RADAR data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-Hamdan, M.

    2002-01-01

    Hydrology is the study of water in all its forms, origins, and destinations on the earth.This paper develops a novel modeling technique using a geographic information system (GIS) to facilitate watershed hydrological routing using RADAR data. The RADAR rainfall data, segmented to 4 km by 4 km blocks, divides the watershed into several sub basins which are modeled independently. A case study for the GIS-based disaggregate spatial watershed analysis using RADAR data is provided for South Fork Cowikee Creek near Batesville, Alabama. All the data necessary to complete the analysis is maintained in the ArcView GIS software. This paper concludes that the GIS-Based disaggregate spatial watershed analysis using RADAR data is a viable method to calculate hydrological routing for large watersheds. (author)

  3. Radar Image, Hokkaido, Japan

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-01-01

    The southeast part of the island of Hokkaido, Japan, is an area dominated by volcanoes and volcanic caldera. The active Usu Volcano is at the lower right edge of the circular Lake Toya-Ko and near the center of the image. The prominent cone above and to the left of the lake is Yotei Volcano with its summit crater. The city of Sapporo lies at the base of the mountains at the top of the image and the town of Yoichi -- the hometown of SRTM astronaut Mamoru Mohri -- is at the upper left edge. The bay of Uchiura-Wan takes up the lower center of the image. In this image, color represents elevation, from blue at the lowest elevations to white at the highest. The radar image has been overlaid to provide more details of the terrain. Due to a processing problem, an island in the center of this crater lake is missing and will be properly placed when further SRTM swaths are processed. The horizontal banding in this image is a processing artifact that will be removed when the navigation information collected by SRTM is fully calibrated. This image was acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on February 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect three-dimensional measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter-long (200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, DC. Size: 100 by 150 kilometers (62

  4. Impact of Surface Soil Moisture Variations on Radar Altimetry Echoes at Ku and Ka Bands in Semi-Arid Areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christophe Fatras

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Radar altimetry provides information on the topography of the Earth surface. It is commonly used for the monitoring not only sea surface height but also ice sheets topography and inland water levels. The radar altimetry backscattering coefficient, which depends on surface roughness and water content, can be related to surface properties such as surface soil moisture content. In this study, the influence of surface soil moisture on the radar altimetry echo and backscattering coefficient is analyzed over semi-arid areas. A semi-empirical model of the soil’s complex dielectric permittivity that takes into account that small-scale roughness and large-scale topography was developed to simulate the radar echoes. It was validated using waveforms acquired at Ku and Ka-bands by ENVISAT RA-2 and SARAL AltiKa respectively over several sites in Mali. Correlation coefficients ranging from 0.66 to 0.94 at Ku-band and from 0.27 to 0.96 at Ka-band were found. The increase in surface soil moisture from 0.02 to 0.4 (i.e., the typical range of variations in semi-arid areas increase the backscattering from 10 to 15 dB between the core of the dry and the maximum of the rainy seasons.

  5. Water stress detection in the Amazon using radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Emmerik, Tim; Steele-Dunne, Susan; Paget, Aaron; Oliveira, Rafael S.; Bittencourt, Paulo R. L.; Barros, Fernanda de V.; van de Giesen, Nick

    2017-07-01

    The Amazon rainforest plays an important role in the global water and carbon cycle, and though it is predicted to continue drying in the future, the effect of drought remains uncertain. Developments in remote sensing missions now facilitate large-scale observations. The RapidScat scatterometer (Ku band) mounted on the International Space Station observes the Earth in a non-Sun-synchronous orbit, which allows for studying changes in the diurnal cycle of radar backscatter over the Amazon. Diurnal cycles in backscatter are significantly affected by the state of the canopy, especially during periods of increased water stress. We use RapidScat backscatter time series and water deficit measurements from dendrometers in 20 trees during a 9 month period to relate variations in backscatter to increased tree water deficit. Morning radar bacskcatter dropped significantly with increased tree water deficit measured with dendrometers. This provides unique observational evidence that demonstrates the sensitivity of radar backscatter to vegetation water stress, highlighting the potential of drought detection and monitoring using radar.

  6. Radar ornithology and the conservation of migratory birds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidney A. Gauthreaux; Carroll G. Belser

    2005-01-01

    It is possible to study with surveillance radar the movements of migrating birds in the atmosphere at different spatial scales. At a spatial scale within a range of 6 kilometers, high-resolution, 3-centimeter wavelength surveillance radar (e.g. BIRDRAD) can detect the departure of migrants from different types of habitat within a few kilometers of the radar. The radar...

  7. FMWC Radar for Breath Detection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Suhr, Lau Frejstrup; Tafur Monroy, Idelfonso; Vegas Olmos, Juan José

    We report on the experimental demonstration of an FMCW radar operating in the 25.7 - 26.6 GHz range with a repetition rate of 500 sweeps per second. The radar is able to track the breathing rate of an adult human from a distance of 1 meter. The experiments have utilized a 50 second recording window...... to accurately track the breathing rate. The radar utilizes a saw tooth modulation format and a low latency receiver. A breath tracking radar is useful both in medical scenarios, diagnosing disorders such as sleep apnea, and for home use where the user can monitor its health. Breathing is a central part of every...... radar chip which, through the use of a simple modulation scheme, is able to measure the breathing rate of an adult human from a distance. A high frequency output makes sure that the radar cannot penetrate solid obstacles which is a wanted feature in private homes where people therefore cannot measure...

  8. 35-GHz radar sensor for automotive collision avoidance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jun

    1999-07-01

    This paper describes the development of a radar sensor system used for automotive collision avoidance. Because the heavy truck may have great larger radar cross section than a motorcyclist has, the radar receiver may have a large dynamic range. And multi-targets at different speed may confuse the echo spectrum causing the ambiguity between range and speed of target. To get more information about target and background and to adapt to the large dynamic range and multi-targets, a frequency modulated and pseudo- random binary sequences phase modulated continuous wave radar system is described. The analysis of this double- modulation system is given. A high-speed signal processing and data processing component are used to process and combine the data and information from echo at different direction and at every moment.

  9. The Rheology of the Earth in the Intermediate Time Range

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. E. SCHEIDEGGER

    1970-06-01

    Full Text Available The evidence bearing upon the rheology of the " tectonically
    significant layers" of the Earth (" tectonosphere " in the intermediate
    time range (4 hours to 15000 years is analyzed. This evidence is
    based upon observations of rock-behavior in the laboratory, of seismic
    aftershock sequences, of Earth tides and of the decay of the Chandler wobble.
    It is shown that of the rheological models (Maxwell-material, Kelvin-material,
    and logarithmically creeping material advocated in the literature, only that
    based on logarithmic creep does not contradict any of the observational
    evidence available to date. In addition, a strength limit may be present.

  10. A Dual Polarization, Active, Microstrip Antenna for an Orbital Imaging Radar System Operating at L-Band

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Kenneth C.; Huang, John

    2000-01-01

    A highly successful Earth orbiting synthetic antenna aperture radar (SAR) system, known as the SIR-C mission, was carried into orbit in 1994 on a U.S. Shuttle (Space Transportation System) mission. The radar system was mounted in the cargo bay with no need to fold, or in any other way reduce the size of the antennas for launch. Weight and size were not limited for the L-Band, C-Band, and X-Band radar systems of the SIR-C radar imaging mission; the set of antennas weighed 10,500 kg, the L-Band antenna having the major share of the weight. This paper treats designing an L-Band antenna functionally similar to that used for SIR-C, but at a fraction of the cost and at a weight in the order of 250 kg. Further, the antenna must be folded to fit into the small payload shroud of low cost booster rocket systems. Over 31 square meters of antenna area is required. This low weight, foldable, electronic scanning antenna is for the proposed LightSAR radar system which is to be placed in Earth orbit on a small, dedicated space craft at the lowest possible cost for an efficient L- Band radar imaging system. This LightSAR spacecraft radar is to be continuously available for at least five operational years, and have the ability to map or repeat-map any area on earth within a few days of any request. A microstrip patch array, with microstrip transmission lines heavily employed in the aperture and in the corporate feed network, was chosen as the low cost approach for this active dual-polarization, 80 MHz (6.4%) bandwidth antenna design.

  11. Measuring Earth: Current status of the GRACE Follow-On Laser Ranging Interferometer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schütze, Daniel; LRI Team

    2016-05-01

    The GRACE mission that was launched in 2002 has impressively proven the feasibility of low-orbit satellite-to-satellite tracking for Earth gravity observations. Especially mass transport related to Earth's hydrological system could be well resolved both spatially and temporally. This allows to study processes such as polar ice sheet decline and ground water depletion in great detail. Owing to GRACE's success, NASA and GFZ will launch the successor mission GRACE Follow-On in 2017. In addition to the microwave ranging system, GRACE Follow-On will be the first mission to use a Laser Ranging Interferometer as technology demonstrator to track intersatellite distance changes with unprecedented precision. This new ranging device inherits some of the technologies which have been developed for the future spaceborne gravitational wave detector LISA. I will present the architecture of the Laser Ranging Interferometer, point out similarities and differences to LISA, and conclude with the current status of the flight hardware production.

  12. Hardware test program for evaluation of baseline range/range rate sensor concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pernic, E.

    1985-01-01

    The test program Phase II effort provides additional design information in terms of range and range rate (R/R) sensor performance when observing and tracking a typical spacecraft target. The target used in the test program was a one-third scale model of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) available at the MSFC test site where the tests were performed. A modified Bendix millimeter wave radar served as the R/R sensor test bed for evaluation of range and range rate tracking performance, and generation of radar signature characteristics of the spacecraft target. A summary of program test results and conclusions are presented along with detailed description of the Bendix test bed radar with accompaning instrumentation. The MSFC test site and facilities are described. The test procedures used to establish background levels, and the calibration procedures used in the range accuracy tests and RCS (radar cross section) signature measurements, are presented and a condensed version of the daily log kept during the 5 September through 17 September test period is also presented. The test program results are given starting with the RCS signature measurements, then continuing with range measurement accuracy test results and finally the range and range rate tracking accuracy test results.

  13. Ultra-wideband radar sensors and networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leach, Jr., Richard R; Nekoogar, Faranak; Haugen, Peter C

    2013-08-06

    Ultra wideband radar motion sensors strategically placed in an area of interest communicate with a wireless ad hoc network to provide remote area surveillance. Swept range impulse radar and a heart and respiration monitor combined with the motion sensor further improves discrimination.

  14. Detection of Weather Radar Clutter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bøvith, Thomas

    2008-01-01

    classification and use a range of different techniques and input data. The first method uses external information from multispectral satellite images to detect clutter. The information in the visual, near-infrared, and infrared parts of the spectrum can be used to distinguish between cloud and cloud-free areas......Weather radars provide valuable information on precipitation in the atmosphere but due to the way radars work, not only precipitation is observed by the weather radar. Weather radar clutter, echoes from non-precipitating targets, occur frequently in the data, resulting in lowered data quality....... Especially in the application of weather radar data in quantitative precipitation estimation and forecasting a high data quality is important. Clutter detection is one of the key components in achieving this goal. This thesis presents three methods for detection of clutter. The methods use supervised...

  15. Coherent Surface Clutter Suppression Techniques with Topography Estimation for Multi-Phase-Center Radar Ice Sounding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Ulrik; Dall, Jørgen; Kristensen, Steen Savstrup

    2012-01-01

    Radar ice sounding enables measurement of the thickness and internal structures of the large ice sheets on Earth. Surface clutter masking the signal of interest is a major obstacle in ice sounding. Algorithms for surface clutter suppression based on multi-phase-center radars are presented. These ...

  16. Space Radar Image of Manaus, Brazil

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-01-01

    These two images were created using data from the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR). On the left is a false-color image of Manaus, Brazil acquired April 12, 1994, onboard space shuttle Endeavour. In the center of this image is the Solimoes River just west of Manaus before it combines with the Rio Negro to form the Amazon River. The scene is around 8 by 8 kilometers (5 by 5 miles) with north toward the top. The radar image was produced in L-band where red areas correspond to high backscatter at HH polarization, while green areas exhibit high backscatter at HV polarization. Blue areas show low backscatter at VV polarization. The image on the right is a classification map showing the extent of flooding beneath the forest canopy. The classification map was developed by SIR-C/X-SAR science team members at the University of California,Santa Barbara. The map uses the L-HH, L-HV, and L-VV images to classify the radar image into six categories: Red flooded forest Green unflooded tropical rain forest Blue open water, Amazon river Yellow unflooded fields, some floating grasses Gray flooded shrubs Black floating and flooded grasses Data like these help scientists evaluate flood damage on a global scale. Floods are highly episodic and much of the area inundated is often tree-covered. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those

  17. The effect of fog on the probability density distribution of the ranging data of imaging laser radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenhua Song

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper outlines theoretically investigations of the probability density distribution (PDD of ranging data for the imaging laser radar (ILR system operating at a wavelength of 905 nm under the fog condition. Based on the physical model of the reflected laser pulses from a standard Lambertian target, a theoretical approximate model of PDD of the ranging data is developed under different fog concentrations, which offer improved precision target ranging and imaging. An experimental test bed for the ILR system is developed and its performance is evaluated using a dedicated indoor atmospheric chamber under homogeneously controlled fog conditions. We show that the measured results are in good agreement with both the accurate and approximate models within a given margin of error of less than 1%.

  18. The effect of fog on the probability density distribution of the ranging data of imaging laser radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Wenhua; Lai, JianCheng; Ghassemlooy, Zabih; Gu, Zhiyong; Yan, Wei; Wang, Chunyong; Li, Zhenhua

    2018-02-01

    This paper outlines theoretically investigations of the probability density distribution (PDD) of ranging data for the imaging laser radar (ILR) system operating at a wavelength of 905 nm under the fog condition. Based on the physical model of the reflected laser pulses from a standard Lambertian target, a theoretical approximate model of PDD of the ranging data is developed under different fog concentrations, which offer improved precision target ranging and imaging. An experimental test bed for the ILR system is developed and its performance is evaluated using a dedicated indoor atmospheric chamber under homogeneously controlled fog conditions. We show that the measured results are in good agreement with both the accurate and approximate models within a given margin of error of less than 1%.

  19. An improved model for the Earth's gravity field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tapley, B. D.; Shum, C. K.; Yuan, D. N.; Ries, J. C.; Schutz, B. E.

    1989-01-01

    An improved model for the Earth's gravity field, TEG-1, was determined using data sets from fourteen satellites, spanning the inclination ranges from 15 to 115 deg, and global surface gravity anomaly data. The satellite measurements include laser ranging data, Doppler range-rate data, and satellite-to-ocean radar altimeter data measurements, which include the direct height measurement and the differenced measurements at ground track crossings (crossover measurements). Also determined was another gravity field model, TEG-1S, which included all the data sets in TEG-1 with the exception of direct altimeter data. The effort has included an intense scrutiny of the gravity field solution methodology. The estimated parameters included geopotential coefficients complete to degree and order 50 with selected higher order coefficients, ocean and solid Earth tide parameters, Doppler tracking station coordinates and the quasi-stationary sea surface topography. Extensive error analysis and calibration of the formal covariance matrix indicate that the gravity field model is a significant improvement over previous models and can be used for general applications in geodesy.

  20. Radar and infrared remote sensing of terrain, water resources, arctic sea ice, and agriculture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biggs, A. W.

    1983-01-01

    Radar range measurements, basic waveforms of radar systems, and radar displays are initially described. These are followed by backscatter from several types of terrain and vegetation as a function of frequency and grazing angle. Analytical models for this backscatter include the facet models of radar return, with range-angle, velocity-range, velocity-angle, range, velocity, and angular only discriminations. Several side-looking airborne radar geometries are presented. Radar images of Arctic sea ice, fresh water lake ice, cloud-covered terrain, and related areas are presented to identify applications of radar imagery. Volume scatter models are applied to radar imagery from alpine snowfields. Short pulse ice thickness radar for subsurface probes is discussed in fresh-water ice and sea ice detection. Infrared scanners, including multispectral, are described. Diffusion of cold water into a river, Arctic sea ice, power plant discharges, volcanic heat, and related areas are presented in thermal imagery. Multispectral radar and infrared imagery are discussed, with comparisons of photographic, infrared, and radar imagery of the same terrain or subjects.

  1. Ground Penetrating Radar Imaging of Buried Metallic Objects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Polat, A. Burak; Meincke, Peter

    2001-01-01

    During the past decade there has been considerable research on ground penetrating radar (GPR) tomography for detecting objects such as pipes, cables, mines and barrels buried under the surface of the Earth. While the earlier researches were all based on the assumption of a homogeneous background...

  2. Millimeter wave radars raise weapon IQ

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lerner, E. J.

    1985-02-01

    The problems encountered by laser and IR homing devices for guided munitions may be tractable with warhead-mounted mm-wave radars. Operating at about 100 GHz and having several kilometers range, mm-wave radars see through darkness, fog, rain and smoke. The radar must be coupled with an analyzer that discerns moving and stationary targets and higher priority targets. The target lock-on can include shut-off of the transmitter and reception of naturally-generated mm-waves bouncing off the target when in the terminal phase of the flight. Monopulse transmitters have simplified the radar design, although mass production of finline small radar units has yet to be accomplished, particularly in combining GaAs, ferrites and other materials on one monolithic chip.

  3. Interception of LPI radar signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jim P.

    1991-11-01

    Most current radars are designed to transmit short duration pulses with relatively high peak power. These radars can be detected easily by the use of relatively modest EW intercept receivers. Three radar functions (search, anti-ship missile (ASM) seeker, and navigation) are examined to evaluate the effectiveness of potential low probability of intercept (LPI) techniques, such as waveform coding, antenna profile control, and power management that a radar may employ against current Electronic Warfare (EW) receivers. The general conclusion is that it is possible to design a LPI radar which is effective against current intercept EW receivers. LPI operation is most easily achieved at close ranges and against a target with a large radar cross section. The general system sensitivity requirement for the detection of current and projected LPI radars is found to be on the order of -100 dBmi which cannot be met by current EW receivers. Finally, three potential LPI receiver architectures, using channelized, superhet, and acousto-optic receivers with narrow RF and video bandwidths are discussed. They have shown some potential in terms of providing the sensitivity and capability in an environment where both conventional and LPI signals are present.

  4. Accuracy analysis of the 2014–2015 Global Shuttle Radar ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    1KIIT University, Bhubaneswar 751 024, India. 2Continental ... Global Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data products have been widely used in Earth. Sciences ..... tional GNSS Service in a changing landscape of Global. Navigation ...

  5. Distributed Space Missions for Earth System Monitoring

    CERN Document Server

    2013-01-01

    A key addition to Springer's Space Technology Library series, this edited volume features the work of dozens of authors and offers a wealth of perspectives on distributed Earth observation missions. In sum, it is an eloquent synthesis of the fullest possible range of current approaches to a fast-developing field characterized by growing membership of the 'space club' to include nations formerly regarded as part of the Third World. The volume's four discrete sections focus on the topic's various aspects, including the key theoretical and technical issues arising from the division of payloads onto different satellites. The first is devoted to analyzing distributed synthetic aperture radars, with bi- and multi-static radars receiving separate treatment. This is followed by a full discussion of relative dynamics, guidance, navigation and control. Here, the separate topics of design; establishment, maintenance and control; and measurements are developed with relative trajectory as a reference point, while the dis...

  6. Multiple-scattering in radar systems: A review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Battaglia, Alessandro; Tanelli, Simone; Kobayashi, Satoru; Zrnic, Dusan; Hogan, Robin J.; Simmer, Clemens

    2010-01-01

    Although extensively studied within the lidar community, the multiple scattering phenomenon has always been considered a rare curiosity by radar meteorologists. Up to few years ago its appearance has only been associated with two- or three-body-scattering features (e.g. hail flares and mirror images) involving highly reflective surfaces. Recent atmospheric research aimed at better understanding of the water cycle and the role played by clouds and precipitation in affecting the Earth's climate has driven the deployment of high frequency radars in space. Examples are the TRMM 13.5 GHz, the CloudSat 94 GHz, the upcoming EarthCARE 94 GHz, and the GPM dual 13-35 GHz radars. These systems are able to detect the vertical distribution of hydrometeors and thus provide crucial feedbacks for radiation and climate studies. The shift towards higher frequencies increases the sensitivity to hydrometeors, improves the spatial resolution and reduces the size and weight of the radar systems. On the other hand, higher frequency radars are affected by stronger extinction, especially in the presence of large precipitating particles (e.g. raindrops or hail particles), which may eventually drive the signal below the minimum detection threshold. In such circumstances the interpretation of the radar equation via the single scattering approximation may be problematic. Errors will be large when the radiation emitted from the radar after interacting more than once with the medium still contributes substantially to the received power. This is the case if the transport mean-free-path becomes comparable with the instrument footprint (determined by the antenna beam-width and the platform altitude). This situation resembles to what has already been experienced in lidar observations, but with a predominance of wide- versus small-angle scattering events. At millimeter wavelengths, hydrometeors diffuse radiation rather isotropically compared to the visible or near infrared region where scattering is

  7. On Signal Modeling of Moon-Based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR Imaging of Earth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhen Xu

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The Moon-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (Moon-Based SAR, using the Moon as a platform, has a great potential to offer global-scale coverage of the earth’s surface with a high revisit cycle and is able to meet the scientific requirements for climate change study. However, operating in the lunar orbit, Moon-Based SAR imaging is confined within a complex geometry of the Moon-Based SAR, Moon, and Earth, where both rotation and revolution have effects. The extremely long exposure time of Moon-Based SAR presents a curved moving trajectory and the protracted time-delay in propagation makes the “stop-and-go” assumption no longer valid. Consequently, the conventional SAR imaging technique is no longer valid for Moon-Based SAR. This paper develops a Moon-Based SAR theory in which a signal model is derived. The Doppler parameters in the context of lunar revolution with the removal of ‘stop-and-go’ assumption are first estimated, and then characteristics of Moon-Based SAR imaging’s azimuthal resolution are analyzed. In addition, a signal model of Moon-Based SAR and its two-dimensional (2-D spectrum are further derived. Numerical simulation using point targets validates the signal model and enables Doppler parameter estimation for image focusing.

  8. Ground penetrating radar

    CERN Document Server

    Daniels, David J

    2004-01-01

    Ground-penetrating radar has come to public attention in recent criminal investigations, but has actually been a developing and maturing remote sensing field for some time. In the light of recent expansion of the technique to a wide range of applications, the need for an up-to-date reference has become pressing. This fully revised and expanded edition of the best-selling Surface-Penetrating Radar (IEE, 1996) presents, for the non-specialist user or engineer, all the key elements of this technique, which span several disciplines including electromagnetics, geophysics and signal processing. The

  9. Typhoon 9707 observations with the MU radar and L-band boundary layer radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Teshiba

    2001-08-01

    Full Text Available Typhoon 9707 (Opal was observed with the VHF-band Middle and Upper atmosphere (MU radar, an L-band boundary layer radar (BLR, and a vertical-pointing C-band meteorological radar at the Shigaraki MU Observatory in Shiga prefecture, Japan on 20 June 1997. The typhoon center passed about 80 km southeast from the radar site. Mesoscale precipitating clouds developed due to warm-moist airmass transport from the typhoon, and passed over the MU radar site with easterly or southeasterly winds. We primarily present the wind behaviour including the vertical component which a conventional meteorological Doppler radar cannot directly observe, and discuss the relationship between the wind behaviour of the typhoon and the precipitating system. To investigate the dynamic structure of the typhoon, the observed wind was divided into radial and tangential wind components under the assumption that the typhoon had an axi-symmetric structure. Altitude range of outflow ascended from 1–3 km to 2–10 km with increasing distance (within 80–260 km range from the typhoon center, and in-flow was observed above and below the outflow. Outflow and inflow were associated with updraft and downdraft, respectively. In the tangential wind, the maximum speed of counterclockwise winds was confirmed at 1–2 km altitudes. Based on the vertical velocity and the reflectivity obtained with the MU radar and the C-band meteorological radar, respectively, precipitating clouds, accompanied by the wind behaviour of the typhoon, were classified into stratiform and convective precipitating clouds. In the stratiform precipitating clouds, a vertical shear of radial wind and the maximum speed of counterclockwise wind were observed. There was a strong reflectivity layer called a ‘bright band’ around the 4.2 km altitude. We confirmed strong updrafts and down-drafts below and above it, respectively, and the existence of a relatively dry layer around the bright band level from radiosonde

  10. Typhoon 9707 observations with the MU radar and L-band boundary layer radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Teshiba

    Full Text Available Typhoon 9707 (Opal was observed with the VHF-band Middle and Upper atmosphere (MU radar, an L-band boundary layer radar (BLR, and a vertical-pointing C-band meteorological radar at the Shigaraki MU Observatory in Shiga prefecture, Japan on 20 June 1997. The typhoon center passed about 80 km southeast from the radar site. Mesoscale precipitating clouds developed due to warm-moist airmass transport from the typhoon, and passed over the MU radar site with easterly or southeasterly winds. We primarily present the wind behaviour including the vertical component which a conventional meteorological Doppler radar cannot directly observe, and discuss the relationship between the wind behaviour of the typhoon and the precipitating system. To investigate the dynamic structure of the typhoon, the observed wind was divided into radial and tangential wind components under the assumption that the typhoon had an axi-symmetric structure. Altitude range of outflow ascended from 1–3 km to 2–10 km with increasing distance (within 80–260 km range from the typhoon center, and in-flow was observed above and below the outflow. Outflow and inflow were associated with updraft and downdraft, respectively. In the tangential wind, the maximum speed of counterclockwise winds was confirmed at 1–2 km altitudes. Based on the vertical velocity and the reflectivity obtained with the MU radar and the C-band meteorological radar, respectively, precipitating clouds, accompanied by the wind behaviour of the typhoon, were classified into stratiform and convective precipitating clouds. In the stratiform precipitating clouds, a vertical shear of radial wind and the maximum speed of counterclockwise wind were observed. There was a strong reflectivity layer called a ‘bright band’ around the 4.2 km altitude. We confirmed strong updrafts and down-drafts below and above it, respectively, and the existence of a relatively dry layer around the bright band level from radiosonde

  11. Quantitative analysis of ground penetrating radar data in the Mu Us Sandland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Tianyang; Tan, Lihua; Wu, Yongqiu; Wen, Yanglei; Li, Dawei; Duan, Jinlong

    2018-06-01

    Ground penetrating radar (GPR), which can reveal the sedimentary structure and development process of dunes, is widely used to evaluate aeolian landforms. The interpretations for GPR profiles are mostly based on qualitative descriptions of geometric features of the radar reflections. This research quantitatively analyzed the waveform parameter characteristics of different radar units by extracting the amplitude and time interval parameters of GPR data in the Mu Us Sandland in China, and then identified and interpreted different sedimentary structures. The results showed that different types of radar units had specific waveform parameter characteristics. The main waveform parameter characteristics of sand dune radar facies and sandstone radar facies included low amplitudes and wide ranges of time intervals, ranging from 0 to 0.25 and 4 to 33 ns respectively, and the mean amplitudes changed gradually with time intervals. The amplitude distribution curves of various sand dune radar facies were similar as unimodal distributions. The radar surfaces showed high amplitudes with time intervals concentrated in high-value areas, ranging from 0.08 to 0.61 and 9 to 34 ns respectively, and the mean amplitudes changed drastically with time intervals. The amplitude and time interval values of lacustrine radar facies were between that of sand dune radar facies and radar surfaces, ranging from 0.08 to 0.29 and 11 to 30 ns respectively, and the mean amplitude and time interval curve was approximately trapezoidal. The quantitative extraction and analysis of GPR reflections could help distinguish various radar units and provide evidence for identifying sedimentary structure in aeolian landforms.

  12. Innovative operating modes and techniques for the spaceborne imaging radar-C instrument

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huneycutt, Bryan L.

    1990-01-01

    The operation of the spaceborne imaging radar-C (SIR-C) is discussed. The SIR-C instrument has been designed to obtain simultaneous multifrequency and simultaneous multipolarization radar images from a low earth orbit. It is a multiparameter imaging radar which will be flown during at least two different seasons. The instrument has been designed to operate in innovative modes such as the squint alignment mode, the extended aperture mode, the scansar mode, and the interferometry mode. The instrument has been designed to demonstrate innovative engineering techniques such as beam nulling for echo tracking, pulse-repetition frquency hopping for Doppler centroid tracking, generating the frequency step chirp for radar parameter flexibility, block floating point quantizing for data rate compression, and elevation beamwidth broadening for increasing the swath illumination.

  13. Near-Space Microwave Radar Remote Sensing: Potentials and Challenge Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qicong Peng

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Near-space, defined as the region between 20 km and 100 km, offers many new capabilities that are not accessible to low earth orbit (LEO satellites and airplanes, because it is above storm and not constrained by either the orbital mechanics of satellites or the high fuel consumption of airplanes. By placing radar transmitter/receiver in near-space platforms, many functions that are currently performed with satellites or airplanes could be performed in a cheaper way. Inspired by these advantages, this paper introduces several near-space vehicle-based radar configurations, such as near-space passive bistatic radar and high-resolution wide-swath (HRWS synthetic aperture radar (SAR. Their potential applications, technical challenges and possible solutions are investigated. It is shown that near-space is a satisfactory solution to some specific remote sensing applications. Firstly, near-space passive bistatic radar using opportunistic illuminators offers a solution to persistent regional remote sensing, which is particularly interest for protecting homeland security or monitoring regional environment. Secondly, near-space provides an optimal solution to relative HRWS SAR imaging. Moreover, as motion compensation is a common technical challenge for the described radars, an active transponder-based motion compensation is also described.

  14. Sandia National Laboratories land use permit for operations at Oliktok Alaska Long Range Radar Station.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Catechis, Christopher Spyros

    2013-02-01

    The property subject to this Environmental Baseline Survey (EBS) is located at the Oliktok Long Range Radar Station (LRRS). The Oliktok LRRS is located at 70À 30 W latitude, 149À 53 W longitude. It is situated at Oliktok Point on the shore of the Beaufort Sea, east of the Colville River. The purpose of this EBS is to document the nature, magnitude, and extent of any environmental contamination of the property; identify potential environmental contamination liabilities associated with the property; develop sufficient information to assess the health and safety risks; and ensure adequate protection for human health and the environment related to a specific property.

  15. Space Radar Image of Chernobyl

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-01-01

    This is an image of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and its surroundings, centered at 51.17 north latitude and 30.15 west longitude. The image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on its 16th orbit on October 1, 1994. The area is located on the northern border of the Ukraine Republic and was produced by using the L-band (horizontally transmitted and received) polarization. The differences in the intensity are due to differences in vegetation cover, with brighter areas being indicative of more vegetation. These data were acquired as part of a collaboration between NASA and the National Space Agency of Ukraine in Remote Sensing and Earth Sciences. NASA has included several sites provided by the Ukrainian space agency as targets of opportunity during the second flight of SIR-C/X-SAR. The Ukrainian space agency also plans to conduct airborne surveys of these sites during the mission. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is located toward the top of the image near the Pripyat River. The 12-kilometer (7.44-mile)-long cooling pond is easily distinguishable as an elongated dark shape in the center near the top of the image. The reactor complex is visible as the bright area to the extreme left of the cooling pond and the city of Chernobyl is the bright area just below the cooling pond next to the Pripyat River. The large dark area in the bottom right of the image is the Kiev Reservoir just north of Kiev. Also visible is the Dnieper River, which feeds into the Kiev Reservoir from the top of the image. The Soviet government evacuated 116,000 people within 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) of the Chernobyl reactor after the explosion and fire on April 26, 1986. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight

  16. Feasibility Study on Passive-radar Detection of Space Targets Using Spaceborne Illuminators of Opportunity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiang Tie-zhen

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Space target surveillance generally uses active radars. To take full advantage of passive radars, the idea of using spaceborne illuminators of opportunity for space target detection is presented in this paper. Analysis of the detectable time and direct wave suppression shows that passive radar using spaceborne illuminators of opportunity can effectively detect a Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO target. Meanwhile, Ku and L band bi-static radar cross section of passive radars that use spaceborne illuminators of opportunity are presented by simulation, providing the basis of choosing space target forward scatter. Finally the key parameters, mainly system gain, accumulation time and radiation source selection are studied. Results show that system size using satellite TV signals as illuminators of opportunity is relatively small. These encouraging results should stimulate the development of passive radar detection of space targets using spaceborne illuminators of opportunity.

  17. 79 GHz UWB automotive short range radar – Spectrum allocation and technology trends

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H.-L. Bloecher

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Automotive UWB (Ultra-Wideband short range radar (SSR is on the market as a key technology for novel comfort and safety systems. SiGe based 79 GHz UWB SRR will be a definite candidate for the long term substitution of the 24 GHz UWB SRR. This paper will give an overview of the finished BMBF joint project KOKON and the recently started successing project RoCC, which concentrate on the development of this technology and sensor demonstrators. In both projects, the responsibilities of Daimler AG deal with application based sensor specification, test and evaluation of realized sensor demonstrators. Recent UWB SRR frequency regulation approaches and activitites will be introduced. Furthermore, some first results of Daimler activities within RoCC will be presented, dealing with the packaging and operation of these sensors within the complex car environment.

  18. The Earthcare Cloud Profiling Radar, its PFM development status (Conference Presentation)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakatsuka, Hirotaka; Tomita, Eichi; Aida, Yoshihisa; Seki, Yoshihiro; Okada, Kazuyuki; Maruyama, Kenta; Ishii, Yasuyuki; Tomiyama, Nobuhiro; Ohno, Yuichi; Horie, Hiroaki; Sato, Kenji

    2016-10-01

    The Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) mission is joint mission between Europe and Japan for the launch year of 2018. Mission objective is to improve scientific understanding of cloud-aerosol-radiation interactions that is one of the biggest uncertain factors for numerical climate and weather predictions. The EarthCARE spacecraft equips four instruments such as an ultra violet lidar (ATLID), a cloud profiling radar (CPR), a broadband radiometer (BBR), and a multi-spectral imager (MSI) and perform complete synergy observation to observe aerosols, clouds and their interactions simultaneously from the orbit. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is responsible for development of the CPR in this EarthCARE mission and the CPR will be the first space-borne W-band Doppler radar. The CPR is defined with minimum radar sensitivity of -35dBz (6dB better than current space-borne cloud radar, i.e. CloudSat, NASA), radiometric accuracy of 2.7 dB, and Doppler velocity measurement accuracy of less than 1.3 m/s. These specifications require highly accurate pointing technique in orbit and high power source with large antenna dish. JAXA and National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) have been jointly developed this CPR to meet these strict requirements so far and then achieved the development such as new CFRP flex-core structure, long life extended interaction klystron, low loss quasi optical feed technique, and so on. Through these development successes, CPR development phase has been progressed to critical design phase. In addition, new ground calibration technique is also being progressed for launch of EarthCARE/CPR. The unique feature of EarthCARE CPR is vertical Doppler velocity measurement capability. Vertical Doppler velocity measurement is very attractive function from the science point of view, because vertical motions of cloud particles are related with cloud microphysics and dynamics. However, from engineering point of

  19. A high sensitive 66 dB linear dynamic range receiver for 3-D laser radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Rui; Zheng, Hao; Zhu, Zhangming

    2017-08-01

    This study presents a CMOS receiver chip realized in 0.18 μm standard CMOS technology and intended for high precision 3-D laser radar. The chip includes an adjustable gain transimpedance pre-amplifier, a post-amplifier and two timing comparators. An additional feedback is employed in the regulated cascode transimpedance amplifier to decrease the input impedance, and a variable gain transimpedance amplifier controlled by digital switches and analog multiplexer is utilized to realize four gain modes, extending the input dynamic range. The measurement shows that the highest transimpedance of the channel is 50 k {{Ω }}, the uncompensated walk error is 1.44 ns in a wide linear dynamic range of 66 dB (1:2000), and the input referred noise current is 2.3 pA/\\sqrt{{Hz}} (rms), resulting in a very low detectable input current of 1 μA with SNR = 5.

  20. Phased-array radar design application of radar fundamentals

    CERN Document Server

    Jeffrey, Thomas

    2009-01-01

    Phased-Array Radar Design is a text-reference designed for electrical engineering graduate students in colleges and universities as well as for corporate in-house training programs for radar design engineers, especially systems engineers and analysts who would like to gain hands-on, practical knowledge and skills in radar design fundamentals, advanced radar concepts, trade-offs for radar design and radar performance analysis.

  1. Earth rotation, station coordinates and orbit determination from satellite laser ranging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murata, Masaaki

    The Project MERIT, a special program of international colaboration to Monitor Earth Rotation and Intercompare the Techniques of observation and analysis, has come to an end with great success. Its major objective was to evaluate the ultimate potential of space techniques such as VLBI and satellite laser ranging, in contrast with the other conventional techniques, in the determination of rotational dynamics of the earth. The National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) has officially participated in the project as an associate analysis center for satellite laser technique for the period of the MERIT Main Campaign (September 1983-October 1984). In this paper, the NAL analysis center results are presented.

  2. Near-field three-dimensional radar imaging techniques and applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheen, David; McMakin, Douglas; Hall, Thomas

    2010-07-01

    Three-dimensional radio frequency imaging techniques have been developed for a variety of near-field applications, including radar cross-section imaging, concealed weapon detection, ground penetrating radar imaging, through-barrier imaging, and nondestructive evaluation. These methods employ active radar transceivers that operate at various frequency ranges covering a wide range, from less than 100 MHz to in excess of 350 GHz, with the frequency range customized for each application. Computational wavefront reconstruction imaging techniques have been developed that optimize the resolution and illumination quality of the images. In this paper, rectilinear and cylindrical three-dimensional imaging techniques are described along with several application results.

  3. Turbulence scales in the high-latitude ionosphere and their signatures upon echoes detected by SuperDARN HF radars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vallieres, Xavier

    2002-01-01

    SuperDARN is a coherent HF radar network dedicated to the study of high-latitude ionospheric plasma convection and finds its major applications in the field of Sun/Earth connection. This work deals with the interactions between a transmitted radar wave and ionisation gradients at different scales and their impact on measurements. Studies are performed in order to detect the ion cyclotron signature, superimposed to turbulent motions, in observed spectra. On the other hand, the role of intermediate scales (from hundreds of meters to kilometers) on spectral width estimation is evidenced. Statistical studies show that the value of this parameter depends upon transmitted frequency and echo range. We propose an interpretation in terms of a wave front de-correlation during propagation and validate it with numerical simulations based upon realistic ionospheric parameters. (author) [fr

  4. Space Radar Image of Bebedauro, Brazil, seasonal

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-01-01

    This is an X-band image showing seasonal changes at the hydrological test site of Bebedouro in Brazil. The image is centered at 9 degrees south latitude and 40.2 degrees west longitude. This image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on April 10, 1994, during the first flight of the radar system, and on October 1, 1994, during the second mission. The swath width is approximately 16.5 kilometers (10.5 miles) wide. The image channels have the following color assignments: red represents data acquired on April 10; green represents data acquired on October 1; blue corresponds to the ratio of the two data sets. Agriculture plays an important economic and social role in Brazil. One of the major problems related to Brazilian agriculture is estimating the size of planting areas and their productivity. Due to cloud cover and the rainy season, which occurs from November through April, optical and infrared Earth observations are seldom used to survey the region. An additional goal of monitoring this region is to watch the floodplains of rivers like Rio Sao Francisco in order to determine suitable locations for additional agricultural fields. This area belongs to the semi-arid northeastern region of Brazil, where estimates have suggested that about 10 times more land could be used for agriculture, including some locations which could be used for irrigation projects. Monitoring of soil moisture during the important summer crop season is of high priority for the future development and productivity of this region. In April the area was covered with vegetation because of the moisture of the soil and only small differences could be seen in X-band data. In October the run-off channels of this hilly region stand out quite clearly because the greenish areas indicated much less soil moisture and water content in plants. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR

  5. Micropower impulse radar technology and applications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mast, J., LLNL

    1998-04-15

    The LLNL-developed Micropower Impulse Radar (MIR) technology has quickly gone from laboratory concept to embedded circuitry in numerous government and commercial systems in the last few years[l]. The main ideas behind MIR, invented by T. McEwan in the Laser Program, are the generation and detection systems for extremely low- power ultra-wideband pulses in the gigaHertz regime using low-cost components. These ideas, coupled with new antenna systems, timing and radio-frequency (RF) circuitry, computer interfaces, and signal processing, have provided the catalyst for a new generation of compact radar systems. Over the past several years we have concentrated on a number of applications of MIR which address a number of remote-sensing applications relevant to emerging programs in defense, transportation, medical, and environmental research. Some of the past commercial successes have been widely publicized [2] and are only now starting to become available for market. Over 30 patents have been filed and over 15 licenses have been signed on various aspects of the MIR technology. In addition, higher performance systems are under development for specific laboratory programs and government reimbursables. The MIR is an ultra- wideband, range-gated radar system that provides the enabling hardware technology used in the research areas mentioned above. It has numerous performance parameters that can be Selected by careful design to fit the requirements. We have improved the baseline, short- range, MIR system to demonstrate its effectiveness. The radar operates over the hand from approximately I to 4 GHz with pulse repetition frequencies up to 10 MHz. It provides a potential range resolution of I cm at ranges of greater than 20 m. We have developed a suite of algorithms for using MIR for image formation. These algorithms currently support Synthetic aperture and multistate array geometries. This baseline MIR radar imaging system has been used for several programmatic applications.

  6. MARSIS data and simulation exploited using array databases: PlanetServer/EarthServer for sounding radars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cantini, Federico; Pio Rossi, Angelo; Orosei, Roberto; Baumann, Peter; Misev, Dimitar; Oosthoek, Jelmer; Beccati, Alan; Campalani, Piero; Unnithan, Vikram

    2014-05-01

    MARSIS is an orbital synthetic aperture radar for both ionosphere and subsurface sounding on board ESA's Mars Express (Picardi et al. 2005). It transmits electromagnetic pulses centered at 1.8, 3, 4 or 5 MHz that penetrate below the surface and are reflected by compositional and/or structural discontinuities in the subsurface of Mars. MARSIS data are available as a collection of single orbit data files. The availability of tools for a more effective access to such data would greatly ease data analysis and exploitation by the community of users. For this purpose, we are developing a database built on the raster database management system RasDaMan (e.g. Baumann et al., 1994), to be populated with MARSIS data and integrated in the PlanetServer/EarthServer (e.g. Oosthoek et al., 2013; Rossi et al., this meeting) project. The data (and related metadata) are stored in the db for each frequency used by MARSIS radar. The capability of retrieving data belonging to a certain orbit or to multiple orbit on the base of latitute/longitude boundaries is a key requirement of the db design, allowing, besides the "classical" radargram representation of the data, and in area with sufficiently hight orbit density, a 3D data extraction, subset and analysis of subsurface structures. Moreover the use of the OGC WCPS (Web Coverage Processing Service) standard can allow calculations on database query results for multiple echoes and/or subsets of a certain data product. Because of the low directivity of its dipole antenna, MARSIS receives echoes from portions of the surface of Mars that are distant from nadir and can be mistakenly interpreted as subsurface echoes. For this reason, methods have been developed to simulate surface echoes (e.g. Nouvel et al., 2004), to reveal the true origin of an echo through comparison with instrument data. These simulations are usually time-consuming, and so far have been performed either on a case-by-case basis or in some simplified form. A code for

  7. Experiment for buried pipes by stepped FM-CW radar; Step shiki FM-CW radar ni yoru maisetsukan tansa jikken

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Suzuki, K.; Ito, M. [Kawasaki Geological Engineering, Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan); Tanabe, K. [Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Tokyo (Japan)

    1997-05-27

    The underground radar exploration is adopted to surveys of cavity under the road and buried pipes since the result of high resolution is obtained. However, the explorative depth of the radar is shallow, 2-3m in soil basement, and its applicable field has been limited. The continuous wave radar (FM-CW radar) was devised to get deeper explorative depth, but has been used for the geological structure survey such as the fault survey since it is lower in resolution as compared with the pulse radar. Therefore, to make use of characteristics of the continuous wave radar and enhance resolution in the shallow part, an experiment on buried pipes was conducted for the purpose of assessing and improving the FM-CW radar. In this processing, the wave form treatment used in the reflection method seismic survey was adopted for the radar survey. There are some problems, but it is effective to adopt the same algorithm to that used in the seismic survey to the radar exploration. The explorative depth was discussed from the damping rate of electromagnetic waves and dynamic range of facilities of the experimental site, and 7m was obtained. 5 figs., 1 tab.

  8. Radar Polarimetry: Theory, Analysis, and Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hubbert, John Clark

    The fields of radar polarimetry and optical polarimetry are compared. The mathematics of optic polarimetry are formulated such that a local right handed coordinate system is always used to describe the polarization states. This is not done in radar polarimetry. Radar optimum polarization theory is redeveloped within the framework of optical polarimetry. The radar optimum polarizations and optic eigenvalues of common scatterers are compared. In addition a novel definition of an eigenpolarization state is given and the accompanying mathematics is developed. The polarization response calculated using optic, radar and novel definitions is presented for a variety of scatterers. Polarimetric transformation provides a means to characterize scatters in more than one polarization basis. Polarimetric transformation for an ensemble of scatters is obtained via two methods: (1) the covariance method and (2) the instantaneous scattering matrix (ISM) method. The covariance method is used to relate the mean radar parameters of a +/-45^circ linear polarization basis to those of a horizontal and vertical polarization basis. In contrast the ISM method transforms the individual time samples. Algorithms are developed for transforming the time series from fully polarimetric radars that switch between orthogonal states. The transformed time series are then used to calculate the mean radar parameters of interest. It is also shown that propagation effects do not need to be removed from the ISM's before transformation. The techniques are demonstrated using data collected by POLDIRAD, the German Aerospace Research Establishment's fully polarimetric C-band radar. The differential phase observed between two copolar states, Psi_{CO}, is composed of two phases: (1) differential propagation phase, phi_{DP}, and (2) differential backscatter phase, delta. The slope of phi_{DP } with range is an estimate of the specific differential phase, K_{DP}. The process of estimating K_{DP} is complicated when

  9. Radar Imaging of Binary Near-Earth Asteroid (66391) 1999 KW4

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Ostro, S. J.; Margot, J. L.; Benner, L. A. M.; Giorgini, J. D.; Scheeres, D.J.; Fahnestock, E.G.; Broschart, S.B.; Bellerose, J.; Nolan, M. C.; Magri, C.; Pravec, Petr; Scheirich, Peter; Rose, R.; Jurgens, R. F.; De Jong, E. M.; Suzuki, S.

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 314, č. 5803 (2006), s. 1276-1280 ISSN 0036-8075 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/05/0604 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : binary asteroid * radar imaging Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 30.028, year: 2006

  10. Hydrologic applications of weather radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seo, Dong-Jun; Habib, Emad; Andrieu, Hervé; Morin, Efrat

    2015-12-01

    By providing high-resolution quantitative precipitation information (QPI), weather radars have revolutionized hydrology in the last two decades. With the aid of GIS technology, radar-based quantitative precipitation estimates (QPE) have enabled routine high-resolution hydrologic modeling in many parts of the world. Given the ever-increasing need for higher-resolution hydrologic and water resources information for a wide range of applications, one may expect that the use of weather radar will only grow. Despite the tremendous progress, a number of significant scientific, technological and engineering challenges remain to realize its potential. New challenges are also emerging as new areas of applications are discovered, explored and pursued. The purpose of this special issue is to provide the readership with some of the latest advances, lessons learned, experiences gained, and science issues and challenges related to hydrologic applications of weather radar. The special issue features 20 contributions on various topics which reflect the increasing diversity as well as the areas of focus in radar hydrology today. The contributions may be grouped as follows:

  11. Hurricane Rita Track Radar Image with Topographic Overlay

    Science.gov (United States)

    2005-01-01

    [figure removed for brevity, see original site] Animation About the animation: This simulated view of the potential effects of storm surge flooding on Galveston and portions of south Houston was generated with data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. Although it is protected by a 17-foot sea wall against storm surges, flooding due to storm surges caused by major hurricanes remains a concern. The animation shows regions that, if unprotected, would be inundated with water. The animation depicts flooding in one-meter increments. About the image: The Gulf Coast from the Mississippi Delta through the Texas coast is shown in this satellite image from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) overlain with data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), and the predicted storm track for Hurricane Rita. The prediction from the National Weather Service was published Sept. 22 at 4 p.m. Central Time, and shows the expected track center in black with the lighter shaded area indicating the range of potential tracks the storm could take. Low-lying terrain along the coast has been highlighted using the SRTM elevation data, with areas within 15 feet of sea level shown in red, and within 30 feet in yellow. These areas are more at risk for flooding and the destructive effects of storm surge and high waves. Data used in this image were acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Geospatial

  12. Detection and localization of multiple short range targets using FMCW radar signal

    KAUST Repository

    Jardak, Seifallah; Kiuru, Tero; Metso, Mikko; Pursula, Pekka; Hakli, Janne; Hirvonen, Mervi; Ahmed, Sajid; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, a 24 GHz frequency-modulated continuous wave radar is used to detect and localize both stationary and moving targets. Depending on the application, the implemented software offers different modes of operation. For example, it can

  13. Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar: Current status and future directions. A report to the Committee on Earth Sciences, Space Studies Board, National Research Council

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, D. L. (Editor); Apel, J.; Arvidson, R.; Bindschadler, R.; Carsey, F.; Dozier, J.; Jezek, K.; Kasischke, E.; Li, F.; Melack, J.

    1995-01-01

    This report provides a context in which questions put forth by NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth (OMPTE) regarding the next steps in spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) science and technology can be addressed. It summarizes the state-of-the-art in theory, experimental design, technology, data analysis, and utilization of SAR data for studies of the Earth, and describes potential new applications. The report is divided into five science chapters and a technology assessment. The chapters summarize the value of existing SAR data and currently planned SAR systems, and identify gaps in observational capabilities needing to be filled to address the scientific questions. Cases where SAR provides complementary data to other (non-SAR) measurement techniques are also described. The chapter on technology assessment outlines SAR technology development which is critical not only to NASA's providing societally relevant geophysical parameters but to maintaining competitiveness in SAR technology, and promoting economic development.

  14. Radar Scan Methods in Modern Multifunctional Radars

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. N. Skosyrev

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Considered urgent task of organizing the review space in modern multifunctional radar systems shall review the space in a wide range of elevation angles from minus 5 to 60-80 degrees and 360 degrees azimuth. MfRLS this type should provide an overview of the zone for a limited time (2-3 sec, detecting a wide range of subtle high and low-flying targets. The latter circumstance requires the organization to select targets against the background of reflections from the underlying surface and local objects (MP. When providing an overview of the space taken into account the need to increase not only the noise immunity, and survivability.Two variants of the review of space in the elevation plane in the solid-state AESA radar. In the first case the overview space narrow beam by one beam. In the second - the transfer of DNA is formed, covering the whole sector of responsibility in elevation and at the reception beam is formed in spetsvychislitele (CB as a result of the signal processing of digitized after emitters antenna web. The estimations of the parameters specific to the multifunction radar SAM air and missile defense. It is shown that in a number of practically important cases, preference should be given clearly one of the methods described review of space.The functional scheme with AESA radar for both variants of the review. Necessary to analyze their differences. Contains the problem of increasing the cost of MfRLS with digital beamforming DNA with increasing bandwidth probing signal being processed.Noted drawbacks of MfRLS with digital beamforming beam. Including: reduced accuracy of the coordinates at low elevation angles, the complexity of the organization of thermal regime of the solid element base using quasi-continuous signal with a low duty cycle. Shows their fundamentally unavoidable in the steppe and desert areas with uneven terrain (Kazakhstan, China, the Middle East.It is shown that for MfRLS working in strong clutter, more preferably

  15. Broadview Radar Altimetry Toolbox

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia-Mondejar, Albert; Escolà, Roger; Moyano, Gorka; Roca, Mònica; Terra-Homem, Miguel; Friaças, Ana; Martinho, Fernando; Schrama, Ernst; Naeije, Marc; Ambrózio, Américo; Restano, Marco; Benveniste, Jérôme

    2017-04-01

    The universal altimetry toolbox, BRAT (Broadview Radar Altimetry Toolbox) which can read all previous and current altimetry missions' data, incorporates now the capability to read the upcoming Sentinel3 L1 and L2 products. ESA endeavoured to develop and supply this capability to support the users of the future Sentinel3 SAR Altimetry Mission. BRAT is a collection of tools and tutorial documents designed to facilitate the processing of radar altimetry data. This project started in 2005 from the joint efforts of ESA (European Space Agency) and CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales), and it is freely available at http://earth.esa.int/brat. The tools enable users to interact with the most common altimetry data formats. The BratGUI is the frontend for the powerful command line tools that are part of the BRAT suite. BRAT can also be used in conjunction with MATLAB/IDL (via reading routines) or in C/C++/Fortran via a programming API, allowing the user to obtain desired data, bypassing the dataformatting hassle. BRAT can be used simply to visualise data quickly, or to translate the data into other formats such as NetCDF, ASCII text files, KML (Google Earth) and raster images (JPEG, PNG, etc.). Several kinds of computations can be done within BRAT involving combinations of data fields that the user can save for posterior reuse or using the already embedded formulas that include the standard oceanographic altimetry formulas. The Radar Altimeter Tutorial, that contains a strong introduction to altimetry, shows its applications in different fields such as Oceanography, Cryosphere, Geodesy, Hydrology among others. Included are also "use cases", with step-by-step examples, on how to use the toolbox in the different contexts. The Sentinel3 SAR Altimetry Toolbox shall benefit from the current BRAT version. While developing the toolbox we will revamp of the Graphical User Interface and provide, among other enhancements, support for reading the upcoming S3 datasets and specific

  16. Journal of Earth System Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Home; Journals; Journal of Earth System Science. J Senthilnath. Articles written in Journal of Earth System Science. Volume 122 Issue 3 June 2013 pp 559-572. Integration of speckle de-noising and image segmentation using Synthetic Aperture Radar image for flood extent extraction · J Senthilnath H Vikram Shenoy Ritwik ...

  17. Use of radar QPE for the derivation of Intensity-Duration-Frequency curves in a range of climatic regimes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marra, Francesco; Morin, Efrat

    2015-12-01

    Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves are widely used in flood risk management because they provide an easy link between the characteristics of a rainfall event and the probability of its occurrence. Weather radars provide distributed rainfall estimates with high spatial and temporal resolutions and overcome the scarce representativeness of point-based rainfall for regions characterized by large gradients in rainfall climatology. This work explores the use of radar quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) for the identification of IDF curves over a region with steep climatic transitions (Israel) using a unique radar data record (23 yr) and combined physical and empirical adjustment of the radar data. IDF relationships were derived by fitting a generalized extreme value distribution to the annual maximum series for durations of 20 min, 1 h and 4 h. Arid, semi-arid and Mediterranean climates were explored using 14 study cases. IDF curves derived from the study rain gauges were compared to those derived from radar and from nearby rain gauges characterized by similar climatology, taking into account the uncertainty linked with the fitting technique. Radar annual maxima and IDF curves were generally overestimated but in 70% of the cases (60% for a 100 yr return period), they lay within the rain gauge IDF confidence intervals. Overestimation tended to increase with return period, and this effect was enhanced in arid climates. This was mainly associated with radar estimation uncertainty, even if other effects, such as rain gauge temporal resolution, cannot be neglected. Climatological classification remained meaningful for the analysis of rainfall extremes and radar was able to discern climatology from rainfall frequency analysis.

  18. Human motion estimation with multiple frequency modulated continuous wave radars

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Dorp, P.; Groen, F.C.A.

    2010-01-01

    Human motion estimation is an important issue in automotive, security or home automation applications. Radar systems are well suited for this because they are robust, are independent of day or night conditions and have accurate range and speed domain. The human response in a radar range-speed-time

  19. Space Radar Image of Flevoland, Netherlands

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-01-01

    This is a three-frequency false color image of Flevoland, The Netherlands, centered at 52.4 degrees north latitude, 5.4 degrees east longitude. This image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) aboard space shuttle Endeavour on April 14, 1994. It was produced by combining data from the X-band, C-band and L-band radars. The area shown is approximately 25 kilometers by 28 kilometers (15-1/2 by 17-1/2 miles). Flevoland, which fills the lower two-thirds of the image, is a very flat area that is made up of reclaimed land that is used for agriculture and forestry. At the top of the image, across the canal from Flevoland, is an older forest shown in red; the city of Harderwijk is shown in white on the shore of the canal. At this time of the year, the agricultural fields are bare soil, and they show up in this image in blue. The changes in the brightness of the blue areas are equal to the changes in roughness. The dark blue areas are water and the small dots in the canal are boats. This SIR-C/X-SAR supersite is being used for both calibration and agricultural studies. Several soil and crop ground-truth studies will be conducted during the shuttle flight. In addition, about 10calibration devices and 10 corner reflectors have been deployed to calibrate and monitor the radar signal. One of these transponders can be seen as a bright star in the lower right quadrant of the image. This false-color image was made using L-band total power in the red channel, C-band total power in the green channel, and X-band VV polarization in the blue channel. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by

  20. Looking at the earth from space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geller, Marvin A.

    1988-01-01

    Some of the scientific accomplishments attained in observing the earth from space are discussed. A brief overview of findings concerning the atmosphere, the oceans and sea ice, the solid earth, and the terrestrial hydrosphere and biosphere is presented, and six examples are examined in which space data have provided unique information enabling new knowledge concerning the workings of the earth to be derived. These examples concern stratospheric water vapor, hemispheric differences in surface and atmosphere parameters, Seasat altimeter mesoscale variability, variability of Antarctic sea ice, variations in the length of day, and spaceborne radar imaging of ancient rivers. Future space observations of the earth are briefly addressed.

  1. Investigations on the sensitivity of a stepped-frequency radar utilizing a vector network analyzer for Ground Penetrating Radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seyfried, Daniel; Schubert, Karsten; Schoebel, Joerg

    2014-12-01

    Employing a continuous-wave radar system, with the stepped-frequency radar being one type of this class, all reflections from the environment are present continuously and simultaneously at the receiver. Utilizing such a radar system for Ground Penetrating Radar purposes, antenna cross-talk and ground bounce reflection form an overall dominant signal contribution while reflections from objects buried in the ground are of quite weak amplitude due to attenuation in the ground. This requires a large dynamic range of the receiver which in turn requires high sensitivity of the radar system. In this paper we analyze the sensitivity of our vector network analyzer utilized as stepped-frequency radar system for GPR pipe detection. We furthermore investigate the performance of increasing the sensitivity of the radar by means of appropriate averaging and low-noise pre-amplification of the received signal. It turns out that the improvement in sensitivity actually achievable may differ significantly from theoretical expectations. In addition, we give a descriptive explanation why our appropriate experiments demonstrate that the sensitivity of the receiver is independent of the distance between the target object and the source of dominant signal contribution. Finally, our investigations presented in this paper lead to a preferred setting of operation for our vector network analyzer in order to achieve best detection capability for weak reflection amplitudes, hence making the radar system applicable for Ground Penetrating Radar purposes.

  2. Sensitivity of Attitude Determination on the Model Assumed for ISAR Radar Mappings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemmens, S.; Krag, H.

    2013-09-01

    Inverse synthetic aperture radars (ISAR) are valuable instrumentations for assessing the state of a large object in low Earth orbit. The images generated by these radars can reach a sufficient quality to be used during launch support or contingency operations, e.g. for confirming the deployment of structures, determining the structural integrity, or analysing the dynamic behaviour of an object. However, the direct interpretation of ISAR images can be a demanding task due to the nature of the range-Doppler space in which these images are produced. Recently, a tool has been developed by the European Space Agency's Space Debris Office to generate radar mappings of a target in orbit. Such mappings are a 3D-model based simulation of how an ideal ISAR image would be generated by a ground based radar under given processing conditions. These radar mappings can be used to support a data interpretation process. E.g. by processing predefined attitude scenarios during an observation sequence and comparing them with actual observations, one can detect non-nominal behaviour. Vice versa, one can also estimate the attitude states of the target by fitting the radar mappings to the observations. It has been demonstrated for the latter use case that a coarse approximation of the target through an 3D-model is already sufficient to derive the attitude information from the generated mappings. The level of detail required for the 3D-model is determined by the process of generating ISAR images, which is based on the theory of scattering bodies. Therefore, a complex surface can return an intrinsically noisy ISAR image. E.g. when many instruments on a satellite are visible to the observer, the ISAR image can suffer from multipath reflections. In this paper, we will further analyse the sensitivity of the attitude fitting algorithms to variations in the dimensions and the level of detail of the underlying 3D model. Moreover, we investigate the ability to estimate the orientations of different

  3. Auroral radar measurements at 16-cm wavelength with high range and time resolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schlegel, K.; Turunen, T.; Moorcroft, D.R.

    1990-01-01

    Auroral radar measurements performed with the EISCAT facility are presented. Backscatter cross sections of the irregularities produced by the two-stream (Farley-Buneman) or gradient drift plasma instabilities have been recorded with a range separation of 1.5 km, corresponding to a spacing of successive values in height of about 0.4 km. The apparent height profiles of the backscatter have a width of about 5-6 km and occur between 95 and 112 km altitude, with a mean at 104 km. Very often, fast motions of the backscatter layers are observed which can be explained as fast moving ionospheric structures controlled by magnetospheric convection. The maximal time resolution of the measurements is 12.5 ms. The statistics of the backscatter amplitudes at this time resolution is close to a Rice distribution with a Rice parameter a ∼ 3.7. The observed backscatter spectra do not change significantly in shape when the integration time is reduced from 5 s to 100 ms

  4. The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Urban Radar Network: Enhancing Resilience in the Presence of Floods, Tornadoes, Hail and High Winds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chandra*, Chandrasekar V.; the full DFW Team

    2015-04-01

    Currently, the National Weather Service (NWS) Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) provides observations updated every five-six minutes across the United States. However, at the maximum NEXRAD operating range of 230 km, the 0.5 degree radar beam (lowest tilt) height is about 5.4 km above ground level (AGL) because of the effect of Earth curvature. Consequently, much of the lower atmosphere (1-3 km AGL) cannot be observed by the NEXRAD. To overcome the fundamental coverage limitations of today's weather surveillance radars, and improve the spatial and temporal resolution issues, at urban scale, the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center (NSF-ERC) for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) has embarked the development of Dallas-Fort worth (DFW) urban remote sensing network to conduct high-resolution sensing in the lower atmosphere for a metropolitan environment, communicate high resolution observations and nowcasting of severe weather including flash floods, hail storms and high wind events. Being one of the largest inland metropolitan areas in the U.S., the DFW Metroplex is home to over 6.5 million people by 2012 according to the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG). It experiences a wide range of natural weather hazards, including urban flash flood, high wind, tornado, and hail, etc. Successful monitoring of the rapid changing meteorological conditions in such a region is necessary for emergency management and decision making. Therefore, it is an ideal location to investigate the impacts of hazardous weather phenomena, to enhance resilience in an urban setting and demonstrate the CASA concept in a densely populated urban environment. The DFW radar network consists of 8 dual-polarization X-band weather radars and standard NEXRAD S-band radar, covering the greater DFW metropolitan region. This paper will present high resolution observation of tornado, urban flood, hail storm and damaging wind event all within the

  5. Two-way laser ranging and time transfer experiments between LOLA and an Earth-based satellite laser ranging station

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mao, D.; Sun, X.; Neumann, G. A.; Barker, M. K.; Mazarico, E. M.; Hoffman, E.; Zagwodzki, T. W.; Torrence, M. H.; Mcgarry, J.; Smith, D. E.; Zuber, M. T.

    2017-12-01

    Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) has established time-of-flight measurements with mm precision to targets orbiting the Earth and the Moon using single-ended round-trip laser ranging to passive optical retro-reflectors. These high-precision measurements enable advances in fundamental physics, solar system dynamics. However, the received signal strength suffers from a 1/R4 decay, which makes it impractical for measuring distances beyond the Moon's orbit. On the other hand, for a two-way laser transponder pair, where laser pulses are both transmitted to and received from each end of the laser links, the signal strength at both terminals only decreases by 1/R2, thus allowing a greater range of distances to be covered. The asynchronous transponder concept has been previously demonstrated by a test in 2005 between the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) aboard the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, Geochemistry, and Ranging) spacecraft and NASA's Goddard Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory (GGAO) at a distance of ˜0.16 AU. In October 2013, regular two-way transponder-type range measurements were obtained over 15 days between the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) aboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft and NASA's ground station at White Sands, NM. The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) provides us a unique capability to test time-transfer beyond near Earth orbit. Here we present results from two-way transponder-type experiments between LOLA and GGAO conducted in March 2014 and 2017. As in the time-transfer by laser link (T2L2) experiments between a ground station and an earth-orbiting satellite, LOLA and GGAO ranged to each other simultaneously in these two-way tests at lunar distance. We measured the time-of-flight while cross-referencing the spacecraft clock to the ground station time. On May 4th, 2017, about 20 minutes of two-way measurements were collected. The

  6. Classification and correction of the radar bright band with polarimetric radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Will; Rico-Ramirez, Miguel; Kramer, Stefan

    2015-04-01

    The annular region of enhanced radar reflectivity, known as the Bright Band (BB), occurs when the radar beam intersects a layer of melting hydrometeors. Radar reflectivity is related to rainfall through a power law equation and so this enhanced region can lead to overestimations of rainfall by a factor of up to 5, so it is important to correct for this. The BB region can be identified by using several techniques including hydrometeor classification and freezing level forecasts from mesoscale meteorological models. Advances in dual-polarisation radar measurements and continued research in the field has led to increased accuracy in the ability to identify the melting snow region. A method proposed by Kitchen et al (1994), a form of which is currently used operationally in the UK, utilises idealised Vertical Profiles of Reflectivity (VPR) to correct for the BB enhancement. A simpler and more computationally efficient method involves the formation of an average VPR from multiple elevations for correction that can still cause a significant decrease in error (Vignal 2000). The purpose of this research is to evaluate a method that relies only on analysis of measurements from an operational C-band polarimetric radar without the need for computationally expensive models. Initial results show that LDR is a strong classifier of melting snow with a high Critical Success Index of 97% when compared to the other variables. An algorithm based on idealised VPRs resulted in the largest decrease in error when BB corrected scans are compared to rain gauges and to lower level scans with a reduction in RMSE of 61% for rain-rate measurements. References Kitchen, M., R. Brown, and A. G. Davies, 1994: Real-time correction of weather radar data for the effects of bright band, range and orographic growth in widespread precipitation. Q.J.R. Meteorol. Soc., 120, 1231-1254. Vignal, B. et al, 2000: Three methods to determine profiles of reflectivity from volumetric radar data to correct

  7. FrFT-CSWSF: Estimating cross-range velocities of ground moving targets using multistatic synthetic aperture radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Chenlei

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Estimating cross-range velocity is a challenging task for space-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR, which is important for ground moving target indication (GMTI. Because the velocity of a target is very small compared with that of the satellite, it is difficult to correctly estimate it using a conventional monostatic platform algorithm. To overcome this problem, a novel method employing multistatic SAR is presented in this letter. The proposed hybrid method, which is based on an extended space-time model (ESTIM of the azimuth signal, has two steps: first, a set of finite impulse response (FIR filter banks based on a fractional Fourier transform (FrFT is used to separate multiple targets within a range gate; second, a cross-correlation spectrum weighted subspace fitting (CSWSF algorithm is applied to each of the separated signals in order to estimate their respective parameters. As verified through computer simulation with the constellations of Cartwheel, Pendulum and Helix, this proposed time-frequency-subspace method effectively improves the estimation precision of the cross-range velocities of multiple targets.

  8. Super Dual Auroral Radar Network observations of fluctuations in the spectral distribution of near range meteor echoes in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. F. Arnold

    2001-04-01

    Full Text Available The Doppler shifts of meteor echoes measured by the SuperDARN HF radar network have been used in several studies to observe neutral winds in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere region. In the absence of accurate height information for individual meteors, it has been necessary to assume a statistical mean meteor layer where the variations in altitude were not correlated to changes in the horizontal winds. Observations of spectral width distribution variations made by the radars allow an independent determination of the systematic error in the height. We have investigated the dependence of this distribution on a number of factors including the radar geometry, diurnal and seasonal cycles, variations in solar UV irradiance and geomagnetic activity. Changes in the altitude of the mean meteor layer observed at different radar ranges provide us with some insight into the structure of the upper mesosphere and the lower thermosphere within which the meteors are being ablated. An examination of the spectral widths, as measured by the CUT-LASS Finland radar, in the days preceding and following a Storm Sudden Commencement in April 1997, illustrates how the spectral properties of the observed region can be affected. The variations in the widths were consistent with model calculations of the changes to the temperature profile over this interval. Further refinements in the determination of the spectral width are outlined for future experiments.Key words. Meterology and atmospheric dynamics (middle atmosphere dynamics; thermospheric dynamics; instruments and techniques

  9. Super Dual Auroral Radar Network observations of fluctuations in the spectral distribution of near range meteor echoes in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. F. Arnold

    Full Text Available The Doppler shifts of meteor echoes measured by the SuperDARN HF radar network have been used in several studies to observe neutral winds in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere region. In the absence of accurate height information for individual meteors, it has been necessary to assume a statistical mean meteor layer where the variations in altitude were not correlated to changes in the horizontal winds. Observations of spectral width distribution variations made by the radars allow an independent determination of the systematic error in the height. We have investigated the dependence of this distribution on a number of factors including the radar geometry, diurnal and seasonal cycles, variations in solar UV irradiance and geomagnetic activity. Changes in the altitude of the mean meteor layer observed at different radar ranges provide us with some insight into the structure of the upper mesosphere and the lower thermosphere within which the meteors are being ablated. An examination of the spectral widths, as measured by the CUT-LASS Finland radar, in the days preceding and following a Storm Sudden Commencement in April 1997, illustrates how the spectral properties of the observed region can be affected. The variations in the widths were consistent with model calculations of the changes to the temperature profile over this interval. Further refinements in the determination of the spectral width are outlined for future experiments.

    Key words. Meterology and atmospheric dynamics (middle atmosphere dynamics; thermospheric dynamics; instruments and techniques

  10. Space Radar Image of Colombian Volcano

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-01-01

    This is a radar image of a little known volcano in northern Colombia. The image was acquired on orbit 80 of space shuttle Endeavour on April 14, 1994, by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR). The volcano near the center of the image is located at 5.6 degrees north latitude, 75.0 degrees west longitude, about 100 kilometers (65 miles) southeast of Medellin, Colombia. The conspicuous dark spot is a lake at the bottom of an approximately 3-kilometer-wide (1.9-mile) volcanic collapse depression or caldera. A cone-shaped peak on the bottom left (northeast rim) of the caldera appears to have been the source for a flow of material into the caldera. This is the northern-most known volcano in South America and because of its youthful appearance, should be considered dormant rather than extinct. The volcano's existence confirms a fracture zone proposed in 1985 as the northern boundary of volcanism in the Andes. The SIR-C/X-SAR image reveals another, older caldera further south in Colombia, along another proposed fracture zone. Although relatively conspicuous, these volcanoes have escaped widespread recognition because of frequent cloud cover that hinders remote sensing imaging in visible wavelengths. Four separate volcanoes in the Northern Andes nations ofColombia and Ecuador have been active during the last 10 years, killing more than 25,000 people, including scientists who were monitoring the volcanic activity. Detection and monitoring of volcanoes from space provides a safe way to investigate volcanism. The recognition of previously unknown volcanoes is important for hazard evaluations because a number of major eruptions this century have occurred at mountains that were not previously recognized as volcanoes. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of

  11. Quantum radar

    CERN Document Server

    Lanzagorta, Marco

    2011-01-01

    This book offers a concise review of quantum radar theory. Our approach is pedagogical, making emphasis on the physics behind the operation of a hypothetical quantum radar. We concentrate our discussion on the two major models proposed to date: interferometric quantum radar and quantum illumination. In addition, this book offers some new results, including an analytical study of quantum interferometry in the X-band radar region with a variety of atmospheric conditions, a derivation of a quantum radar equation, and a discussion of quantum radar jamming.This book assumes the reader is familiar w

  12. Deep Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) WIPL-D Models of Buried Sub-Surface Radiators

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Norgard, John D; Wicks, Michael C; Musselman, Randy L

    2005-01-01

    .... A new Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) concept is proposed in this paper to use subsurface radiators, delivered as earth penetrating non-explosive, electronic e-bombs, as the source of strong radiated transmissions for GPR experiments...

  13. Micropower radar systems for law enforcement technology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Azevedo, S.G.; Mast, J.; Brase, J. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)] [and others

    1994-11-15

    LLNL researchers have pioneered a unique compact low-power and inexpensive radar technology (microradar) that has enormous potential in various industries. Some licenses are currently in place for motion sensors and stud finders. The ultra-wideband characteristics of the microradar (4 to 10 GHz) make it difficult to detect, yet provide potential range resolution of 1 cm at ranges of greater than 20 meters. Real and synthetic apertures arrays of radar elements can address imaging applications behind walls at those distances. Personnel detection applications are currently being tested.

  14. Using phase for radar scatterer classification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Linda J.; Rigling, Brian D.; Penno, Robert P.; Zelnio, Edmund G.

    2017-04-01

    Traditional synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems tend to discard phase information of formed complex radar imagery prior to automatic target recognition (ATR). This practice has historically been driven by available hardware storage, processing capabilities, and data link capacity. Recent advances in high performance computing (HPC) have enabled extremely dense storage and processing solutions. Therefore, previous motives for discarding radar phase information in ATR applications have been mitigated. First, we characterize the value of phase in one-dimensional (1-D) radar range profiles with respect to the ability to correctly estimate target features, which are currently employed in ATR algorithms for target discrimination. These features correspond to physical characteristics of targets through radio frequency (RF) scattering phenomenology. Physics-based electromagnetic scattering models developed from the geometrical theory of diffraction are utilized for the information analysis presented here. Information is quantified by the error of target parameter estimates from noisy radar signals when phase is either retained or discarded. Operating conditions (OCs) of signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) and bandwidth are considered. Second, we investigate the value of phase in 1-D radar returns with respect to the ability to correctly classify canonical targets. Classification performance is evaluated via logistic regression for three targets (sphere, plate, tophat). Phase information is demonstrated to improve radar target classification rates, particularly at low SNRs and low bandwidths.

  15. Target Detection Based on EBPSK Satellite Passive Radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lu Zeyuan

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Passive radar is a topic anti stealth technology with simple structure, and low cost. Radiation source model, signal transmission model, and target detection are the key points of passive radar technology research. The paper analyzes the characteristics of EBPSK signal modulation and target detection method aspect of spaceborne radiant source. By comparison with other satellite navigation and positioning system, the characteristics of EBPSK satellite passive radar system are analyzed. It is proved that the maximum detection range of EBPSK satellite signal can satisfy the needs of the proposed model. In the passive radar model, sparse representation is used to achieve high resolution DOA detection. The comparison with the real target track by simulation demonstrates that effective detection of airborne target using EBPSK satellite passive radar system based on sparse representation is efficient.

  16. Basic Radar Altimetry Toolbox: Tools and Tutorial To Use Radar Altimetry For Cryosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benveniste, J. J.; Bronner, E.; Dinardo, S.; Lucas, B. M.; Rosmorduc, V.; Earith, D.

    2010-12-01

    Radar altimetry is very much a technique expanding its applications. If quite a lot of efforts have been made for oceanography users (including easy-to-use data), the use of those data for cryosphere application, especially with the new ESA CryoSat-2 mission data is still somehow tedious, especially for new Altimetry data products users. ESA and CNES thus had the Basic Radar Altimetry Toolbox developed a few years ago, and are improving and upgrading it to fit new missions and the growing number of altimetry uses. The Basic Radar Altimetry Toolbox is an "all-altimeter" collection of tools, tutorials and documents designed to facilitate the use of radar altimetry data. The software is able: - to read most distributed radar altimetry data, from ERS-1 & 2, Topex/Poseidon, Geosat Follow-on, Jason-1, Envisat, Jason- 2, CryoSat and the future Saral missions, - to perform some processing, data editing and statistic, - and to visualize the results. It can be used at several levels/several ways: - as a data reading tool, with APIs for C, Fortran, Matlab and IDL - as processing/extraction routines, through the on-line command mode - as an educational and a quick-look tool, with the graphical user interface As part of the Toolbox, a Radar Altimetry Tutorial gives general information about altimetry, the technique involved and its applications, as well as an overview of past, present and future missions, including information on how to access data and additional software and documentation. It also presents a series of data use cases, covering all uses of altimetry over ocean, cryosphere and land, showing the basic methods for some of the most frequent manners of using altimetry data. It is an opportunity to teach remote sensing with practical training. It has been available from April 2007, and had been demonstrated during training courses and scientific meetings. About 1200 people downloaded it (Summer 2010), with many "newcomers" to altimetry among them, including teachers

  17. Performance test and verification of an off-the-shelf automated avian radar tracking system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    May, Roel; Steinheim, Yngve; Kvaløy, Pål; Vang, Roald; Hanssen, Frank

    2017-08-01

    Microwave radar is an important tool for observation of birds in flight and represents a tremendous increase in observation capability in terms of amount of surveillance space that can be covered at relatively low cost. Based on off-the-shelf radar hardware, automated radar tracking systems have been developed for monitoring avian movements. However, radar used as an observation instrument in biological research has its limitations that are important to be aware of when analyzing recorded radar data. This article describes a method for exploring the detection capabilities of a dedicated short-range avian radar system used inside the operational Smøla wind-power plant. The purpose of the testing described was to find the maximum detection range for various sized birds, while controlling for the effects of flight tortuosity, flight orientation relative to the radar and ground clutter. The method was to use a dedicated test target in form of a remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with calibrated radar cross section (RCS), which enabled the design of virtually any test flight pattern within the area of interest. The UAV had a detection probability of 0.5 within a range of 2,340 m from the radar. The detection performance obtained by the RCS-calibrated test target (-11 dBm 2 , 0.08 m 2 RCS) was then extrapolated to find the corresponding performance of differently sized birds. Detection range depends on system sensitivity, the environment within which the radar is placed and the spatial distribution of birds. The avian radar under study enables continuous monitoring of bird activity within a maximum range up to 2 km dependent on the size of the birds in question. While small bird species may be detected up to 0.5-1 km, larger species may be detected up to 1.5-2 km distance from the radar.

  18. Dielectric properties of Jovian satellite ice analogs for subsurface radar exploration: A review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pettinelli, Elena; Cosciotti, Barbara; Di Paolo, Federico; Lauro, Sebastian Emanuel; Mattei, Elisabetta; Orosei, Roberto; Vannaroni, Giuliano

    2015-09-01

    function of the frequency and temperature ranges of interest for the subsurface sounders. We present the different subsurface scenarios and associated radar signal attenuation models that have been proposed so far to simulate the structure of the crust of Europa and discuss the physical and geological nature of various dielectric targets potentially detectable with RIME. Finally, we briefly highlight several unresolved issues that should be addressed, in near future, to improve our capability to produce realistic electromagnetic models of icy moon crusts. The present review is of interest for the geophysical exploration of all solar system bodies, including the Earth, where ice can be present at the surface or at relatively shallow depths.

  19. Software Radar Technology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tang Jun

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the definition and the key features of Software Radar, which is a new concept, are proposed and discussed. We consider the development of modern radar system technology to be divided into three stages: Digital Radar, Software radar and Intelligent Radar, and the second stage is just commencing now. A Software Radar system should be a combination of various modern digital modular components conformed to certain software and hardware standards. Moreover, a software radar system with an open system architecture supporting to decouple application software and low level hardware would be easy to adopt "user requirements-oriented" developing methodology instead of traditional "specific function-oriented" developing methodology. Compared with traditional Digital Radar, Software Radar system can be easily reconfigured and scaled up or down to adapt to the changes of requirements and technologies. A demonstration Software Radar signal processing system, RadarLab 2.0, which has been developed by Tsinghua University, is introduced in this paper and the suggestions for the future development of Software Radar in China are also given in the conclusion.

  20. Small battery operated unattended radar sensor for security systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plummer, Thomas J.; Brady, Stephen; Raines, Robert

    2013-06-01

    McQ has developed, tested, and is supplying to Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) customers a new radar sensor. This radar sensor is designed for short range target detection and classification. The design emphasis was to have low power consumption, totally automated operation, a very high probability of detection coupled with a very low false alarm rate, be able to locate and track targets, and have a price compatible with the UGS market. The radar sensor complements traditional UGS sensors by providing solutions for scenarios that are difficult for UGS. The design of this radar sensor and the testing are presented in this paper.

  1. Earth rotation measured by lunar laser ranging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stolz, A.; Bender, P. L.; Faller, J. E.; Silverberg, E. C.; Mulholland, J. D.; Shelus, P. J.; Williams, J. G.; Carter, W. E.; Currie, D. G.; Kaula, V. M.

    1976-01-01

    The estimated median accuracy of 194 single-day determinations of the earth's angular position in space is 0.7 millisecond (0.01 arc second). Comparison with classical astronomical results gives agreement to about the expected 2-millisecond uncertainty of the 5-day averages obtained by the Bureau International de l'Heure. Little evidence for very rapid variations in the earth's rotation is present in the data.

  2. MicroRadarNet: A network of weather micro radars for the identification of local high resolution precipitation patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turso, S.; Paolella, S.; Gabella, M.; Perona, G.

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, MicroRadarNet, a novel micro radar network for continuous, unattended meteorological monitoring is presented. Key aspects and constraints are introduced. Specific design strategies are highlighted, leading to the technological implementations of this wireless, low-cost, low power consumption sensor network. Raw spatial and temporal datasets are processed on-board in real-time, featuring a consistent evaluation of the signals from the sensors and optimizing the data loads to be transmitted. Network servers perform the final post-elaboration steps on the data streams coming from each unit. Final network products are meteorological mappings of weather events, monitored with high spatial and temporal resolution, and lastly served to the end user through any Web browser. This networked approach is shown to imply a sensible reduction of the overall operational costs, including management and maintenance aspects, if compared to the traditional long range monitoring strategy. Adoption of the TITAN storm identification and nowcasting engine is also here evaluated for in-loop integration within the MicroRadarNet data processing chain. A brief description of the engine workflow is provided, to present preliminary feasibility results and performance estimates. The outcomes were not so predictable, taking into account relevant operational differences between a Western Alps micro radar scenario and the long range radar context in the Denver region of Colorado. Finally, positive results from a set of case studies are discussed, motivating further refinements and integration activities.

  3. Space Radar Image of County Kerry, Ireland

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-01-01

    The Iveragh Peninsula, one of the four peninsulas in southwestern Ireland, is shown in this spaceborne radar image. The lakes of Killarney National Park are the green patches on the left side of the image. The mountains to the right of the lakes include the highest peaks (1,036 meters or 3,400 feet) in Ireland. The patchwork patterns between the mountains are areas of farming and grazing. The delicate patterns in the water are caused by refraction of ocean waves around the peninsula edges and islands, including Skellig Rocks at the right edge of the image. The Skelligs are home to a 15th century monastery and flocks of puffins. The region is part of County Kerry and includes a road called the 'Ring of Kerry' that is one of the most famous tourist routes in Ireland. This image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on April 12, 1994. The image is 82 kilometers by 42 kilometers (51 miles by 26 miles) and is centered at 52.0 degrees north latitude, 9.9 degrees west longitude. North is toward the lower left. The colors are assigned to different radar frequencies and polarizations of the radar as follows: red is L-band, horizontally transmitted and received; green is L-band, vertically transmitted and received; and blue is C-band, vertically transmitted and received. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the German, Italian and United States space agencies, is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program.

  4. Near-Earth Asteroid 2005 CR37: Radar Images and Photometry of a Candidate Contact Binary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benner, Lance A. M.; Nolan, Michael C.; Ostro, Steven J.; Giorgini, Jon D.; Pray, Donald P.; Harris, Alan W.; Magri, Christopher; Margot, Jean-Luc

    2006-01-01

    Arecibo (2380 MHz, 13 cm) radar observations of 2005 CR37 provide detailed images of a candidate contact binary: a 1.8-km-long, extremely bifurcated object. Although the asteroid's two lobes are round, there are regions of modest topographic relief, such as an elevated, 200-m-wide facet, that suggest that the lobes are geologically more complex than either coherent fragments or homogeneous rubble piles. Since January 1999, about 9% of NEAs larger than approx.200 m imaged by radar can be described as candidate contact binaries.

  5. The Near-Earth Encounter of Asteroid 308635 (2005 YU55): Thermal IR Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Lucy F.; Emery, J. P.; Moskovitz, N. A.; Busch, M. W.; Yang, B.; Granvik, M.

    2012-10-01

    The near-Earth approach (0.00217 AU, or 0.845 lunar distances) of the C-type asteroid 308635 (2005 YU55) in November 2011 presented a rare opportunity for detailed observations of a low-albedo NEA in this size range. As part of a multi-telescope campaign to measure visible and infrared spectra and photometry, we obtained mid-infrared ( 8 to 22 micron) photometry and spectroscopy of 2005 YU55 using Michelle [1] on the Gemini North telescope on UT November 9 and 10, 2011. An extensive radar campaign [2] together with optical lightcurves [3,4] established the rotation state of YU55. In addition, the radar imaging resulted in a shape model for the asteroid, detection of numerous boulders on its surface, and a preliminary estimate of its equatorial diameter at 380 +/- 20 m. In a preliminary analysis, applying the radar and lightcurve-derived parameters to a rough-surface thermophysical model fit to the Gemini/Michelle thermal emission photometry results in a thermal inertia range of approximately 500 to 1500 J m-2 s-1/2 K-1, with the low-thermal-inertia solution corresponding to the small end of the radar size range and vice versa. Updates to these results will be presented and modeling of the thermal contribution to the measured near-infrared spectra from Palomar/Triplespec and IRTF/SpeX will also be discussed. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of observatory staff and the support of the NASA NEOO program (LFL and JPE), the Carnegie fellowship (NAM), and NASA AES, NSF, and the NRAO Jansky Fellowship (MWB). [1] De Buizer, J. and R. Fisher, Proc. Hris (2005), pp. 84-87. [2] Busch, M.W. et al., ACM (2012), abstract #6179. [3] Warner, B., MPBull 39 (2), 84 [4] Pravec, P.

  6. Sea Ice Movements from Synthetic Aperture Radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    1981-12-01

    correlating these components. B-l8 These correlations are also plotted in figure l1. 5.3.3.2 AUlications of the space correlation. The spatial...aperture radar. To appear in J. of Geophys. Res. Hastings, A. D. Jr., 1971. Surface climate of the Arctic Basin. Report ETL- TR-71-5, Earth Sciences Division...Administration Grant NA50-AA-D-00015, which was funded in part by the Global Atmospheric Research Program and the Office of Climate Dynarics, Divisic

  7. Earth orientation from lunar laser ranging and an error analysis of polar motion services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dickey, J. O.; Newhall, X. X.; Williams, J. G.

    1985-01-01

    Lunar laser ranging (LLR) data are obtained on the basis of the timing of laser pulses travelling from observatories on earth to retroreflectors placed on the moon's surface during the Apollo program. The modeling and analysis of the LLR data can provide valuable insights into earth's dynamics. The feasibility to model accurately the lunar orbit over the full 13-year observation span makes it possible to conduct relatively long-term studies of variations in the earth's rotation. A description is provided of general analysis techniques, and the calculation of universal time (UT1) from LLR is discussed. Attention is also given to a summary of intercomparisons with different techniques, polar motion results and intercomparisons, and a polar motion error analysis.

  8. INTERFEROMETRIC SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR (INSAR TECHNOLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY INTERPRETATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Maghsoudi

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Geomorphology is briefly the study of landforms and their formative processes on the surface of the planet earth as human habitat. The landforms evolution and the formative processes can best be studied by technologies with main application in study of elevation. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR is the appropriate technology for this application. With phase differences calculations in radar waves, the results of this technology can extensively be interpreted for geomorphologic researches. The purpose of the study is to review the geomorphologic studies using InSAR and also the technical studies about InSAR with geomorphologic interpretations. This study states that the InSAR technology can be recommended to be employed as a fundamental for geomorphology researches.

  9. Weather Radar Stations

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Homeland Security — These data represent Next-Generation Radar (NEXRAD) and Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) weather radar stations within the US. The NEXRAD radar stations are...

  10. Technical Description of Radar and Optical Sensors Contributing to Joint UK-Australian Satellite Tracking, Data-fusion and Cueing Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eastment, J.; Ladd, D.; Donnelly, P.; Ash, A.; Harwood, N.; Ritchie, I.; Smith, C.; Bennett, J.; Rutten, M.; Gordon, N.

    2014-09-01

    DSTL, DSTO, EOS and STFC have recently participated in a campaign of co-ordinated observations with both radar and optical sensors in order to demonstrate and to refine methodologies for orbit determination, data fusion and cross-sensor cueing. The experimental programme is described in detail in the companion paper by Harwood et al. At the STFC Chilbolton Observatory in Southern England, an S-band radar on a 25 m diameter fully-steerable dish antenna was used to measure object range and radar cross-section. At the EOS Space Systems facility on Mount Stromlo, near Canberra, Australia, an optical system comprising a 2 m alt / az observatory, with Coude path laser tracking at 400W power, was used to acquire, lock and laser track the cued objects, providing accurate orbit determinations for each. DSTO, located at Edinburgh, Australia, operated an optical system consisting of a small commercial telescope and mount, measuring the direction to the objects. Observation times were limited to the evening solar terminator period. Data from these systems was processed independently, using DSTL-developed and DSTO / EOS-developed algorithms, to perform orbit determination and to cross-cue: (i) the radar, based on the optical measurements; (ii) the optical system, based on the radar measurements; and (iii) the radar, using its own prior observations (self-cueing). In some cases, TLEs were used to initialise the orbit determination process; in other cases, the cues were derived entirely from sensor data. In all 3 scenarios, positive results were obtained for a variety of satellites in low earth orbits, demonstrating the feasibility of the different cue generation techniques. The purpose of this paper is to describe the technical characteristics of the radar and optical systems used, the modes of operation employed to acquire the observations, and details of the parameters measured and the data formats.

  11. Ground clutter cancellation in incoherent radars: solutions for EISCAT Svalbard radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Turunen

    2000-09-01

    Full Text Available Incoherent scatter radars measure ionosphere parameters using modified Thomson scatter from free electrons in the target (see e.g. Hagfors, 1997. The integrated cross section of the ionospheric scatterers is extremely small and the measurements can easily be disturbed by signals returned by unwanted targets. Ground clutter signals, entering via the antenna side lobes, can render measurements at the nearest target ranges totally impossible. The EISCAT Svalbard Radar (ESR, which started measurements in 1996, suffers from severe ground clutter and the ionosphere cannot be measured in any simple manner at ranges less than about 120–150 km, depending on the modulation employed. If the target and clutter signals have different, and clearly identifiable, properties then, in principle, there are always ways to eliminate the clutter. In incoherent scatter measurements, differences in the coherence times of the wanted and unwanted signals can be used for clutter cancellation. The clutter cancellation must be applied to all modulations, usually alternating codes in modern experiments, used for shorter ranges. Excellent results have been obtained at the ESR using a simple pulse-to-pulse clutter subtraction method, but there are also other possibilities.Key words: Radio science (ionospheric physics; signal processing; instruments and techniques

  12. Imaging of concrete specimens using inverse synthetic aperture radar

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rhim, Hong C.; Buyukozturk, Oral

    2000-01-01

    Radar Measurement results of laboratory size concrete specimens are presented in this paper. The purpose of this research work is to study various aspects of the radar method in an effort to develop an improved radar system for nondestructive testing of concrete structures. The radar system used for the study is an Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR), which is capable of transmitting microwaves at three different frequency ranges of 2-3.4, 3.4-5.8, and 8-12 GHz. Radar measurement setup is such that the radar is locates 14.4 m away from a concrete target to satisfy a far-field criterion. The concrete target is rotated for 20 degrees during the measurements for the generation of two-dimensional (cross-range) imagery. Concrete targets used for the measurements have the dimensions of 305 mm (width)x305 mm (height)x92 mm (thickness) with different inside configurations. Comparisons are made for dry and wet specimens, specimens with and without inclusions. Each specimen is made to model various situations that a concrete structure can have in reality. Results show that center frequency, frequency bandwidth, and polarization of the incident wave have different effects on identifying the thickness or inclusions inside concrete specimens. Results also suggest that a certain combination of measurement parameters is suitable for a specific application area. Thus, measurement parameters can be optimized for a specific problem. The findings are presented and discussed in details in the paper. Signal processing schemes implemented for imaging of the specimens are also discussed

  13. Space Radar Image of Maui, Hawaii

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-01-01

    .8 degrees North latitude, 156.4 degrees West longitude. North is toward the upper left. The colors are assigned to different radar frequencies and polarizations of the radar as follows: red is L-band, horizontally transmitted and received; green is C-band, horizontally transmitted and received; and blue is the difference of the C-band and L-band channels. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the German, Italian, and United States space agencies, is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth.

  14. Space Radar Image of Central Sumatra, Indonesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-01-01

    This is a radar image of the central part of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia that shows how the tropical rainforest typical of this country is being impacted by human activity. Native forest appears in green in this image, while prominent pink areas represent places where the native forest has been cleared. The large rectangular areas have been cleared for palm oil plantations. The bright pink zones are areas that have been cleared since 1989, while the dark pink zones are areas that were cleared before 1989. These radar data were processed as part of an effort to assist oil and gas companies working in the area to assess the environmental impact of both their drilling operations and the activities of the local population. Radar images are useful in these areas because heavy cloud cover and the persistent smoke and haze associated with deforestation have prevented usable visible-light imagery from being acquired since 1989. The dark shapes in the upper right (northeast) corner of the image are a chain of lakes in flat coastal marshes. This image was acquired in October 1994 by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) onboard the space shuttle Endeavour. Environmental changes can be easily documented by comparing this image with visible-light data that were acquired in previous years by the Landsat satellite. The image is centered at 0.9 degrees north latitude and 101.3 degrees east longitude. The area shown is 50 kilometers by 100 kilometers (31 miles by 62 miles). The colors in the image are assigned to different frequencies and polarizations of the radar as follows: red is L-band horizontally transmitted, horizontally received; green is L-band horizontally transmitted, vertically received; blue is L-band vertically transmitted, vertically received. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the German, Italian and United States space agencies, is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program.

  15. SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) Data Collection and Processing Summary - 1984 SARSEX (SAR Internal Wave Signature Experiment) Experiment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1985-03-01

    DIVISION ;! -0 N xr-0 n 0n4 1 1 I- C) 0 Ic 0 C WIx W Qr - - r -r 01............................. I Cq I1 -a I- I X 0’ an w I w kI~r 1 0r- r- r . 0~~~ Cs CW 1...object from the SAR platform . Ground range, the 102 ~RIM RADAR DIVISION 0 0 sc 0’. C4 C4 Xn en % >4-4 441i V-u -- - W 1-11 04 v4 0o 0 4 0 (A~U Go 4J...Rg = rRF -hy ,(3) for the flat earth or low-altitude case, where h is the platform altitude. Because the range and azimuth scales are not the same

  16. Quantitative analysis of X-band weather radar attenuation correction accuracy

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Berne, A.D.; Uijlenhoet, R.

    2006-01-01

    At short wavelengths, especially C-, X-, and K-band, weather radar signals arc attenuated by the precipitation along their paths. This constitutes a major source of error for radar rainfall estimation, in particular for intense precipitation. A recently developed stochastic simulator of range

  17. Surface Roughness of the Moon Derived from Multi-frequency Radar Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fa, W.

    2011-12-01

    Surface roughness of the Moon provides important information concerning both significant questions about lunar surface processes and engineering constrains for human outposts and rover trafficabillity. Impact-related phenomena change the morphology and roughness of lunar surface, and therefore surface roughness provides clues to the formation and modification mechanisms of impact craters. Since the Apollo era, lunar surface roughness has been studied using different approaches, such as direct estimation from lunar surface digital topographic relief, and indirect analysis of Earth-based radar echo strengths. Submillimeter scale roughness at Apollo landing sites has been studied by computer stereophotogrammetry analysis of Apollo Lunar Surface Closeup Camera (ALSCC) pictures, whereas roughness at meter to kilometer scale has been studied using laser altimeter data from recent missions. Though these studies shown lunar surface roughness is scale dependent that can be described by fractal statistics, roughness at centimeter scale has not been studied yet. In this study, lunar surface roughnesses at centimeter scale are investigated using Earth-based 70 cm Arecibo radar data and miniature synthetic aperture radar (Mini-SAR) data at S- and X-band (with wavelengths 12.6 cm and 4.12 cm). Both observations and theoretical modeling show that radar echo strengths are mostly dominated by scattering from the surface and shallow buried rocks. Given the different penetration depths of radar waves at these frequencies (< 30 m for 70 cm wavelength, < 3 m at S-band, and < 1 m at X-band), radar echo strengths at S- and X-band will yield surface roughness directly, whereas radar echo at 70-cm will give an upper limit of lunar surface roughness. The integral equation method is used to model radar scattering from the rough lunar surface, and dielectric constant of regolith and surface roughness are two dominate factors. The complex dielectric constant of regolith is first estimated

  18. Space Radar Image of Harvard Forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-01-01

    This is a radar image of the area surrounding the Harvard Forest in north-central Massachusetts that has been operated as a ecological research facility by Harvard University since 1907. At the center of the image is the Quabbin Reservoir, and the Connecticut River is at the lower left of the image. The Harvard Forest itself is just above the reservoir. Researchers are comparing the naturally occurring physical disturbances in the forest and the recent and projected chemical disturbances and their effects on the forest ecosystem. Agricultural land appears dark blue/purple, along with low shrub vegetation and some wetlands. Urban development is bright pink; the yellow to green tints are conifer-dominated vegetation with the pitch pine sand plain at the middle left edge of the image appearing very distinctive. The green tint may indicate pure pine plantation stands, and deciduous broadleaf trees appear gray/pink with perhaps wetter sites being pinker. This image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the German, Italian and the United States space agencies, is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The image is centered at 42.50 degrees North latitude and 72.33 degrees West longitude and covers an area of 53 kilometers 63 by kilometers (33 miles by 39 miles). The colors in the image are assigned to different frequencies and polarizations of the radar as follows: red is L-band horizontally transmitted and horizontally received; green is L-band horizontally transmitted and vertically received; and blue is C-band horizontally transmitted and horizontally received.

  19. Space Radar Image of Sydney, Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-01-01

    This spaceborne radar image is dominated by the metropolitan area of Australia's largest city, Sydney. Sydney Harbour, with numerous coves and inlets, is seen in the upper center of the image, and the roughly circular Botany Bay is shown in the lower right. The downtown business district of Sydney appears as a bright white area just above the center of the image. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a white line adjacent to the downtown district. The well-known Sydney Opera House is the small, white dot to the right of the bridge. Urban areas appear yellow, blue and brown. The purple areas are undeveloped areas and park lands. Manly, the famous surfing beach, is shown in yellow at the top center of the image. Runways from the Sydney Airport are the dark features that extend into Botany Bay in the lower right. Botany Bay is the site where Captain James Cook first landed his ship, Endeavour, in 1770. The image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) on April 20, 1994, onboard the space shuttle Endeavour. The area shown is 33 kilometers by 38kilometers (20 miles by 23 miles) and is centered at 33.9 degrees south latitude, 151.2 degrees east longitude. North is toward the upper left. The colors are assigned to different radar frequenciesand polarizations as follows: red is L-band, vertically transmittedand horizontally received; green is C-band, vertically transmitted and horizontally received; and blue is C-band, vertically transmittedand received. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the German, Italianand United States space agencies, is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. #####

  20. Comparison of Meteoroid Flux Models for Near Earth Space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drolshagen, G.; Liou, J.-C.; Dikarev, V.; Landgraf, M.; Krag, H.; Kuiper, W.

    2007-01-01

    Over the last decade several new models for the sporadic interplanetary meteoroid flux have been developed. These include the Meteoroid Engineering Model (MEM), the Divine-Staubach model and the Interplanetary Meteoroid Engineering Model (IMEM). They typically cover mass ranges from 10-12 g (or lower) to 1 g and are applicable for model specific sun distance ranges between 0.2 A.U. and 10 A.U. Near 1 A.U. averaged fluxes (over direction and velocities) for all these models are tuned to the well established interplanetary model by Gr?n et. al. However, in many respects these models differ considerably. Examples are the velocity and directional distributions and the assumed meteoroid sources. In this paper flux predictions by the various models to Earth orbiting spacecraft are compared. Main differences are presented and analysed. The persisting differences even for near Earth space can be seen as surprising in view of the numerous ground based (optical, radar) and in-situ (captured IDPs, in-situ detectors and analysis of retrieved hardware) measurements and simulations. Remaining uncertainties and potential additional studies to overcome the existing model discrepancies are discussed.

  1. Doppler frequency in interplanetary radar and general relativity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mcvittie, G. C.

    1972-01-01

    The change of frequency of an interplanetary radar signal sent from the earth to another planet or to a space probe is worked out according to general relativity. The Schwarzschild spacetime is employed and its null geodesics control the motion of the signals. Exact Doppler frequency formulas are derived for one-way and two-way radar in terms of an arbitrary Schwarzschild radial coordinate. A reduction to the special relativity case is used to interpret the formulas in terms of the relative radial velocity of emitter and target. The general relativity corrections are worked out approximately for each of three possible Schwarzschild radial coordinates, and a numerical example is given. The amount of the correction is different according as one or the other of the Schwarzschild coordinates is identified with the radius vector deduced from classical celestial mechanics. The identification problem is discussed.

  2. Wind turbine clutter mitigation in coastal UHF radar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Jing; Pan, Chao; Wang, Caijun; Jiang, Dapeng; Wen, Biyang

    2014-01-01

    Coastal UHF radar provides a unique capability to measure the sea surface dynamic parameters and detect small moving targets, by exploiting the low energy loss of electromagnetic waves propagating along the salty and good conducting ocean surface. It could compensate the blind zone of HF surface wave radar at close range and reach further distance than microwave radars. However, its performance is susceptible to wind turbines which are usually installed on the shore. The size of a wind turbine is much larger than the wavelength of radio waves at UHF band, which results in large radar cross section. Furthermore, the rotation of blades adds time-varying Doppler frequency to the clutter and makes the suppression difficult. This paper proposes a mitigation method which is based on the specific periodicity of wind turbine clutter and performed mainly in the time-frequency domain. Field experimental data of a newly developed UHF radar are used to verify this method, and the results prove its effectiveness.

  3. Ionospheric propagation effects on spectral widths measured by SuperDARN HF radars

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    X. Vallières

    2004-06-01

    Full Text Available SuperDARN HF radars provide a global survey of the large-scale convection transversely to the Earth's magnetic field in the high-latitude ionosphere. In addition to the mean plasma velocity, this network also provides measurements of spectral widths which are related to the level of turbulence of the sounded plasma. There is an increasing interest in using spectral widths in geophysical studies, since they are used to monitor the footprints of several magnetospheric regions. In the present paper, we show the effect of radio wave propagation through a typical turbulent ionosphere on spectral widths measured by SuperDARN radars. This effect has already been evidenced experimentally in a previous paper. Here, we model the effects of meso-scale structures on a radar wave front and study their impact on a typical measurement. Numerical simulations reproduce the effect evidenced experimentally and show the role of meso-scale structures (1-10km in the systematic bias that affects spectral width values. As in experimental data, this effect is shown to be increasing with decreasing radar frequency.

  4. Ionospheric propagation effects on spectral widths measured by SuperDARN HF radars

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    X. Vallières

    2004-06-01

    Full Text Available SuperDARN HF radars provide a global survey of the large-scale convection transversely to the Earth's magnetic field in the high-latitude ionosphere. In addition to the mean plasma velocity, this network also provides measurements of spectral widths which are related to the level of turbulence of the sounded plasma. There is an increasing interest in using spectral widths in geophysical studies, since they are used to monitor the footprints of several magnetospheric regions. In the present paper, we show the effect of radio wave propagation through a typical turbulent ionosphere on spectral widths measured by SuperDARN radars. This effect has already been evidenced experimentally in a previous paper. Here, we model the effects of meso-scale structures on a radar wave front and study their impact on a typical measurement. Numerical simulations reproduce the effect evidenced experimentally and show the role of meso-scale structures (1-10km in the systematic bias that affects spectral width values. As in experimental data, this effect is shown to be increasing with decreasing radar frequency.

  5. Tonopah Test Range - Index

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capabilities Test Operations Center Test Director Range Control Track Control Communications Tracking Radars Photos Header Facebook Twitter YouTube Flickr RSS Tonopah Test Range Top TTR_TOC Tonopah is the testing range of choice for all national security missions. Tonopah Test Range (TTR) provides research and

  6. Propagation effects on radio range and noise in earth-space telecommunications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flock, W. L.; Slobin, S. D.; Smith, E. K.

    1982-01-01

    Attention is given to the propagation effects on radio range and noise in earth-space telecommunications. The use of higher frequencies minimizes ionospheric effects on propagation, but tropospheric effects often increase or dominate. For paths of geostationary satellites, and beyond, the excess range delay caused by the ionosphere and plasmasphere is proportional to the total electron content along the path and inversely proportional to frequency squared. The delay due to dry air is usually of the order of a few meters while the delay due to water vapor (a few tens of centimeters) is responsible for most of the temporal variation in the range delay for clean air. For systems such as that of the Voyager spacecraft, and for attenuation values up to about 10 dB, increased sky noise degrades the received signal-to-noise ratio more than does the reduction in signal level due to attenuation.

  7. 5 year radar-based rainfall statistics: disturbances analysis and development of a post-correction scheme for the German radar composite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wagner, A.; Seltmann, J.; Kunstmann, H.

    2015-02-01

    A radar-based rainfall statistic demands high quality data that provide realistic precipitation amounts in space and time. Instead of correcting single radar images, we developed a post-correction scheme for long-term composite radar data that corrects corrupted areas, but preserves the original precipitation patterns. The post-correction scheme is based on a 5 year statistical analysis of radar composite data and its constituents. The accumulation of radar images reveals artificial effects that are not visible in the individual radar images. Some of them are already inherent to single radar data such as the effect of increasing beam height, beam blockage or clutter remnants. More artificial effects are introduced in the process of compositing such as sharp gradients at the boundaries of overlapping areas due to different beam heights and resolution. The cause of these disturbances, their behaviour with respect to reflectivity level, season or altitude is analysed based on time-series of two radar products: the single radar reflectivity product PX for each of the 16 radar systems of the German Meteorological Service (DWD) for the time span 2000 to 2006 and the radar composite product RX of DWD from 2005 through to 2009. These statistics result in additional quality information on radar data that is not available elsewhere. The resulting robust characteristics of disturbances, e.g. the dependency of the frequencies of occurrence of radar reflectivities on beam height, are then used as a basis for the post-correction algorithm. The scheme comprises corrections for shading effects and speckles, such as clutter remnants or overfiltering, as well as for systematic differences in frequencies of occurrence of radar reflectivities between the near and the far ranges of individual radar sites. An adjustment to rain gauges is also included. Applying this correction, the Root-Mean-Square-Error for the comparison of radar derived annual rain amounts with rain gauge data

  8. Space-borne polarimetric SAR sensors or the golden age of radar polarimetry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pottier E.

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available SAR Polarimetry represents an active area of research in Active Earth Remote Sensing. This interest is clearly supported by the fact that nowadays there exists, or there will exist in a very next future, a non negligible quantity of launched Polarimetric SAR Spaceborne sensors. The ENVISAT satellite, developed by ESA, was launched on March 2002, and was the first Spaceborne sensor offering an innovative dualpolarization Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR system operating at C-band. The second Polarimetric Spaceborne sensor is ALOS, a Japanese Earth-Observation satellite, developed by JAXA and was launched in January 2006. This mission includes an active L-band polarimetric radar sensor (PALSAR whose highresolution data may be used for environmental and hazard monitoring. The third Polarimetric Spaceborne sensor is TerraSAR-X, a new German radar satellite, developed by DLR, EADS-Astrium and Infoterra GmbH, was launched on June 2007. This sensor carries a dual-polarimetric and high frequency X-Band SAR sensor that can be operated in different modes and offers features that were not available from space before. At least, the Polarimetric Spaceborne sensor, developed by CSA and MDA, and named RADARSAT-2 was launched in December 2007 The Radarsat program was born out the need for effective monitoring of Canada’s icy waters, and some Radarsat-2 capabilities that benefit sea- and river ice applications are the multi-polarization options that will improve ice-edge detection, ice-type discrimination and structure information. The many advances in these different Polarimetric Spaceborne platforms were developed to respond to specific needs for radar data in environmental monitoring applications around the world, like : sea- and river-ice monitoring, marine surveillance, disaster management, oil spill detection, snow monitoring, hydrology, mapping, geology, agriculture, soil characterisation, forestry applications (biomass, allometry, height

  9. Application of ground penetrating radar in placer mineral exploration for mapping subsurface sand layers: A case study

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Loveson, V.J.; Barnwal, R.P.; Singh, V.K.; Gujar, A.R.; Rajamanickam, G.V.

    radar reflections using time-domain reflectometry and sedimentological analyses, Sedimentology, v. 47, p. 435-449. Jol, H.M. & Bristow, C.S., 2003. GPR in sediments: advice on data collection, basic processing and interpretation, a good practice... guide, In: Bristow, C.S. and Jol, H.M. (Eds.), GPR in sediments, Geological Society of London, Special Publication, 211. Neal, A., 2004. Ground Penetrating Radar and its use in sedimentology: Principles, Problems and Progress. Earth-Science Reviews...

  10. The Next Generation of Airborne Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar: NCAR/EOL Airborne Phased Array Radar (APAR) Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, James; Lee, Wen-Chau; Loew, Eric; Vivekanandan, Jothiram; Grubišić, Vanda; Tsai, Peisang; Dixon, Mike; Emmett, Jonathan; Lord, Mark; Lussier, Louis; Hwang, Kyuil; Ranson, James

    2017-04-01

    The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Earth observing Laboratory (EOL) is entering the third year of preliminary system design studies, engineering prototype testing and project management plan preparation for the development of a novel Airborne Phased Array Radar (APAR). This system being designed by NCAR/EOL will be installed and operated on the NSF/NCAR C-130 aircraft. The APAR system will consist of four removable C-band Active Electronically Scanned Arrays (AESA) strategically placed on the fuselage of the aircraft. Each AESA measures approximately 1.5 x 1.9 m and is composed of 3000 active radiating elements arranged in an array of line replaceable units (LRU) to simplify maintenance. APAR will provide unprecedented observations, and in conjunction with the advanced radar data assimilation schema, will be able to address the key science questions to improve understanding and predictability of significant and high-impact weather APAR, operating at C-band, allows the measurement of 3-D kinematics of the more intense portions of storms (e.g. thunderstorm dynamics and tornadic development, tropical cyclone rainband structure and evolution) with less attenuation compared with current airborne Doppler radar systems. Polarimetric measurements are not available from current airborne tail Doppler radars. However, APAR, with dual-Doppler and dual polarization diversity at a lesser attenuating C-band wavelength, will further advance the understanding of the microphysical processes within a variety of precipitation systems. The radar is sensitive enough to provide high resolution measurements of winter storm dynamics and microphysics. The planned APAR development that would bring the system to operational readiness for research community use aboard the C-130 is expected to take 8 years once major funding support is realized. The authors will review the overall APAR design and provide new details of the system based on our Technical Requirements Document

  11. Improved Micro Rain Radar snow measurements using Doppler spectra post-processing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Maahn

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available The Micro Rain Radar 2 (MRR is a compact Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW system that operates at 24 GHz. The MRR is a low-cost, portable radar system that requires minimum supervision in the field. As such, the MRR is a frequently used radar system for conducting precipitation research. Current MRR drawbacks are the lack of a sophisticated post-processing algorithm to improve its sensitivity (currently at +3 dBz, spurious artefacts concerning radar receiver noise and the lack of high quality Doppler radar moments. Here we propose an improved processing method which is especially suited for snow observations and provides reliable values of effective reflectivity, Doppler velocity and spectral width. The proposed method is freely available on the web and features a noise removal based on recognition of the most significant peak. A dynamic dealiasing routine allows observations even if the Nyquist velocity range is exceeded. Collocated observations over 115 days of a MRR and a pulsed 35.2 GHz MIRA35 cloud radar show a very high agreement for the proposed method for snow, if reflectivities are larger than −5 dBz. The overall sensitivity is increased to −14 and −8 dBz, depending on range. The proposed method exploits the full potential of MRR's hardware and substantially enhances the use of Micro Rain Radar for studies of solid precipitation.

  12. Design of transmission-type phase holograms for a compact radar-cross-section measurement range at 650 GHz.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noponen, Eero; Tamminen, Aleksi; Vaaja, Matti

    2007-07-10

    A design formalism is presented for transmission-type phase holograms for use in a submillimeter-wave compact radar-cross-section (RCS) measurement range. The design method is based on rigorous electromagnetic grating theory combined with conventional hologram synthesis. Hologram structures consisting of a curved groove pattern on a 320 mmx280 mm Teflon plate are designed to transform an incoming spherical wave at 650 GHz into an output wave generating a 100 mm diameter planar field region (quiet zone) at a distance of 1 m. The reconstructed quiet-zone field is evaluated by a numerical simulation method. The uniformity of the quiet-zone field is further improved by reoptimizing the goal field. Measurement results are given for a test hologram fabricated on Teflon.

  13. A simple device for long-term radar cross section recordings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eskelinen, Pekka; Ruoskanen, Jukka; Peltonen, Jouni

    2009-05-01

    A sample and hold circuit with settable delay can be used for recording of radar echo amplitude variations having time scales up to 100 s at the selected range bin in systems utilizing short rf pulses. The design is based on two integrated circuits and gives 1% uncertainty for 70 ns pulses. The key benefit is a real-time display of lengthy amplitude variations because the sample rate is defined by the radar pulse repetition frequency. Additionally we get a reduction in file size at least by the inverse of the radar's duty cycle. Examples of 10 and 100 s recordings with a Ka-band short pulse radar are described.

  14. Reduction and coding of synthetic aperture radar data with Fourier transforms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilley, David G.

    1995-01-01

    Recently, aboard the Space Radar Laboratory (SRL), the two roles of Fourier Transforms for ocean image synthesis and surface wave analysis have been implemented with a dedicated radar processor to significantly reduce Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) ocean data before transmission to the ground. The object was to archive the SAR image spectrum, rather than the SAR image itself, to reduce data volume and capture the essential descriptors of the surface wave field. SAR signal data are usually sampled and coded in the time domain for transmission to the ground where Fourier Transforms are applied both to individual radar pulses and to long sequences of radar pulses to form two-dimensional images. High resolution images of the ocean often contain no striking features and subtle image modulations by wind generated surface waves are only apparent when large ocean regions are studied, with Fourier transforms, to reveal periodic patterns created by wind stress over the surface wave field. Major ocean currents and atmospheric instability in coastal environments are apparent as large scale modulations of SAR imagery. This paper explores the possibility of computing complex Fourier spectrum codes representing SAR images, transmitting the coded spectra to Earth for data archives and creating scenes of surface wave signatures and air-sea interactions via inverse Fourier transformations with ground station processors.

  15. Evaluating the Solar Slowly Varying Component at C-Band Using Dual- and Single-Polarization Weather Radars in Europe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Gabella

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Six C-band weather radars located in Europe (Finland, Netherlands, and Switzerland have been used to monitor the slowly varying solar emission, which is an oscillation with an amplitude of several decibels and a period of approximately 27 days. It is caused by the fact that the number of active regions that enhance the solar radio emission with respect to the quiet component, as seen from Earth, varies because of the Sun’s rotation about its axis. The analysis is based on solar signals contained in the polar volume data produced during the operational weather scan strategy. This paper presents hundreds of daily comparisons between radar estimates and the Sun’s reference signal, during the current active Sun period (year 2014. The Sun’s reference values are accurately measured by the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO at S-band and converted to C-band using a standard DRAO formula. Vertical and horizontal polarization receivers are able to capture the monthly oscillation of the solar microwave signal: the standard deviation of the log-transformed ratio between radars and the DRAO reference ranges from 0.26 to 0.4 dB. A larger coefficient (and a different value for the quiet Sun component in the standard formula improves the agreement.

  16. Reconstruction of the sea surface elevation from the analysis of the data collected by a wave radar system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ludeno, Giovanni; Soldovieri, Francesco; Serafino, Francesco; Lugni, Claudio; Fucile, Fabio; Bulian, Gabriele

    2016-04-01

    X-band radar system is able to provide information about direction and intensity of the sea surface currents and dominant waves in a range of few kilometers from the observation point (up to 3 nautical miles). This capability, together with their flexibility and low cost, makes these devices useful tools for the sea monitoring either coastal or off-shore area. The data collected from wave radar system can be analyzed by using the inversion strategy presented in [1,2] to obtain the estimation of the following sea parameters: peak wave direction; peak period; peak wavelength; significant wave height; sea surface current and bathymetry. The estimation of the significant wave height represents a limitation of the wave radar system because of the radar backscatter is not directly related to the sea surface elevation. In fact, in the last period, substantial research has been carried out to estimate significant wave height from radar images either with or without calibration using in-situ measurements. In this work, we will present two alternative approaches for the reconstruction of the sea surface elevation from wave radar images. In particular, the first approach is based on the basis of an approximated version of the modulation transfer function (MTF) tuned from a series of numerical simulation, following the line of[3]. The second approach is based on the inversion of radar images using a direct regularised least square technique. Assuming a linearised model for the tilt modulation, the sea elevation has been reconstructed as a least square fitting of the radar imaging data[4]. References [1]F. Serafino, C. Lugni, and F. Soldovieri, "A novel strategy for the surface current determination from marine X-band radar data," IEEE Geosci.Remote Sens. Lett., vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 231-235, Apr. 2010. [2]Ludeno, G., Brandini, C., Lugni, C., Arturi, D., Natale, A., Soldovieri, F., Serafino, F. (2014). Remocean System for the Detection of the Reflected Waves from the Costa

  17. Identification of corn fields using multidate radar data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shanmugan, K.S.; Ulaby, F.T.; Narayanan, V.; Dobson, C.

    1983-01-01

    Airborne C- and L-band radar data acquired over a test site in western Kansas were analyzed to determine corn-field identification accuracies obtainable using single-channel, multichannel, and multidate radar data. An automated pattern-recognition procedure was used to classify 144 fields into three categories: corn, pasture land, and bare soil (including wheat stubble and fallow). Corn fields were identified with accuracies ranging from 85% for single channel, single-date data to 100% for single-channel, multidate data. The effects of radar parameters such as frequency, polarization, and look angle as well as the effects of soil moisture on the classification accuracy are also presented

  18. Design and use of a mobile, x-band, high range resolution, radar research facility

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    De Witt, JJ

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available industries of the Centre for Science and Industrial Research (CSIR) (South Africa) and King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) (Saudi Arabia). The radar employs true wideband processing in its complete RF and IF chain, supporting instantaneous...

  19. Measuring the relativistic perigee advance with satellite laser ranging

    CERN Document Server

    Iorio, L; Pavlis, E C

    2002-01-01

    The pericentric advance of a test body by a central mass is one of the classical tests of general relativity. Today, this effect is measured with radar ranging by the perihelion shift of Mercury and other planets in the gravitational field of the Sun, with a relative accuracy of the order of 10 sup - sup 2 -10 sup - sup 3. In this paper, we explore the possibility of a measurement of the pericentric advance in the gravitational field of Earth by analysing the laser-ranged data of some orbiting, or proposed, laser-ranged geodetic satellites. Such a measurement of the perigee advance would place limits on hypothetical, very weak, Yukawa-type components of the gravitational interaction with a finite range of the order of 10 sup 4 km. Thus, we show that, at the present level of knowledge of the orbital perturbations, the relative accuracy, achievable with suitably combined orbital elements of LAGEOS and LAGEOS II, is of the order of 10 sup - sup 3. With the corresponding measured value of (2 + 2 gamma - beta)/3, ...

  20. Study of Geological Analogues for Understanding the Radar Sounder Response of the RIME Targets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thakur, S.; Bruzzone, L.

    2017-12-01

    Radar for Icy Moon Exploration (RIME), the radar sounder onboard the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), is aimed at characterizing the ice shells of the Jovian moons - Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. RIME is optimized to operate at 9 MHz central frequency with bandwidth of 1 MHz and 2.7 MHz to achieve a penetration depth up to 9 km through ice. We have developed an approach to the definition of a database of simulated RIME radargrams by leveraging the data available from airborne and orbital radar sounder acquisitions over geological analogues of the expected icy moon features. These simulated radargrams are obtained by merging real radar sounder data with models of the subsurface of the Jupiter icy moons. They will be useful for geological interpretation of the RIME radargrams and for better predicting the performance of RIME. The database will also be useful in developing pre-processing and automatic feature extraction algorithms to support data analysis during the mission phase of RIME. Prior to the JUICE mission exploring the Jovian satellites with RIME, there exist radar sounders such as SHARAD (onboard MRO) and MARSIS (onboard MEX) probing Mars, the LRS (onboard SELENE) probing the Moon, and many airborne sounders probing the polar regions of Earth. Analogues have been identified in these places based on similarity in geo-morphological expression. Moreover, other analogues have been identified on the Earth for possible dedicated acquisition campaigns before the RIME operations. By assuming that the subsurface structure of the RIME targets is approximately represented in the analogue radargrams, the difference in composition is accounted for by imposing different dielectric and subsurface attenuation models. The RIME radargrams are simulated from the analogue radargrams using the radar equation and the RIME processing chain and accounting for different possible scenarios in terms of subsurface structure, dielectric properties and instrument parameters. For

  1. Simulation of a weather radar display for over-water airborne radar approaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clary, G. R.

    1983-01-01

    Airborne radar approach (ARA) concepts are being investigated as a part of NASA's Rotorcraft All-Weather Operations Research Program on advanced guidance and navigation methods. This research is being conducted using both piloted simulations and flight test evaluations. For the piloted simulations, a mathematical model of the airborne radar was developed for over-water ARAs to offshore platforms. This simulated flight scenario requires radar simulation of point targets, such as oil rigs and ships, distributed sea clutter, and transponder beacon replies. Radar theory, weather radar characteristics, and empirical data derived from in-flight radar photographs are combined to model a civil weather/mapping radar typical of those used in offshore rotorcraft operations. The resulting radar simulation is realistic and provides the needed simulation capability for ongoing ARA research.

  2. San Andreas Fault, Southern California , Radar Image, Wrapped Color as Height

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-01-01

    This topographic radar image vividly displays California's famous San Andreas Fault along the southwestern edge of the Mojave Desert, 75 kilometers (46 miles) north of downtown Los Angeles. The entire segment of the fault shown in this image last ruptured during the Fort Tejon earthquake of 1857. This was one of the greatest earthquakes ever recorded in the U.S., and it left an amazing surface rupture scar over 350 kilometers in length along the San Andreas. Were the Fort Tejon shock to happen today, the damage would run into billions of dollars, and the loss of life would likely be substantial, as the communities of Wrightwood, Palmdale, and Lancaster (among others) all lie upon or near the 1857 rupture area. The Lancaster/Palmdale area appears as bright patches just below the center of the image and the San Gabriel Mountains fill the lower left half of the image. At the extreme lower left is Pasadena. High resolution topographic data such as these are used by geologists to study the role of active tectonics in shaping the landscape, and to produce earthquake hazard maps.This image combines two types of data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The image brightness corresponds to the strength of the radar signal reflected from the ground, while colors show the elevation as measured by SRTM. Each cycle of colors (from pink through blue back to pink) represents an equal amount of elevation difference (400 meters, or 1300 feet) similar to contour lines on a standard topographic map. This image contains about 2400 meters (8000 feet) of total relief.The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), launched on February 11,2000, uses the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. The mission is designed to collect three-dimensional measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter-long (200-foot) mast, an

  3. Super Resolution and Interference Suppression Technique applied to SHARAD Radar Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raguso, M. C.; Mastrogiuseppe, M.; Seu, R.; Piazzo, L.

    2017-12-01

    We will present a super resolution and interference suppression technique applied to the data acquired by the SHAllow RADar (SHARAD) on board the NASA's 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) mission, currently operating around Mars [1]. The algorithms allow to improve the range resolution roughly by a factor of 3 and the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) by a several decibels. Range compression algorithms usually adopt conventional Fourier transform techniques, which are limited in the resolution by the transmitted signal bandwidth, analogous to the Rayleigh's criterion in optics. In this work, we investigate a super resolution method based on autoregressive models and linear prediction techniques [2]. Starting from the estimation of the linear prediction coefficients from the spectral data, the algorithm performs the radar bandwidth extrapolation (BWE), thereby improving the range resolution of the pulse-compressed coherent radar data. Moreover, the EMIs (ElectroMagnetic Interferences) are detected and the spectra is interpolated in order to reconstruct an interference free spectrum, thereby improving the SNR. The algorithm can be applied to the single complex look image after synthetic aperture processing (SAR). We apply the proposed algorithm to simulated as well as to real radar data. We will demonstrate the effective enhancement on vertical resolution with respect to the classical spectral estimator. We will show that the imaging of the subsurface layered structures observed in radargrams is improved, allowing additional insights for the scientific community in the interpretation of the SHARAD radar data, which will help to further our understanding of the formation and evolution of known geological features on Mars. References: [1] Seu et al. 2007, Science, 2007, 317, 1715-1718 [2] K.M. Cuomo, "A Bandwidth Extrapolation Technique for Improved Range Resolution of Coherent Radar Data", Project Report CJP-60, Revision 1, MIT Lincoln Laboratory (4 Dec. 1992).

  4. Space Radar Image of Manaus region of Brazil

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-01-01

    the first and second flights of the SIR-C/X-SAR system have validated the interpretation of the radar images. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.V.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

  5. Planetary Radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neish, Catherine D.; Carter, Lynn M.

    2015-01-01

    This chapter describes the principles of planetary radar, and the primary scientific discoveries that have been made using this technique. The chapter starts by describing the different types of radar systems and how they are used to acquire images and accurate topography of planetary surfaces and probe their subsurface structure. It then explains how these products can be used to understand the properties of the target being investigated. Several examples of discoveries made with planetary radar are then summarized, covering solar system objects from Mercury to Saturn. Finally, opportunities for future discoveries in planetary radar are outlined and discussed.

  6. An improved hydrometeor detection method for millimeter-wavelength cloud radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Ge

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available A modified method with a new noise reduction scheme that can reduce the noise distribution to a narrow range is proposed to distinguish clouds and other hydrometeors from noise and recognize more features with weak signal in cloud radar observations. A spatial filter with central weighting, which is widely used in cloud radar hydrometeor detection algorithms, is also applied in our method to examine radar return for significant levels of signals. Square clouds were constructed to test our algorithm and the method used for the US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurements Program millimeter-wavelength cloud radar. We also applied both the methods to 6 months of cloud radar observations at the Semi-Arid Climate and Environment Observatory of Lanzhou University and compared the results. It was found that our method has significant advantages in reducing the rates of both failed negative and false positive hydrometeor identifications in simulated clouds and recognizing clouds with weak signal from our cloud radar observations.

  7. Pulse Doppler radar

    CERN Document Server

    Alabaster, Clive

    2012-01-01

    This book is a practitioner's guide to all aspects of pulse Doppler radar. It concentrates on airborne military radar systems since they are the most used, most complex, and most interesting of the pulse Doppler radars; however, ground-based and non-military systems are also included. It covers the fundamental science, signal processing, hardware issues, systems design and case studies of typical systems. It will be a useful resource for engineers of all types (hardware, software and systems), academics, post-graduate students, scientists in radar and radar electronic warfare sectors and milit

  8. Effects of surface roughness on sea ice freeboard retrieval with an Airborne Ku-Band SAR radar altimeter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hendricks, Stefan; Stenseng, Lars; Helm, Veit

    2010-01-01

    to investigate sea ice volume changes on an Arctic wide scale. Freeboard retrieval requires precise radar range measurements to the ice surface, therefore we investigate the penetration of the Ku-Band radar waves into the overlying snow cover as well as the effects of sub-footprint-scale surface roughness using...... airborne radar and laser altimeters. We find regional variable penetration of the radar signal at late spring conditions, where the difference of the radar and the reference laser range measurement never agrees with the expected snow thickness. In addition, a rough surface can lead to biases...

  9. Comparisons between high-resolution profiles of squared refractive index gradient M2 measured by the Middle and Upper Atmosphere Radar and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs during the Shigaraki UAV-Radar Experiment 2015 campaign

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Luce

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available New comparisons between the square of the generalized potential refractive index gradient M2, estimated from the very high-frequency (VHF Middle and Upper Atmosphere (MU Radar, located at Shigaraki, Japan, and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV measurements are presented. These comparisons were performed at unprecedented temporal and range resolutions (1–4 min and  ∼  20 m, respectively in the altitude range  ∼  1.27–4.5 km from simultaneous and nearly collocated measurements made during the ShUREX (Shigaraki UAV-Radar Experiment 2015 campaign. Seven consecutive UAV flights made during daytime on 7 June 2015 were used for this purpose. The MU Radar was operated in range imaging mode for improving the range resolution at vertical incidence (typically a few tens of meters. The proportionality of the radar echo power to M2 is reported for the first time at such high time and range resolutions for stratified conditions for which Fresnel scatter or a reflection mechanism is expected. In more complex features obtained for a range of turbulent layers generated by shear instabilities or associated with convective cloud cells, M2 estimated from UAV data does not reproduce observed radar echo power profiles. Proposed interpretations of this discrepancy are presented.

  10. Radar orthogonality and radar length in Finsler and metric spacetime geometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pfeifer, Christian

    2014-09-01

    The radar experiment connects the geometry of spacetime with an observers measurement of spatial length. We investigate the radar experiment on Finsler spacetimes which leads to a general definition of radar orthogonality and radar length. The directions radar orthogonal to an observer form the spatial equal time surface an observer experiences and the radar length is the physical length the observer associates to spatial objects. We demonstrate these concepts on a forth order polynomial Finsler spacetime geometry which may emerge from area metric or premetric linear electrodynamics or in quantum gravity phenomenology. In an explicit generalization of Minkowski spacetime geometry we derive the deviation from the Euclidean spatial length measure in an observers rest frame explicitly.

  11. Forestry applications of ground-penetrating radar

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lorenzo, H.; Perez-Gracia, V.; Novo, A.; Armesto, J.

    2010-07-01

    Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a geophysical and close-range remote sensing technique based on the use of radar pulses to obtain cross-section images of underground features. This method is characterized by the transmission of an electromagnetic short length pulse (1-2 ns), presenting a centre frequency ranging from 10 MHz to 2.5 GHz. The principles of GPR operation are based on the ability of low frequency radar waves to penetrate into a non-conductive medium, usually subsoil, but also walls, concrete or wood. Those waves are detected after suffering a reflection in electromagnetic discontinuities of the propagation medium. Therefore, this is a suitable method to study changes in those physical properties, and also to characterize different mediums and the reflective targets providing information about their physical properties. The aim of this work is to describe and demonstrate different applications of GPR in forestry, showing the obtained results together with their interpretation. Firstly, in this paper, it is illustrated how GPR is able to map shallow bedrock, subsoil stratigraphy and also to estimate shallow water table depth. Secondly, different tree trunks as well as dry timber are analyzed, evaluating the different radar data obtained in each particular case, and observing differences in their electromagnetic properties related to the GPR response. Finally, several measurements were taken in order to analyze the use of GPR to detect tree root systems using polarimetric techniques, being possible to detect medium and big size roots, together with groups of small roots. (Author) 39 refs.

  12. Tensorial analysis of the long-range interaction between metastable alkaline-earth-metal atoms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santra, Robin; Greene, Chris H.

    2003-01-01

    Alkaline-earth-metal atoms in their lowest (nsnp) 3 P 2 state are exceptionally long lived and can be trapped magnetically. The nonspherical atomic structure leads to anisotropic long-range interactions between two metastable alkaline-earth-metal atoms. The anisotropy affects the rotational motion of the diatomic system and couples states of different rotational quantum numbers. This paper develops a tensorial decomposition of the most important long-range interaction operators, and a systematic inclusion of molecular rotations, in the presence of an external magnetic field. This analysis illuminates the nature of the coupling between the various degrees of freedom. The consequences are illustrated by application to a system of practical interest: metastable 88 Sr. Using atomic parameters determined in a nearly ab initio calculation, we compute adiabatic potential-energy curves. The anisotropic interatomic interaction, in combination with the applied magnetic field, is demonstrated to induce the formation of a long-range molecular potential well. This curve correlates to two fully polarized, low-field seeking atoms in a rotational s-wave state. The coupling among molecular rotational states controls the existence of the potential well, and its properties vary as a function of magnetic-field strength, thus allowing the scattering length in this state to be tuned. The scattering length of metastable 88 Sr displays a resonance at a field of 339 G

  13. Quality Control and Calibration of the Dual-Polarization Radar at Kwajalein, RMI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marks, David A.; Wolff, David B.; Carey, Lawrence D.; Tokay, Ali

    2010-01-01

    Weather radars, recording information about precipitation around the globe, will soon be significantly upgraded. Most of today s weather radars transmit and receive microwave energy with horizontal orientation only, but upgraded systems have the capability to send and receive both horizontally and vertically oriented waves. These enhanced "dual-polarimetric" (DP) radars peer into precipitation and provide information on the size, shape, phase (liquid / frozen), and concentration of the falling particles (termed hydrometeors). This information is valuable for improved rain rate estimates, and for providing data on the release and absorption of heat in the atmosphere from condensation and evaporation (phase changes). The heating profiles in the atmosphere influence global circulation, and are a vital component in studies of Earth s changing climate. However, to provide the most accurate interpretation of radar data, the radar must be properly calibrated and data must be quality controlled (cleaned) to remove non-precipitation artifacts; both of which are challenging tasks for today s weather radar. The DP capability maximizes performance of these procedures using properties of the observed precipitation. In a notable paper published in 2005, scientists from the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS) at the University of Oklahoma developed a method to calibrate radars using statistically averaged DP measurements within light rain. An additional publication by one of the same scientists at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, Oklahoma introduced several techniques to perform quality control of radar data using DP measurements. Following their lead, the Topical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Satellite Validation Office at NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center has fine-tuned these methods for specific application to the weather radar at Kwajalein Island in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, approximately 2100 miles

  14. Coherent Doppler Laser Radar: Technology Development and Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kavaya, Michael J.; Arnold, James E. (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has been investigating, developing, and applying coherent Doppler laser radar technology for over 30 years. These efforts have included the first wind measurement in 1967, the first airborne flights in 1972, the first airborne wind field mapping in 1981, and the first measurement of hurricane eyewall winds in 1998. A parallel effort at MSFC since 1982 has been the study, modeling and technology development for a space-based global wind measurement system. These endeavors to date have resulted in compact, robust, eyesafe lidars at 2 micron wavelength based on solid-state laser technology; in a factor of 6 volume reduction in near diffraction limited, space-qualifiable telescopes; in sophisticated airborne scanners with full platform motion subtraction; in local oscillator lasers capable of rapid tuning of 25 GHz for removal of relative laser radar to target velocities over a 25 km/s range; in performance prediction theory and simulations that have been validated experimentally; and in extensive field campaign experience. We have also begun efforts to dramatically improve the fundamental photon efficiency of the laser radar, to demonstrate advanced lower mass laser radar telescopes and scanners; to develop laser and laser radar system alignment maintenance technologies; and to greatly improve the electrical efficiency, cooling technique, and robustness of the pulsed laser. This coherent Doppler laser radar technology is suitable for high resolution, high accuracy wind mapping; for aerosol and cloud measurement; for Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) measurements of atmospheric and trace gases; for hard target range and velocity measurement; and for hard target vibration spectra measurement. It is also suitable for a number of aircraft operations applications such as clear air turbulence (CAT) detection; dangerous wind shear (microburst) detection; airspeed, angle of attack, and sideslip measurement; and fuel savings through

  15. Ka-Band ARM Zenith Radar Corrections Value-Added Product

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Johnson, Karen [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Toto, Tami [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Giangrande, Scott [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

    2017-10-15

    The KAZRCOR Value -added Product (VAP) performs several corrections to the ingested KAZR moments and also creates a significant detection mask for each radar mode. The VAP computes gaseous attenuation as a function of time and radial distance from the radar antenna, based on ambient meteorological observations, and corrects observed reflectivities for that effect. KAZRCOR also dealiases mean Doppler velocities to correct velocities whose magnitudes exceed the radar’s Nyquist velocity. Input KAZR data fields are passed through into the KAZRCOR output files, in their native time and range coordinates. Complementary corrected reflectivity and velocity fields are provided, along with a mask of significant detections and a number of data quality flags. This report covers the KAZRCOR VAP as applied to the original KAZR radars and the upgraded KAZR2 radars. Currently there are two separate code bases for the different radar versions, but once KAZR and KAZR2 data formats are harmonized, only a single code base will be required.

  16. Estimating radar reflectivity - snowfall rate relationships and their uncertainties over Antarctica by combining disdrometer and radar observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souverijns, Niels; Gossart, Alexandra; Lhermitte, Stef; Gorodetskaya, Irina; Kneifel, Stefan; Maahn, Maximilian; Bliven, Francis; van Lipzig, Nicole

    2017-04-01

    The Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) is the largest ice body on earth, having a volume equivalent to 58.3 m global mean sea level rise. Precipitation is the dominant source term in the surface mass balance of the AIS. However, this quantity is not well constrained in both models and observations. Direct observations over the AIS are also not coherent, as they are sparse in space and time and acquisition techniques differ. As a result, precipitation observations stay mostly limited to continent-wide averages based on satellite radar observations. Snowfall rate (SR) at high temporal resolution can be derived from the ground-based radar effective reflectivity factor (Z) using information about snow particle size and shape. Here we present reflectivity snowfall rate relations (Z = aSRb) for the East Antarctic escarpment region using the measurements at the Princess Elisabeth (PE) station and an overview of their uncertainties. A novel technique is developed by combining an optical disdrometer (NASA's Precipitation Imaging Package; PIP) and a vertically pointing 24 GHz FMCW micro rain radar (Metek's MRR) in order to reduce the uncertainty in SR estimates. PIP is used to obtain information about snow particle characteristics and to get an estimate of Z, SR and the Z-SR relation. For PE, located 173 km inland, the relation equals Z = 18SR1.1. The prefactor (a) of the relation is sensitive to the median diameter of the particles. Larger particles, found closer to the coast, lead to an increase of the value of the prefactor. More inland locations, where smaller snow particles are found, obtain lower values for the prefactor. The exponent of the Z-SR relation (b) is insensitive to the median diameter of the snow particles. This dependence of the prefactor of the Z-SR relation to the particle size needs to be taken into account when converting radar reflectivities to snowfall rates over Antarctica. The uncertainty on the Z-SR relations is quantified using a bootstrapping approach

  17. Apodization of spurs in radar receivers using multi-channel processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doerry, Armin W.; Bickel, Douglas L.

    2017-11-21

    The various technologies presented herein relate to identification and mitigation of spurious energies or signals (aka "spurs") in radar imaging. Spurious energy in received radar data can be a consequence of non-ideal component and circuit behavior. Such behavior can result from I/Q imbalance, nonlinear component behavior, additive interference (e.g. cross-talk, etc.), etc. The manifestation of the spurious energy in a radar image (e.g., a range-Doppler map) can be influenced by appropriate pulse-to-pulse phase modulation. Comparing multiple images which have been processed using the same data but of different signal paths and modulations enables identification of undesired spurs, with subsequent cropping or apodization of the undesired spurs from a radar image. Spurs can be identified by comparison with a threshold energy. Removal of an undesired spur enables enhanced identification of true targets in a radar image.

  18. Application of TOPEX Altimetry for Solid Earth Deformation Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hyongki Lee

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available This study demonstrates the use of satellite radar altimetry to detect solid Earth deformation signals such as Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA. Our study region covers moderately flat land surfaces seasonally covered by snow/ice/vegetation. The maximum solid Earth uplift of ~10 mm yr-1 is primarily due to the incomplete glacial isostatic rebound that occurs around Hudson Bay, North America. We use decadal (1992 - 2002 surface height measurements from TOPEX/POSEIDON radar altimetry to generate height changes time series for 12 selected locations in the study region. Due to the seasonally varying surface characteristics, we first perform radar waveform shape classification and have found that most of the waveforms are quasi-diffuse during winter/spring and specular during summer/fall. As a result, we used the NASA £]-retracker for the quasi-diffuse waveforms and the Offset Center of Gravity or the threshold retracker for the specular waveforms, to generate the surface height time series. The TOPEX height change time series exhibit coherent seasonal signals (higher amplitude during the winter and lower amplitude during the summer, and the estimated deformation rates agree qualitatively well with GPS vertical velocities, and with altimeter/tide gauge combined vertical velocities around the Great Lakes. The TOPEX observations also agree well with various GIA model predictions, especially with the ICE-5G (VM2 model with differences at 0.2 ¡_ 1.4 mm yr-1, indicating that TOPEX has indeed observed solid Earth deformation signals manifested as crustal uplift over the former Laurentide Ice Sheet region.

  19. Laser radar IV; Proceedings of the Meeting, Orlando, FL, Mar. 29, 30, 1989

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becherer, Richard J.

    1989-09-01

    Various papers on laser radars are presented. Individual topics considered include: frequency chirp of a low-pressure hybrid TE CO2 laser, design of a high-power isotopic CO2 laser amplifier, monolithic beam steering for large aperture laser radar, laser radar receiver using a Digicon detector, all-solid-state CO2 laser driver, noise in an acoustooptic-modulated laser source, laser signature prediction using the Value computer program, laser radar acquisition and tracking, concept of a moving target indicator search ladar, system design philosophy for laser radar wavelength determination, imaging three-frequency CO2 laser radar, backscatter-modulation semiconductor laser radar, three-dimensional imaging using a single laser pulse, design and manufacture of a high-resolution laser radar scanner, calculations of vibrational signatures for coherent ladar, coherent subaperture ultraviolet imagery, and range-Doppler resolution degradation associated with amplitude distortion.

  20. To See the Unseen: A History of Planetary Radar Astronomy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butrica, Andrew J.

    1996-01-01

    -based facilities by this transformed planetary radar astronomy, as well as the upgrading of the Arecibo and Goldstone radars. A technical essay appended to this book provides an overview of planetary radar techniques, especially range-Doppler mapping.

  1. Earth cloud, aerosol, and radiation explorer optical payload development status

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hélière, A.; Wallace, K.; Pereira do Carmo, J.; Lefebvre, A.

    2017-09-01

    The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are co-operating to develop as part of ESA's Living Planet Programme, the third Earth Explorer Core Mission, EarthCARE, with the ojective of improving the understanding of the processes involving clouds, aerosols and radiation in the Earth's atmosphere. EarthCARE payload consists of two active and two passive instruments: an ATmospheric LIDar (ATLID), a Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), a Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) and a Broad-Band Radiometer (BBR). The four instruments data are processed individually and in a synergetic manner to produce a large range of products, which include vertical profiles of aerosols, liquid water and ice, observations of cloud distribution and vertical motion within clouds, and will allow the retrieval of profiles of atmospheric radiative heating and cooling. MSI is a compact instrument with a 150 km swath providing 500 m pixel data in seven channels, whose retrieved data will give context to the active instrument measurements, as well as providing cloud and aerosol information. BBR measures reflected solar and emitted thermal radiation from the scene. Operating in the UV range at 355 nm, ATLID provides atmospheric echoes from ground to an altitude of 40 km. Thanks to a high spectral resolution filtering, the lidar is able to separate the relative contribution of aerosol and molecular scattering, which gives access to aerosol optical depth. Co-polarised and cross-polarised components of the Mie scattering contribution are measured on dedicated channels. This paper will provide a description of the optical payload implementation, the design and characterisation of the instruments.

  2. Combined radar observations of equatorial electrojet irregularities at Jicamarca

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. L. Hysell

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available Daytime equatorial electrojet plasma irregularities were investigated using five distinct radar diagnostics at Jicamarca including range-time-intensity (RTI mapping, Faraday rotation, radar imaging, oblique scattering, and multiple-frequency scattering using the new AMISR prototype UHF radar. Data suggest the existence of plasma density striations separated by 3–5 km and propagating slowly downward. The striations may be caused by neutral atmospheric turbulence, and a possible scenario for their formation is discussed. The Doppler shifts of type 1 echoes observed at VHF and UHF frequencies are compared and interpreted in light of a model of Farley Buneman waves based on kinetic ions and fluid electrons with thermal effects included. Finally, the up-down and east-west asymmetries evident in the radar observations are described and quantified.

  3. Venus radar mapper attitude reference quaternion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyons, D. T.

    1986-01-01

    Polynomial functions of time are used to specify the components of the quaternion which represents the nominal attitude of the Venus Radar mapper spacecraft during mapping. The following constraints must be satisfied in order to obtain acceptable synthetic array radar data: the nominal attitude function must have a large dynamic range, the sensor orientation must be known very accurately, the attitude reference function must use as little memory as possible, and the spacecraft must operate autonomously. Fitting polynomials to the components of the desired quaternion function is a straightforward method for providing a very dynamic nominal attitude using a minimum amount of on-board computer resources. Although the attitude from the polynomials may not be exactly the one requested by the radar designers, the polynomial coefficients are known, so they do not contribute to the attitude uncertainty. Frequent coefficient updates are not required, so the spacecraft can operate autonomously.

  4. Distress detection, location, and communications using advanced space technology. [satellite-borne synthetic aperture radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sivertson, W. E., Jr.

    1977-01-01

    This paper briefly introduces a concept for low-cost, global, day-night, all-weather disaster warning and assistance. Evolving, advanced space technology with passive radio frequency reflectors in conjunction with an imaging synthetic aperture radar is employed to detect, identify, locate, and provide passive communication with earth users in distress. This concept evolved from a broad NASA research on new global search and rescue techniques. Appropriate airborne radar test results from this research are reviewed and related to potential disaster applications. The analysis indicates the approach has promise for disaster communications relative to floods, droughts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and severe storms.

  5. Wideband Radar Echo Frequency-domain Simulation and Analysis for High Speed Moving Targets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ning Chao

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available A frequency-domain method is proposed for wideband radar echo simulation of high-speed moving targets. Based on the physical process of electromagnetic waves observing a moving target, a frequency-domain echo model of wideband radar is constructed, and the block diagram of the radar echo simulation in frequency-domain is presented. Then, the impacts of radial velocity and slant range on the matching filtering of LFM radar are analyzed, and some quantitative conclusions on the shift and expansion of the radar profiles are obtained. Simulation results illustrate the correctness and efficiency of the proposed method.

  6. The Synthetic Aperture Radar Science Data Processing Foundry Concept for Earth Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosen, P. A.; Hua, H.; Norton, C. D.; Little, M. M.

    2015-12-01

    Since 2008, NASA's Earth Science Technology Office and the Advanced Information Systems Technology Program have invested in two technology evolutions to meet the needs of the community of scientists exploiting the rapidly growing database of international synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. JPL, working with the science community, has developed the InSAR Scientific Computing Environment (ISCE), a next-generation interferometric SAR processing system that is designed to be flexible and extensible. ISCE currently supports many international space borne data sets but has been primarily focused on geodetic science and applications. A second evolutionary path, the Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) science data system, uses ISCE as its core science data processing engine and produces automated science and response products, quality assessments and metadata. The success of this two-front effort has been demonstrated in NASA's ability to respond to recent events with useful disaster support. JPL has enabled high-volume and low latency data production by the re-use of the hybrid cloud computing science data system (HySDS) that runs ARIA, leveraging on-premise cloud computing assets that are able to burst onto the Amazon Web Services (AWS) services as needed. Beyond geodetic applications, needs have emerged to process large volumes of time-series SAR data collected for estimation of biomass and its change, in such campaigns as the upcoming AfriSAR field campaign. ESTO is funding JPL to extend the ISCE-ARIA model to a "SAR Science Data Processing Foundry" to on-ramp new data sources and to produce new science data products to meet the needs of science teams and, in general, science community members. An extension of the ISCE-ARIA model to support on-demand processing will permit PIs to leverage this Foundry to produce data products from accepted data sources when they need them. This paper will describe each of the elements of the SAR SDP Foundry and describe their

  7. Advances in bistatic radar

    CERN Document Server

    Willis, Nick

    2007-01-01

    Advances in Bistatic Radar updates and extends bistatic and multistatic radar developments since publication of Willis' Bistatic Radar in 1991. New and recently declassified military applications are documented. Civil applications are detailed including commercial and scientific systems. Leading radar engineers provide expertise to each of these applications. Advances in Bistatic Radar consists of two major sections: Bistatic/Multistatic Radar Systems and Bistatic Clutter and Signal Processing. Starting with a history update, the first section documents the early and now declassified military

  8. Recommendation on Transition from Primary/Secondary Radar to Secondary- Only Radar Capability

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-10-01

    Radar Beacon Performance Monitor RCIU Remote Control Interface Unit RCL Remote Communications Link R E&D Research, Engineering and Development RML Radar...rate. 3.1.2.5 Maintenance The current LRRs have limited remote maintenance monitoring (RMM) capabilities via the Remote Control Interface Unit ( RCIU ...1, -2 and FPS-20 radars required an upgrade of some of the radar subsystems, namely the RCIU to respond as an RMS and the CD to interface with radar

  9. An interferometric radar sensor for monitoring the vibrations of structures at short ranges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luzi Guido

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The Real-Aperture-Radar (RAR interferometry technique consolidated in the last decade as an operational tool for the monitoring of large civil engineering structures as bridges, towers, and buildings. In literature, experimental campaigns collected through a well-known commercial equipment have been widely documented, while the cases where different types of sensors have been tested are a few. On the bases of some experimental tests, a new sensor working at high frequency, providing some improved performances, is here discussed. The core of the proposed system is an off-the-shelf, linear frequency modulated continuous wave device. The development of this apparatus is aimed at achieving a proof-of-concept, tackling operative aspects related to the development of a low cost and reliable system. The capability to detect the natural frequencies of a lightpole has been verified; comparing the results of the proposed sensor with those ones obtained through a commercial system based on the same technique, a more detailed description of the vibrating structure has been achieved. The results of this investigation confirmed that the development of sensors working at higher frequencies, although deserving deeper studies, is very promising and could open new applications demanding higher spatial resolutions at close ranges.

  10. The effect of recombination and attachment on meteor radar diffusion coefficient profiles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, C. S.; Younger, J. P.; Reid, I. M.; Kim, Y. H.; Kim, J.-H.

    2013-04-01

    Estimates of the ambipolar diffusion coefficient producedusing meteor radar echo decay times display an increasing trend below 80-85 km, which is inconsistent with a diffusion-only theory of the evolution of meteor trails. Data from the 33 MHz meteor radar at King Sejong Station, Antarctica, have been compared with observations from the Aura Earth Observing System Microwave Limb Sounder satellite instrument. It has been found that the height at which the diffusion coefficient gradient reverses follows the height of a constant neutral atmospheric density surface. Numerical simulations of meteor trail diffusion including dissociative recombination with atmospheric ions and three-body attachment of free electrons to neutral molecules indicate that three-body attachment is responsible for the distortion of meteor radar diffusion coefficient profiles at heights below 90 km, including the gradient reversal below 80-85 km. Further investigation has revealed that meteor trails with low initial electron line density produce decay times more consistent with a diffusion-only model of meteor trail evolution.

  11. Effect of crystalline electric fields and long-range magnetic order on superconductivity in rare earth alloys and compounds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCallum, R.W.

    1977-01-01

    The behavior of rare earth ions in a superconducting matrix has been studied in two distinct regimes. First, the effects of crystal field splitting of the 4f levels of a magnetic rare earth ion in the alloy system (LaPr)Sn 3 were investigated in the limit of low Pr 3+ concentration. In this system the rare earth impurity ions occupy random La sites in the crystal lattice. Second, the interaction of long-range magnetic order and superconductivity was explored in the ternary rare earth molybdenum chalcogenide systems. In these compounds the rare earth ions occupy periodic lattice sites in contrast to the random distribution of magnetic ions in dilute impurity alloy systems such as (LaPr)Sn 3

  12. Feasibility of mitigating the effects of windfarms on primary radar

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Butler, M.M.; Johnson, D.A.

    2003-07-01

    The objectives of the study were to investigate the feasibility of modifying civil and military radars to mitigate the effects from wind turbines, to provide costings for implementing changes to the radar and to produce guidelines for planning wind farms in the vicinity of radars. The effect of wind turbines on radar signals, assessed through computer modelling, is summarised. The key aspects of turbine design that can be modified to minimise these effects are described. A key issue is the fact that no two radar installations are alike, with settings being customised for local requirements. As a consequence, a detailed understanding of the design and features of each individual radar would be required in order to assess the impact of a wind farm proposal. The costs of a programme of modifications to the civil ATC (air traffic control) radar base will depend on many factors. An estimate of costs is provided, based on the assumption that only 30 of the UK radars would need modification and that a range of modifications from very simple to very complex will be required. A number of other approaches, outside of modification of the radar system, may require investigation during a windfarm planning application, such as layout and location of the wind farm or changing air traffic routes in the vicinity of the wind farm.

  13. Adaptive radar resource management

    CERN Document Server

    Moo, Peter

    2015-01-01

    Radar Resource Management (RRM) is vital for optimizing the performance of modern phased array radars, which are the primary sensor for aircraft, ships, and land platforms. Adaptive Radar Resource Management gives an introduction to radar resource management (RRM), presenting a clear overview of different approaches and techniques, making it very suitable for radar practitioners and researchers in industry and universities. Coverage includes: RRM's role in optimizing the performance of modern phased array radars The advantages of adaptivity in implementing RRMThe role that modelling and

  14. Social Radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    RTA HFM-201/RSM PAPER 3 - 1 © 2012 The MITRE Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Social Radar Barry Costa and John Boiney MITRE Corporation...defenders require an integrated set of capabilities that we refer to as a “ social radar.” Such a system would support strategic- to operational-level...situation awareness, alerting, course of action analysis, and measures of effectiveness for each action undertaken. Success of a social radar

  15. Impulse radar scanning of intact salt at the Avery Island Mine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cook, C.W.

    1980-05-01

    A series of experiments was run in the Avery Island Mine to evaluate the capability of an impulse radar to locate anomalies and simulated waste targets in intact dome salt. Voids in salt were difficult to detect. On the positive side, metal targets and simulated waste (glass) were easily located in intact salt. Radar scanning at ranges of greater than 25 meters and short-range resolution of target positions to within a few centimeters were achieved

  16. Suppression of the Nonlinear Zeeman Effect and Heading Error in Earth-Field-Range Alkali-Vapor Magnetometers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bao, Guzhi; Wickenbrock, Arne; Rochester, Simon; Zhang, Weiping; Budker, Dmitry

    2018-01-19

    The nonlinear Zeeman effect can induce splitting and asymmetries of magnetic-resonance lines in the geophysical magnetic-field range. This is a major source of "heading error" for scalar atomic magnetometers. We demonstrate a method to suppress the nonlinear Zeeman effect and heading error based on spin locking. In an all-optical synchronously pumped magnetometer with separate pump and probe beams, we apply a radio-frequency field which is in phase with the precessing magnetization. This results in the collapse of the multicomponent asymmetric magnetic-resonance line with ∼100  Hz width in the Earth-field range into a single peak with a width of 22 Hz, whose position is largely independent of the orientation of the sensor within a range of orientation angles. The technique is expected to be broadly applicable in practical magnetometry, potentially boosting the sensitivity and accuracy of Earth-surveying magnetometers by increasing the magnetic-resonance amplitude, decreasing its width, and removing the important and limiting heading-error systematic.

  17. Suppression of the Nonlinear Zeeman Effect and Heading Error in Earth-Field-Range Alkali-Vapor Magnetometers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bao, Guzhi; Wickenbrock, Arne; Rochester, Simon; Zhang, Weiping; Budker, Dmitry

    2018-01-01

    The nonlinear Zeeman effect can induce splitting and asymmetries of magnetic-resonance lines in the geophysical magnetic-field range. This is a major source of "heading error" for scalar atomic magnetometers. We demonstrate a method to suppress the nonlinear Zeeman effect and heading error based on spin locking. In an all-optical synchronously pumped magnetometer with separate pump and probe beams, we apply a radio-frequency field which is in phase with the precessing magnetization. This results in the collapse of the multicomponent asymmetric magnetic-resonance line with ˜100 Hz width in the Earth-field range into a single peak with a width of 22 Hz, whose position is largely independent of the orientation of the sensor within a range of orientation angles. The technique is expected to be broadly applicable in practical magnetometry, potentially boosting the sensitivity and accuracy of Earth-surveying magnetometers by increasing the magnetic-resonance amplitude, decreasing its width, and removing the important and limiting heading-error systematic.

  18. Electromagnetic weather in the near-earth space in dependence on solar wind parameters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belov, B.A.; Burtsev, Yu.A.; Dremukhina, L.A.; Papitashvili, V.O.

    1995-01-01

    Analysis of modern models of electrical and magnetic fields, electrical current and plasma convection is carried out with the purpose of quantitative description of the near-earth electrodynamic parameters. Possibility of utilizing such models simultaneously with radar and geomagnetic observations for continuous real time control of electromagnetic weather in the earth magnetosphere is considered. Refs. 24, refs. 3

  19. The discussion of a method to determine the underground destruction range of nuclear earth penetrator bursts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Geng Xiaobing; Zhang Zhongshan

    2007-01-01

    This thesis chooses cross hole seismic tomography to determine the destruction range of surrounded rock in virtue of the characteristic of nuclear earth penetrator explosion.According to Fermat's principle, ray tracing method-the shortest path method suggested by Moser used, a programme was produced to calculate seismic travel time and then to simulate the collection the practical travel time data. The Genetic Algorithm is adopted as the inversion method to simulate in accordance with the crater model of nuclear earth penetrator explosion. (authors)

  20. Novel radar techniques and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Klemm, Richard; Lombardo, Pierfrancesco; Nickel, Ulrich

    2017-01-01

    Novel Radar Techniques and Applications presents the state-of-the-art in advanced radar, with emphasis on ongoing novel research and development and contributions from an international team of leading radar experts. This volume covers: Real aperture array radar; Imaging radar and Passive and multistatic radar.

  1. Radar imaging of Saturn's rings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicholson, Philip D.; French, Richard G.; Campbell, Donald B.; Margot, Jean-Luc; Nolan, Michael C.; Black, Gregory J.; Salo, Heikki J.

    2005-09-01

    We present delay-Doppler images of Saturn's rings based on radar observations made at Arecibo Observatory between 1999 and 2003, at a wavelength of 12.6 cm and at ring opening angles of 20.1°⩽|B|⩽26.7°. The average radar cross-section of the A ring is ˜77% relative to that of the B ring, while a stringent upper limit of 3% is placed on the cross-section of the C ring and 9% on that of the Cassini Division. These results are consistent with those obtained by Ostro et al. [1982, Icarus 49, 367-381] from radar observations at |B|=21.4°, but provide higher resolution maps of the rings' reflectivity profile. The average cross-section of the A and B rings, normalized by their projected unblocked area, is found to have decreased from 1.25±0.31 to 0.74±0.19 as the rings have opened up, while the circular polarization ratio has increased from 0.64±0.06 to 0.77±0.06. The steep decrease in cross-section is at variance with previous radar measurements [Ostro et al., 1980, Icarus 41, 381-388], and neither this nor the polarization variations are easily understood within the framework of either classical, many-particle-thick or monolayer ring models. One possible explanation involves vertical size segregation in the rings, whereby observations at larger elevation angles which see deeper into the rings preferentially see the larger particles concentrated near the rings' mid-plane. These larger particles may be less reflective and/or rougher and thus more depolarizing than the smaller ones. Images from all four years show a strong m=2 azimuthal asymmetry in the reflectivity of the A ring, with an amplitude of ±20% and minima at longitudes of 67±4° and 247±4° from the sub-Earth point. We attribute the asymmetry to the presence of gravitational wakes in the A ring as invoked by Colombo et al. [1976, Nature 264, 344-345] to explain the similar asymmetry long seen at optical wavelengths. A simple radiative transfer model suggests that the enhancement of the azimuthal

  2. Journal of Earth System Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Home; Journals; Journal of Earth System Science; Volume 122; Issue 5. Monitoring subsurface coal fires in Jharia coalfield using observations of land subsidence from differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR). Nishant Gupta Tajdarul H Syed Ashiihrii Athiphro. Volume 122 Issue 5 October 2013 pp 1249- ...

  3. Crosshole investigations - results from borehole radar investigations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olsson, O.; Falk, L.; Sandberg, E.; Forslund, O.; Lundmark, L.

    1987-05-01

    A new borehole radar system has been designed, built and tested. The system consists of borehole transmitter and receiver probes, a signal control unit for communication with the borehole probes, and a computer unit for storage and display of data. The system can be used both in singlehole and crosshole modes and probing ranges of 115 m and 300 m, respectively, have been obtained at Stripa. The borehole radar is a short pulse system which uses center frequencies in the range 20 to 60 MHz. Single hole reflection measurements have been used to identify fracture zones and to determine their position and orientation. The travel time and amplitude of the first arrival measured in a crosshole experiment can be used as input data in a tomographic analysis. (orig./DG)

  4. Minimum redundancy MIMO radars

    OpenAIRE

    Chen, Chun-Yang; Vaidyanathan, P. P.

    2008-01-01

    The multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar concept has drawn considerable attention recently. In the traditional single-input multiple-output (SIMO) radar system, the transmitter emits scaled versions of a single waveform. However, in the MIMO radar system, the transmitter transmits independent waveforms. It has been shown that the MIMO radar can be used to improve system performance. Most of the MIMO radar research so far has focused on the uniform array. However, i...

  5. Digest of NASA earth observation sensors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drummond, R. R.

    1972-01-01

    A digest of technical characteristics of remote sensors and supporting technological experiments uniquely developed under NASA Applications Programs for Earth Observation Flight Missions is presented. Included are camera systems, sounders, interferometers, communications and experiments. In the text, these are grouped by types, such as television and photographic cameras, lasers and radars, radiometers, spectrometers, technology experiments, and transponder technology experiments. Coverage of the brief history of development extends from the first successful earth observation sensor aboard Explorer 7 in October, 1959, through the latest funded and flight-approved sensors under development as of October 1, 1972. A standard resume format is employed to normalize and mechanize the information presented.

  6. Principles of modern radar systems

    CERN Document Server

    Carpentier, Michel H

    1988-01-01

    Introduction to random functions ; signal and noise : the ideal receiver ; performance of radar systems equipped with ideal receivers ; analysis of the operating principles of some types of radar ; behavior of real targets, fluctuation of targets ; angle measurement using radar ; data processing of radar information, radar coverage ; applications to electronic scanning antennas to radar ; introduction to Hilbert spaces.

  7. Modulation, resolution and signal processing in radar, sonar and related systems

    CERN Document Server

    Benjamin, R; Costrell, L

    1966-01-01

    Electronics and Instrumentation, Volume 35: Modulation, Resolution and Signal Processing in Radar, Sonar and Related Systems presents the practical limitations and potentialities of advanced modulation systems. This book discusses the concepts and techniques in the radar context, but they are equally essential to sonar and to a wide range of signaling and data-processing applications, including seismology, radio astronomy, and band-spread communications.Organized into 15 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the principal developments sought in pulse radar. This text then provides a

  8. Terahertz radar cross section measurements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iwaszczuk, Krzysztof; Heiselberg, Henning; Jepsen, Peter Uhd

    2010-12-06

    We perform angle- and frequency-resolved radar cross section (RCS) measurements on objects at terahertz frequencies. Our RCS measurements are performed on a scale model aircraft of size 5-10 cm in polar and azimuthal configurations, and correspond closely to RCS measurements with conventional radar on full-size objects. The measurements are performed in a terahertz time-domain system with freely propagating terahertz pulses generated by tilted pulse front excitation of lithium niobate crystals and measured with sub-picosecond time resolution. The application of a time domain system provides ranging information and also allows for identification of scattering points such as weaponry attached to the aircraft. The shapes of the models and positions of reflecting parts are retrieved by the filtered back projection algorithm.

  9. First-order theory for Earth's inner-core anisotropy due to super ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    inner core) and lower (close to inner core) sections ...... in the radar, for example, the velocities are at least ..... Earth's inner core cross sections from the north .... Arunan E 1999 Hydrogen bonding: A fascination forever!; Curr. Sci. 77 1233.

  10. Radiophysical methods of diagnostics the Earth's ionosphere and the underlying earth's surface by remote sensing in the short-wave range of radio waves

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belov, S. Yu.; Belova, I. N.

    2017-11-01

    Monitoring of the earth's surface by remote sensing in the short-wave band can provide quick identification of some characteristics of natural systems. This band range allows one to diagnose subsurface aspects of the earth, as the scattering parameter is affected by irregularities in the dielectric permittivity of subsurface structures. This method based on the organization of the monitoring probe may detect changes in these environments, for example, to assess seismic hazard, hazardous natural phenomena such as earthquakes, as well as some man-made hazards and etc. The problem of measuring and accounting for the scattering power of the earth's surface in the short-range of radio waves is important for a number of purposes, such as diagnosing properties of the medium, which is of interest for geological, environmental studies. In this paper, we propose a new method for estimating the parameters of incoherent signal/noise ratio. The paper presents the results of comparison of the measurement method from the point of view of their admissible relative analytical errors. The new method is suggested. Analysis of analytical error of estimation of this parameter allowed to recommend new method instead of standard method. A comparative analysis and shows that the analytical (relative) accuracy of the determination of this parameter new method on the order exceeds the widely-used standard method.

  11. Applying NASA Imaging Radar Datasets to Investigate the Geomorphology of the Amazon's Planalto

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDonald, K. C.; Campbell, K.; Islam, R.; Alexander, P. M.; Cracraft, J.

    2016-12-01

    The Amazon basin is a biodiversity rich biome and plays a significant role into shaping Earth's climate, ocean and atmospheric gases. Understanding the history of the formation of this basin is essential to our understanding of the region's biodiversity and its response to climate change. During March 2013, the NASA/JPL L-band polarimetric airborne imaging radar, UAVSAR, conducted airborne studies over regions of South America including portions of the western Amazon basin. We utilize UAVSAR imagery acquired during that time over the Planalto, in the Madre de Dios region of southeastern Peru in an assessment of the underlying geomorphology, its relationship to the current distribution of vegetation, and its relationship to geologic processes through deep time. We employ UAVSAR data collections to assess the utility of these high quality imaging radar data for use in identifying geomorphologic features and vegetation communities within the context of improving the understanding of evolutionary processes, and their utility in aiding interpretation of datasets from Earth-orbiting satellites to support a basin-wide characterization across the Amazon. We derive maps of landcover and river branching structure from UAVSAR imagery. We compare these maps to those derived using imaging radar datasets from the Japanese Space Agency's ALOS PALSAR and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Results provide an understanding of the underlying geomorphology of the Amazon planalto as well as its relationship to geologic processes and will support interpretation of the evolutionary history of the Amazon Basin. Portions of this work have been carried out within the framework of the ALOS Kyoto & Carbon Initiative. PALSAR data were provided by JAXA/EORC and the Alaska Satellite Facility.This work is carried out with support from the NASA Biodiversity Program and the NSF DIMENSIONS of Biodiversity Program.

  12. The mid-latitude ionosphere under quiet geomagnetic conditions: propagation analysis of SuperDARN radar observations from large ionospheric perturbations

    OpenAIRE

    De Larquier, Sebastien

    2013-01-01

    The Earth's ionosphere is a dynamic environment strongly coupled to the neutral atmosphere, magnetosphere and solar activity. In the context of this research, we restrict our interest to the mid-latitude (a.k.a., sub-auroral) ionosphere during quiet geomagnetic conditions. The Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) is composed of more than 30 low-power High Frequency (HF, from 8-18 MHz) Doppler radars covering the sub-auroral, auroral and polar ionosphere in both hemispheres. SuperDARN ...

  13. A Newly Designed Fiber-Optic Based Earth Pressure Transducer with Adjustable Measurement Range

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hou-Zhen Wei

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available A novel fiber-optic based earth pressure sensor (FPS with an adjustable measurement range and high sensitivity is developed to measure earth pressures for civil infrastructures. The new FPS combines a cantilever beam with fiber Bragg grating (FBG sensors and a flexible membrane. Compared with a traditional pressure transducer with a dual diaphragm design, the proposed FPS has a larger measurement range and shows high accuracy. The working principles, parameter design, fabrication methods, and laboratory calibration tests are explained in this paper. A theoretical solution is derived to obtain the relationship between the applied pressure and strain of the FBG sensors. In addition, a finite element model is established to analyze the mechanical behavior of the membrane and the cantilever beam and thereby obtain optimal parameters. The cantilever beam is 40 mm long, 15 mm wide, and 1 mm thick. The whole FPS has a diameter of 100 mm and a thickness of 30 mm. The sensitivity of the FPS is 0.104 kPa/με. In addition, automatic temperature compensation can be achieved. The FPS’s sensitivity, physical properties, and response to applied pressure are extensively examined through modeling and experiments. The results show that the proposed FPS has numerous potential applications in soil pressure measurement.

  14. Radar adjusted data versus modelled precipitation: a case study over Cyprus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Casaioli

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available In the framework of the European VOLTAIRE project (Fifth Framework Programme, simulations of relatively heavy precipitation events, which occurred over the island of Cyprus, by means of numerical atmospheric models were performed. One of the aims of the project was indeed the comparison of modelled rainfall fields with multi-sensor observations. Thus, for the 5 March 2003 event, the 24-h accumulated precipitation BOlogna Limited Area Model (BOLAM forecast was compared with the available observations reconstructed from ground-based radar data and estimated by rain gauge data. Since radar data may be affected by errors depending on the distance from the radar, these data could be range-adjusted by using other sensors. In this case, the Precipitation Radar aboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM satellite was used to adjust the ground-based radar data with a two-parameter scheme. Thus, in this work, two observational fields were employed: the rain gauge gridded analysis and the observational analysis obtained by merging the range-adjusted radar and rain gauge fields. In order to verify the modelled precipitation, both non-parametric skill scores and the contiguous rain area (CRA analysis were applied. Skill score results show some differences when using the two observational fields. CRA results are instead quite in agreement, showing that in general a 0.27° eastward shift optimizes the forecast with respect to the two observational analyses. This result is also supported by a subjective inspection of the shifted forecast field, whose gross features agree with the analysis pattern more than the non-shifted forecast one. However, some open questions, especially regarding the effect of other range adjustment techniques, remain open and need to be addressed in future works.

  15. Radar Chart

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Radar Chart collection is an archived product of summarized radar data. The geographic coverage is the 48 contiguous states of the United States. These hourly...

  16. Progress in coherent laser radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaughan, J. M.

    1986-01-01

    Considerable progress with coherent laser radar has been made over the last few years, most notably perhaps in the available range of high performance devices and components and the confidence with which systems may now be taken into the field for prolonged periods of operation. Some of this increasing maturity was evident at the 3rd Topical Meeting on Coherent Laser Radar: Technology and Applications. Topics included in discussions were: mesoscale wind fields, nocturnal valley drainage and clear air down bursts; airborne Doppler lidar studies and comparison of ground and airborne wind measurement; wind measurement over the sea for comparison with satellite borne microwave sensors; transport of wake vortices at airfield; coherent DIAL methods; a newly assembled Nd-YAG coherent lidar system; backscatter profiles in the atmosphere and wavelength dependence over the 9 to 11 micrometer region; beam propagation; rock and soil classification with an airborne 4-laser system; technology of a global wind profiling system; target calibration; ranging and imaging with coherent pulsed and CW system; signal fluctuations and speckle. Some of these activities are briefly reviewed.

  17. Application of high-precision two-way ranging to Galileo Earth-1 encounter navigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pollmeier, V. M.; Thurman, S. W.

    1992-01-01

    The application of precision two-way ranging to orbit determination with relatively short data arcs is investigated for the Galileo spacecraft's approach to its first Earth encounter (December 8, 1990). Analysis of previous S-band (2.3-GHz) ranging data acquired from Galileo indicated that under good signal conditions submeter precision and 10-m ranging accuracy were achieved. It is shown that ranging data of sufficient accuracy, when acquired from multiple stations, can sense the geocentric angular position of a distant spacecraft. A range data filtering technique, in which explicit modeling of range measurement bias parameters for each station pass is utilized, is shown to largely remove the systematic ground system calibration errors and transmission media effects from the Galileo range measurements, which would otherwise corrupt the angle-finding capabilities of the data. The accuracy of the Galileo orbit solutions obtained with S-band Doppler and precision ranging were found to be consistent with simple theoretical calculations, which predicted that angular accuracies of 0.26-0.34 microrad were achievable. In addition, the navigation accuracy achieved with precision ranging was marginally better than that obtained using delta-differenced one-way range (delta DOR), the principal data type that was previously used to obtain spacecraft angular position measurements operationally.

  18. Measuring the relativistic perigee advance with satellite laser ranging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iorio, Lorenzo; Ciufolini, Ignazio; Pavlis, Erricos C

    2002-01-01

    The pericentric advance of a test body by a central mass is one of the classical tests of general relativity. Today, this effect is measured with radar ranging by the perihelion shift of Mercury and other planets in the gravitational field of the Sun, with a relative accuracy of the order of 10 -2 -10 -3 . In this paper, we explore the possibility of a measurement of the pericentric advance in the gravitational field of Earth by analysing the laser-ranged data of some orbiting, or proposed, laser-ranged geodetic satellites. Such a measurement of the perigee advance would place limits on hypothetical, very weak, Yukawa-type components of the gravitational interaction with a finite range of the order of 10 4 km. Thus, we show that, at the present level of knowledge of the orbital perturbations, the relative accuracy, achievable with suitably combined orbital elements of LAGEOS and LAGEOS II, is of the order of 10 -3 . With the corresponding measured value of (2 + 2γ - β)/3, by using η = 4β - γ - 3 from lunar laser ranging, we could get an estimate of the PPN parameters γ and β with an accuracy of the order of 10 -2 -10 -3 . Nevertheless, these accuracies would be substantially improved in the near future with the new Earth gravity field models by the CHAMP and GRACE missions. The use of the perigee of LARES (LAser RElativity Satellite), with a suitable combination of orbital residuals including also the node and the perigee of LAGEOS II, would also further improve the accuracy of the proposed measurement

  19. Radar and optical observations and physical modeling of near-Earth Asteroid 10115 (1992 SK)

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Busch, M.; Ostro, S. J.; Benner, L. A. M.; Giorgini, J. D.; Jurgens, R. F.; Rose, R.; Magri, C.; Pravec, Petr; Scheeres, D.J.; Broschart, S.B.

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 181, č. 1 (2006), s. 145-155 ISSN 0019-1035 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA205/05/0604; GA AV ČR IAA3003204 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : asteroids * radar * rotation Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 3.151, year: 2006

  20. Prospective IS-MST radar. Potential and diagnostic capabilities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Potekhin A.P.

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available In the next few years, a new radar is planned to be built near Irkutsk. It should have capabilities of incoherent scatter (IS radars and mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere (MST radars [Zherebtsov et al., 2011]. The IS-MST radar is a phased array of two separated antenna panels with a multichannel digital receiving system, which allows detailed space-time processing of backscattered signal. This paper describes characteristics, configuration, and capabilities of the antenna and transceiver systems of this radar. We estimate its potential in basic operating modes to study the ionosphere by the IS method at heights above 100 km and the atmosphere with the use of signals scattered from refractive index fluctuations, caused by turbulent mixing at heights below 100 km. The modeling shows that the radar will allow us to regularly measure neutral atmosphere parameters at heights up to 26 km as well as to observe mesosphere summer echoes at heights near 85 km in the presence of charged ice particles (an increase in Schmidt number and mesosphere winter echoes at heights near 65 km with increasing background electron density. Evaluation of radar resources at the IS mode in two height ranges 100–600 and 600–2000 km demonstrates that in the daytime and with the accumulation time of 10 min, the upper boundaries of electron density and ionospheric plasma temperature are ~1500 and ~1300 km respectively, with the standard deviation of no more than 10 %. The upper boundary of plasma drift velocity is ~1100 km with the standard deviation of 45 m/s. The estimation of interferometric capabilities of the MST radar shows that it has a high sensitivity to objects of angular size near 7.5 arc min, and its potential accuracy in determining target angles can reach 40 arc sec.

  1. Commercially Available Low Probability of Intercept Radars and Non-Cooperative ELINT Receiver Capabilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-09-01

    3D Antenna Gain 0 dB Azimuth Accuracy 20°/quadrant 52 51. ELT/750 Receiver Figure 51: ELT/750 Receiver/processor...71]) The Itata ELINT system has been developed by Desarrollo de Tecnologia y Sistemas (DTS) Ltd. and is a high-sensitivity electronic... 3D Long Range Surveillance Radar. [Online]. Available: https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/defence/smart-l- 3d - long-range-surveillance-radar

  2. Guidance Trades for Interceptors Not Constrained by Ground-Based Radar

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Deutsch, Owen

    2000-01-01

    .... New space-based sensor systems such as SBIRS-low are seen as an adjunct that can be used to achieve range extension by cueing of radars and in some concepts, kinematic range extension of interceptors...

  3. Earth Observations for Geohazards: Present and Future Challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberto Tomás

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Earth Observations (EO encompasses different types of sensors (e.g., Synthetic Aperture Radar, Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging, Optical and multispectral and platforms (e.g., satellites, aircraft, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and enables us to monitor and model geohazards over regions at different scales in which ground observations may not be possible due to physical and/or political constraints. EO can provide high spatial, temporal and spectral resolution, stereo-mapping and all-weather-imaging capabilities, but not by a single satellite at a time. Improved satellite and sensor technologies, increased frequency of satellite measurements, and easier access and interpretation of EO data have all contributed to the increased demand for satellite EO data. EO, combined with complementary terrestrial observations and with physical models, have been widely used to monitor geohazards, revolutionizing our understanding of how the Earth system works. This Special Issue presents a collection of scientific contributions focusing on innovative EO methods and applications for monitoring and modeling geohazards, consisting of four Sections: (1 earthquake hazards; (2 landslide hazards; (3 land subsidence hazards; and (4 new EO techniques and services.

  4. Balloon-borne pressure sensor performance evaluation utilizing tracking radars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norcross, G. A.; Brooks, R. L.

    1983-01-01

    The pressure sensors on balloon-borne sondes relate the sonde measurements to height above the Earth's surface through the hypsometric equation. It is crucial that sondes used to explore the vertical structure of the atmosphere do not contribute significant height errors to their measurements of atmospheric constituent concentrations and properties. A series of radiosonde flights was conducted. In most cases, each flight consisted of two sondes attached to a single balloon and each flight was tracked by a highly accurate C-band radar. For the first 19 radiosonde flights, the standard aneroid cell baroswitch assembly used was the pressure sensor. The last 26 radiosondes were equipped with a premium grade aneroid cell baroswitch assembly sensor and with a hypsometer. It is shown that both aneroid cell baroswitch sensors become increasingly inaccurate with altitude. The hypsometer radar differences are not strongly dependent upon altitude and it is found that the standard deviation of the differences at 35 km is 0.179 km.

  5. Combined radar and telemetry system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rodenbeck, Christopher T.; Young, Derek; Chou, Tina; Hsieh, Lung-Hwa; Conover, Kurt; Heintzleman, Richard

    2017-08-01

    A combined radar and telemetry system is described. The combined radar and telemetry system includes a processing unit that executes instructions, where the instructions define a radar waveform and a telemetry waveform. The processor outputs a digital baseband signal based upon the instructions, where the digital baseband signal is based upon the radar waveform and the telemetry waveform. A radar and telemetry circuit transmits, simultaneously, a radar signal and telemetry signal based upon the digital baseband signal.

  6. Determination of radar MTF

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chambers, D. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)

    1994-11-15

    The ultimate goal of the Current Meter Array (CMA) is to be able to compare the current patterns detected with the array with radar images of the water surface. The internal wave current patterns modulate the waves on the water surface giving a detectable modulation of the radar cross-section (RCS). The function relating the RCS modulations to the current patterns is the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF). By comparing radar images directly with co-located CMA measurements the MTF can be determined. In this talk radar images and CMA measurements from a recent experiment at Loch Linnhe, Scotland, will be used to make the first direct determination of MTF for an X and S band radar at low grazing angles. The technical problems associated with comparing radar images to CMA data will be explained and the solution method discussed. The results suggest the both current and strain rate contribute equally to the radar modulation for X band. For S band, the strain rate contributes more than the current. The magnitude of the MTF and the RCS modulations are consistent with previous estimates when the wind is blowing perpendicular to the radar look direction.

  7. A new ground-penetrating radar system for remote site characterization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davis, K.C.; Sandness, G.A.

    1994-08-01

    The cleanup of waste burial sites and military bombing ranges involves the risk of exposing field personnel to toxic chemicals, radioactive materials, or unexploded munitions. Time-consuming and costly measures are required to provide protection from those hazards. Therefore, there is a growing interest in developing remotely controlled sensors and sensor platforms that can be employed in site characterization surveys. A specialized ground-penetrating radar has been developed to operate on a remotely controlled vehicle for the non-intrusive subsurface characterization of buried waste sites. Improved radar circuits provide enhanced performance, and an embedded microprocessor dynamically optimizes operation. The radar unit is packaged to survive chemical contamination and decontamination

  8. GMES Initial Operations - Network for Earth Observation Research Training (GIONET)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicolas-Perea, V.; Balzter, H.

    2012-12-01

    GMES Initial Operations - Network for Earth Observation Research Training (GIONET) is a Marie Curie funded project that aims to establish the first of a kind European Centre of Excellence for Earth Observation Research Training. GIONET is a partnership of leading Universities, research institutes and private companies from across Europe aiming to cultivate a community of early stage researchers in the areas of optical and radar remote sensing skilled for the emerging GMES land monitoring services during the GMES Initial Operations period (2011-2013) and beyond. GIONET is expected to satisfy the demand for highly skilled researchers and provide personnel for operational phase of the GMES and monitoring and emergency services. It will achieve this by: -Providing postgraduate training in Earth Observation Science that exposes students to different research disciplines and complementary skills, providing work experiences in the private and academic sectors, and leading to a recognized qualification (Doctorate). -Enabling access to first class training in both fundamental and applied research skills to early-stage researchers at world-class academic centers and market leaders in the private sector. -Building on the experience from previous GMES research and development projects in the land monitoring and emergency information services. The training program through supervised research focuses on 14 research topics (each carried out by an Early Stage Researchers based in one of the partner organization) divided in 5 main areas: Forest monitoring: Global biomass information systems Forest Monitoring of the Congo Basin using Synthetic Aperture radar (SAR) Multi-concept Earth Observation Capabilities for Biomass Mapping and Change Detection: Synergy of Multi-temporal and Multi-frequency Interferometric Radar and Optical Satellite Data Land cover and change: Multi-scale Remote Sensing Synergy for Land Process Studies: from field Spectrometry to Airborne Hyperspectral and

  9. A low cost automatic detection and ranging system for space surveillance in the medium Earth orbit region and beyond.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danescu, Radu; Ciurte, Anca; Turcu, Vlad

    2014-02-11

    The space around the Earth is filled with man-made objects, which orbit the planet at altitudes ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of kilometers. Keeping an eye on all objects in Earth's orbit, useful and not useful, operational or not, is known as Space Surveillance. Due to cost considerations, the space surveillance solutions beyond the Low Earth Orbit region are mainly based on optical instruments. This paper presents a solution for real-time automatic detection and ranging of space objects of altitudes ranging from below the Medium Earth Orbit up to 40,000 km, based on two low cost observation systems built using commercial cameras and marginally professional telescopes, placed 37 km apart, operating as a large baseline stereovision system. The telescopes are pointed towards any visible region of the sky, and the system is able to automatically calibrate the orientation parameters using automatic matching of reference stars from an online catalog, with a very high tolerance for the initial guess of the sky region and camera orientation. The difference between the left and right image of a synchronized stereo pair is used for automatic detection of the satellite pixels, using an original difference computation algorithm that is capable of high sensitivity and a low false positive rate. The use of stereovision provides a strong means of removing false positives, and avoids the need for prior knowledge of the orbits observed, the system being able to detect at the same time all types of objects that fall within the measurement range and are visible on the image.

  10. Introduction to sensors for ranging and imaging

    CERN Document Server

    Brooker, Graham

    2009-01-01

    ""This comprehensive text-reference provides a solid background in active sensing technology. It is concerned with active sensing, starting with the basics of time-of-flight sensors (operational principles, components), and going through the derivation of the radar range equation and the detection of echo signals, both fundamental to the understanding of radar, sonar and lidar imaging. Several chapters cover signal propagation of both electromagnetic and acoustic energy, target characteristics, stealth, and clutter. The remainder of the book introduces the range measurement process, active ima

  11. Journal of Earth System Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Global Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data products have been widely used in EarthSciences without an estimation of their accuracy and reliability even though large outliers exist in them.The global 1 arc-sec, 30 m resolution, SRTM C-Band (C-30) data collected in February 2000 has beenrecently released ...

  12. Runoff Analysis Considering Orographical Features Using Dual Polarization Radar Rainfall

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noh, Hui-seong; Shin, Hyun-seok; Kang, Na-rae; Lee, Choong-Ke; Kim, Hung-soo

    2013-04-01

    Recently, the necessity for rainfall estimation and forecasting using the radar is being highlighted, due to the frequent occurrence of torrential rainfall resulting from abnormal changes of weather. Radar rainfall data represents temporal and spatial distributions properly and replace the existing rain gauge networks. It is also frequently applied in many hydrologic field researches. However, the radar rainfall data has an accuracy limitation since it estimates rainfall, by monitoring clouds and precipitation particles formed around the surface of the earth(1.5-3km above the surface) or the atmosphere. In a condition like Korea where nearly 70% of the land is covered by mountainous areas, there are lots of restrictions to use rainfall radar, because of the occurrence of beam blocking areas by topography. This study is aiming at analyzing runoff and examining the applicability of (R(Z), R(ZDR) and R(KDP)) provided by the Han River Flood Control Office(HRFCO) based on the basin elevation of Nakdong river watershed. For this purpose, the amount of radar rainfall of each rainfall event was estimated according to three sub-basins of Nakdong river watershed with the average basin elevation above 400m which are Namgang dam, Andong dam and Hapcheon dam and also another three sub-basins with the average basin elevation below 150m which are Waegwan, Changryeong and Goryeong. After runoff analysis using a distribution model, Vflo model, the results were reviewed and compared with the observed runoff. This study estimated the rainfall by using the radar-rainfall transform formulas, (R(Z), R(Z,ZDR) and R(Z,ZDR,KDP) for four stormwater events and compared the results with the point rainfall of the rain gauge. As the result, it was overestimated or underestimated, depending on rainfall events. Also, calculation indicates that the values from R(Z,ZDR) and R(Z,ZDR,KDP) relatively showed the most similar results. Moreover the runoff analysis using the estimated radar rainfall is

  13. Design, Performance and Optimization for Multimodal Radar Operation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Surendra S. Bhat

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the underlying methodology behind an adaptive multimodal radar sensor that is capable of progressively optimizing its range resolution depending upon the target scattering features. It consists of a test-bed that enables the generation of linear frequency modulated waveforms of various bandwidths. This paper discusses a theoretical approach to optimizing the bandwidth used by the multimodal radar. It also discusses the various experimental results obtained from measurement. The resolution predicted from theory agrees quite well with that obtained from experiments for different target arrangements.

  14. Bistatic High Frequency Radar Ocean Surface Cross Section for an FMCW Source with an Antenna on a Floating Platform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yue Ma

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The first- and second-order bistatic high frequency radar cross sections of the ocean surface with an antenna on a floating platform are derived for a frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW source. Based on previous work, the derivation begins with the general bistatic electric field in the frequency domain for the case of a floating antenna. Demodulation and range transformation are used to obtain the range information, distinguishing the process from that used for a pulsed radar. After Fourier-transforming the autocorrelation and comparing the result with the radar range equation, the radar cross sections are derived. The new first- and second-order antenna-motion-incorporated bistatic radar cross section models for an FMCW source are simulated and compared with those for a pulsed source. Results show that, for the same radar operating parameters, the first-order radar cross section for the FMCW waveform is a little lower than that for a pulsed source. The second-order radar cross section for the FMCW waveform reduces to that for the pulsed waveform when the scattering patch limit approaches infinity. The effect of platform motion on the radar cross sections for an FMCW waveform is investigated for a variety of sea states and operating frequencies and, in general, is found to be similar to that for a pulsed waveform.

  15. Radar observations of asteroids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ostro, S.J.

    1989-01-01

    This paper describes echoes from 33 main-belt asteroids (MBAs) and 19 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) have provided a wealth of new information about these objects such as sizes, shapes, spin vectors, and such surface characteristics as decimeter-scale morphology, topographic relief, regolith porosity and metal concentrations. On average, small NEAs are much rougher at decimeter scales than MBAs, comets or terrestrial planets. Some of the largest MBAs (e.g., 1 Ceres and 2 Pallas ) are smoother than the moon at decimeter scales but much rougher than the Moon at some much larger scale. There is at least a five-fold variation in the radar albedos of MBAs, implying substantial variations in the surface porosities or metal concentrations of these objects. The highest MBA albedo estimate, for 16 Psyche, is consistent with a metal concentration near unity and lunar porosities

  16. Short-Range Noncontact Sensors for Healthcare and Other Emerging Applications: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Changzhan Gu

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Short-range noncontact sensors are capable of remotely detecting the precise movements of the subjects or wirelessly estimating the distance from the sensor to the subject. They find wide applications in our day lives such as noncontact vital sign detection of heart beat and respiration, sleep monitoring, occupancy sensing, and gesture sensing. In recent years, short-range noncontact sensors are attracting more and more efforts from both academia and industry due to their vast applications. Compared to other radar architectures such as pulse radar and frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW radar, Doppler radar is gaining more popularity in terms of system integration and low-power operation. This paper reviews the recent technical advances in Doppler radars for healthcare applications, including system hardware improvement, digital signal processing, and chip integration. This paper also discusses the hybrid FMCW-interferometry radars and the emerging applications and the future trends.

  17. Improved Discrimination of Volcanic Complexes, Tectonic Features, and Regolith Properties in Mare Serenitatis from Earth-Based Radar Mapping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Bruce A.; Hawke, B. Ray; Morgan, Gareth A.; Carter, Lynn M.; Campbell, Donald B.; Nolan, Michael

    2014-01-01

    Radar images at 70 cm wavelength show 4-5 dB variations in backscatter strength within regions of relatively uniform spectral reflectance properties in central and northern Mare Serenitatis, delineating features suggesting lava flow margins, channels, and superposition relationships. These backscatter differences are much less pronounced at 12.6 cm wavelength, consistent with a large component of the 70 cm echo arising from the rough or blocky transition zone between the mare regolith and the intact bedrock. Such deep probing is possible because the ilmenite content, which modulates microwave losses, of central Mare Serenitatis is generally low (2-3% by weight). Modeling of the radar returns from a buried interface shows that an average regolith thickness of 10m could lead to the observed shifts in 70 cm echo power with a change in TiO2 content from 2% to 3%. This thickness is consistent with estimates of regolith depth (10-15m) based on the smallest diameter for which fresh craters have obvious blocky ejecta. The 70 cm backscatter differences provide a view of mare flow-unit boundaries, channels, and lobes unseen by other remote sensing methods. A localized pyroclastic deposit associated with Rima Calippus is identified based on its low radar echo strength. Radar mapping also improves delineation of units for crater age dating and highlights a 250 km long, east-west trending feature in northern Mare Serenitatis that we suggest is a large graben flooded by late-stage mare flows.

  18. RADAR PPI Scope Overlay

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — RADAR PPI Scope Overlays are used to position a RADAR image over a station at the correct resolution. The archive maintains several different RADAR resolution types,...

  19. Design of an Ultra-wideband Pseudo Random Coded MIMO Radar Based on Radio Frequency Switches

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Su Hai

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available A Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO ultra-wideband radar can detect the range and azimuth information of targets in real time. It is widely used for geological surveys, life rescue, through-wall tracking, and other military or civil fields. This paper presents the design of an ultra-wideband pseudo random coded MIMO radar that is based on Radio Frequency (RF switches and implements a MIMO radar system. RF switches are employed to reduce cost and complexity of the system. As the switch pressure value is limited, the peak power of the transmitting signal is 18 dBm. The ultra-wideband radar echo is obtained by hybrid sampling, and pulse compression is computed by Digital Signal Processors (DSPs embedded in an Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA to simplify the signal process. The experiment illustrates that the radar system can detect the range and azimuth information of targets in real time.

  20. Systems and Methods for Radar Data Communication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bunch, Brian (Inventor); Szeto, Roland (Inventor); Miller, Brad (Inventor)

    2013-01-01

    A radar information processing system is operable to process high bandwidth radar information received from a radar system into low bandwidth radar information that may be communicated to a low bandwidth connection coupled to an electronic flight bag (EFB). An exemplary embodiment receives radar information from a radar system, the radar information communicated from the radar system at a first bandwidth; processes the received radar information into processed radar information, the processed radar information configured for communication over a connection operable at a second bandwidth, the second bandwidth lower than the first bandwidth; and communicates the radar information from a radar system, the radar information communicated from the radar system at a first bandwidth.

  1. Data Processing and Primary results of Lunar Penetrating Radar on Board the Chinese Yutu Rover

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Yan; Xing, Shuguo; Feng, Jianqing; Dai, Shun; Ding, Chunyu; Xiao, Yuan; Zhang, Hongbo; Zhao, Shu; Xue, Xiping; Zhang, Xiaoxia; Liu, Bin; Yao, Meijuan; Li, Chunlai

    2015-04-01

    Radar is an attractive and powerful technique to observe the Moon. Radar mapping of the Moon's topography was first done by the Arecibo telescope at a wave- length of 70 cm in 1964 (Thompson & Dyce 1966). Chang'e-3 (CE-3) was successfully launched on 2013 December 2, and the landing place is in Mare Imbrium, about 40km south of the 6km diameter Laplace F crater, at 44.1214ON, 19.5116OW. The Lunar ground-Penetrating Radar (LPR) is one of scientific payloads of the Yutu rover, aiming to achieve the first direct measurements and explore the lunar subsurface structure. Compared with ALSE and LRS, LPR works at higher frequencies of 60 MHz and 500 MHz. Thus it can probe regions with shallower depth including the regolith and lunar crust at higher range resolution. The LPR uses one transmitting and one receiving dipole antenna for 60 MHz which are installed at the back of the rover. For 500 MHz, one transmitting and two bow-tie receiving antennas are attached to the bottom of the rover. It transmits a pulsed signal and receives the radar echo signal along the path that the Yutu rover traverses. The free space range resolutions are ~ 50 cm and ~ 25 m for 60 MHz and 500 MHz respectively. The radar data stop being sampled and are sent back to Earth when Yutu is stationary. Observations are simultaneously carried out at frequencies of 60 MHz and 500 MHz. Since the Yutu rover had severe problems during its second lunar day, it is pity that the Yutu rover only transversed a limited distance of 114.8m. In total, 566 MB of data were obtained. The scientific data are archived and distributed by National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Data processing has been done in order to eliminate the effect of the instrument. To obtain clear radar images, more data processing need to be applied such as coordinate transformation, data editing, background removal, the operations of smoothing and gain resetting. The radar signal could detect hundreds of meters deep at

  2. Java Radar Analysis Tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaczek, Mariusz P.

    2005-01-01

    Java Radar Analysis Tool (JRAT) is a computer program for analyzing two-dimensional (2D) scatter plots derived from radar returns showing pieces of the disintegrating Space Shuttle Columbia. JRAT can also be applied to similar plots representing radar returns showing aviation accidents, and to scatter plots in general. The 2D scatter plots include overhead map views and side altitude views. The superposition of points in these views makes searching difficult. JRAT enables three-dimensional (3D) viewing: by use of a mouse and keyboard, the user can rotate to any desired viewing angle. The 3D view can include overlaid trajectories and search footprints to enhance situational awareness in searching for pieces. JRAT also enables playback: time-tagged radar-return data can be displayed in time order and an animated 3D model can be moved through the scene to show the locations of the Columbia (or other vehicle) at the times of the corresponding radar events. The combination of overlays and playback enables the user to correlate a radar return with a position of the vehicle to determine whether the return is valid. JRAT can optionally filter single radar returns, enabling the user to selectively hide or highlight a desired radar return.

  3. A Method for Estimating Meteorite Fall Mass from Weather Radar Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laird, C.; Fries, M.; Matson, R.

    2017-01-01

    Techniques such as weather RADAR, seismometers, and all-sky cameras allow new insights concerning the physics of meteorite fall dynamics and fragmentation during "dark flight", the period of time between the end of the meteor's luminous flight and the concluding impact on the Earth's surface. Understanding dark flight dynamics enables us to rapidly analyze the characteristics of new meteorite falls. This analysis will provide essential information to meteorite hunters to optimize recovery, increasing the frequency and total mass of scientifically important freshly-fallen meteorites available to the scientific community. We have developed a mathematical method to estimate meteorite fall mass using reflectivity data as recorded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Next Generation RADAR (NEXRAD) stations. This study analyzed eleven official and one unofficial meteorite falls in the United States and Canada to achieve this purpose.

  4. Synthetic impulse and aperture radar (SIAR) a novel multi-frequency MIMO radar

    CERN Document Server

    Chen, Baixiao

    2014-01-01

    Analyzes and discusses the operating principle, signal processing method, and experimental results of this advanced radar technology This book systematically discusses the operating principle, signal processing method, target measurement technology, and experimental results of a new kind of radar called synthetic impulse and aperture radar (SIAR). The purpose is to help readers acquire an insight into the concept and principle of the SIAR, to know its operation mode, signal processing method, the difference between the traditional radar and itself, the designing ideals, and the developing me

  5. A Wing Pod-based Millimeter Wave Cloud Radar on HIAPER

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vivekanandan, Jothiram; Tsai, Peisang; Ellis, Scott; Loew, Eric; Lee, Wen-Chau; Emmett, Joanthan

    2014-05-01

    One of the attractive features of a millimeter wave radar system is its ability to detect micron-sized particles that constitute clouds with lower than 0.1 g m-3 liquid or ice water content. Scanning or vertically-pointing ground-based millimeter wavelength radars are used to study stratocumulus (Vali et al. 1998; Kollias and Albrecht 2000) and fair-weather cumulus (Kollias et al. 2001). Airborne millimeter wavelength radars have been used for atmospheric remote sensing since the early 1990s (Pazmany et al. 1995). Airborne millimeter wavelength radar systems, such as the University of Wyoming King Air Cloud Radar (WCR) and the NASA ER-2 Cloud Radar System (CRS), have added mobility to observe clouds in remote regions and over oceans. Scientific requirements of millimeter wavelength radar are mainly driven by climate and cloud initiation studies. Survey results from the cloud radar user community indicated a common preference for a narrow beam W-band radar with polarimetric and Doppler capabilities for airborne remote sensing of clouds. For detecting small amounts of liquid and ice, it is desired to have -30 dBZ sensitivity at a 10 km range. Additional desired capabilities included a second wavelength and/or dual-Doppler winds. Modern radar technology offers various options (e.g., dual-polarization and dual-wavelength). Even though a basic fixed beam Doppler radar system with a sensitivity of -30 dBZ at 10 km is capable of satisfying cloud detection requirements, the above-mentioned additional options, namely dual-wavelength, and dual-polarization, significantly extend the measurement capabilities to further reduce any uncertainty in radar-based retrievals of cloud properties. This paper describes a novel, airborne pod-based millimeter wave radar, preliminary radar measurements and corresponding derived scientific products. Since some of the primary engineering requirements of this millimeter wave radar are that it should be deployable on an airborne platform

  6. Detection and localization of multiple short range targets using FMCW radar signal

    KAUST Repository

    Jardak, Seifallah

    2016-07-26

    In this paper, a 24 GHz frequency-modulated continuous wave radar is used to detect and localize both stationary and moving targets. Depending on the application, the implemented software offers different modes of operation. For example, it can simply output raw data samples for advanced offline processing or directly carry out a two dimensional fast Fourier transform to estimate the location and velocity of multiple targets. To suppress clutter and detect only moving targets, two methods based on the background reduction and the slow time processing techniques are implemented. A trade-off between the two methods is presented based on their performance and the required processing time. © 2016 IEEE.

  7. Shaded Relief and Radar Image with Color as Height, Madrid, Spain

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-01-01

    collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C.Size: 172 by 138 kilometers (107 by 86 miles) Location: 40.43 degrees North latitude, 3.70 degrees West longitude Orientation: North toward the top Image Data: shaded and colored SRTM elevation model, with SRTM radar intensity added Original Data Resolution: SRTM 1 arcsecond (about 30 meters or 98 feet) Date Acquired: February 2000

  8. Satellite laser ranging to low Earth orbiters: orbit and network validation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnold, Daniel; Montenbruck, Oliver; Hackel, Stefan; Sośnica, Krzysztof

    2018-04-01

    Satellite laser ranging (SLR) to low Earth orbiters (LEOs) provides optical distance measurements with mm-to-cm-level precision. SLR residuals, i.e., differences between measured and modeled ranges, serve as a common figure of merit for the quality assessment of orbits derived by radiometric tracking techniques. We discuss relevant processing standards for the modeling of SLR observations and highlight the importance of line-of-sight-dependent range corrections for the various types of laser retroreflector arrays. A 1-3 cm consistency of SLR observations and GPS-based precise orbits is demonstrated for a wide range of past and present LEO missions supported by the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS). A parameter estimation approach is presented to investigate systematic orbit errors and it is shown that SLR validation of LEO satellites is not only able to detect radial but also along-track and cross-track offsets. SLR residual statistics clearly depend on the employed precise orbit determination technique (kinematic vs. reduced-dynamic, float vs. fixed ambiguities) but also reveal pronounced differences in the ILRS station performance. Using the residual-based parameter estimation approach, corrections to ILRS station coordinates, range biases, and timing offsets are derived. As a result, root-mean-square residuals of 5-10 mm have been achieved over a 1-year data arc in 2016 using observations from a subset of high-performance stations and ambiguity-fixed orbits of four LEO missions. As a final contribution, we demonstrate that SLR can not only validate single-satellite orbit solutions but also precise baseline solutions of formation flying missions such as GRACE, TanDEM-X, and Swarm.

  9. Ambiguity Of Doppler Centroid In Synthetic-Aperture Radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Chi-Yung; Curlander, John C.

    1991-01-01

    Paper discusses performances of two algorithms for resolution of ambiguity in estimated Doppler centroid frequency of echoes in synthetic-aperture radar. One based on range-cross-correlation technique, other based on multiple-pulse-repetition-frequency technique.

  10. Array-Based Ultrawideband through-Wall Radar: Prediction and Assessment of Real Radar Abilities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nadia Maaref

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper deals with a new through-the-wall (TTW radar demonstrator for the detection and the localisation of people in a room (in a noncooperative way with the radar situated outside but in the vicinity of the first wall. After modelling the propagation through various walls and quantifying the backscattering by the human body, an analysis of the technical considerations which aims at defining the radar design is presented. Finally, an ultrawideband (UWB frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW radar is proposed, designed, and implemented. Some representative trials show that this radar is able to localise and track moving people behind a wall in real time.

  11. Earth-based radar and LRO Diviner constraints on the recent rate of lunar ejecta processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghent, Rebecca R.; Hayne, Paul O.; Bandfield, Joshua L.; Campbell, Bruce A.; Carter, Lynn M.; Allen, Carlton

    2013-04-01

    Many large craters on the lunar nearside show radar circular polarization ratio (CPR) signatures consistent with the presence of blocky ejecta blankets, to distances of 0.5 to 1.5 crater radii. However, most of these surfaces show very low surface rock concentration values and only limited enhancements in regolith temperatures calculated from Diviner nighttime infrared observations. Because the radar signal is integrated over the radar penetration depth (up to several meters), but the Diviner signal is sensitive only to rocks within the upper meter of the surface, this indicates that ejecta blocks on the surface and in the shallow subsurface are quickly removed by continued bombardment. Deeper subsurface rocks, which are clearly evident in radar CPR maps but are covered by a sufficiently thick layer of thermally insulating regolith material to render them invisible to Diviner, persist for much longer. By matching the results of one-dimensional thermal models to Diviner nighttime temperatures, we can constrain the thermophysical properties of the upper 1 meter of regolith. We find that Diviner nighttime cooling curves are best fit by a density profile that varies exponentially with depth, consistent with a mixture of rocks and regolith fines, with increasing rock content with depth. Using this density profile together with the surface rock abundance, we can estimate the excess rock mass represented by rocks on the surface and within the upper meter of regolith for individual craters. We find that for craters of known age younger than ~1.7Ga, a robust correlation exists between ejecta mass and crater age, which yields the first observational estimate of the rate of lunar ejecta processing. Our results show that crater ejecta are initially removed very quickly (perhaps up to ~1cm / m.y.), with the rate slowing over a short period of time to less than 1 mm / m.y., as the number of blocks on the surface decreases and the volume of protective regolith material increases

  12. Effect of ray and speed perturbations on ionospheric tomography by over-the-horizon radar: A new method, useful for SuperDarn radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eisenbeis, J.; Roy, C.; Bland, E. C.; Occhipinti, G.

    2017-12-01

    Most recent methods in ionospheric tomography are based on the inversion of the total electron content measured by ground-based GPS receivers. As a consequence of the high frequency of the GPS signal and the absence of horizontal raypaths, the electron density structure is mainly reconstructed in the F2 region (300 km), where the ionosphere reaches the maximum of ionization, and is not sensitive to the lower ionospheric structure. We propose here a new tomographic method of the lower ionosphere (Roy et al., 2014), based on the full inversion of over-the-horizon (OTH) radar data and applicable to SuperDarn data. The major advantage of our methodology is taking into account, numerically and jointly, the effect that the electron density perturbations induce not only in the speed of electromagnetic waves but also on the raypath geometry. This last point is extremely critical for OTH/SuperDarn data inversions as the emitted signal propagates through the ionosphere between a fixed starting point (the radar) and an unknown end point on the Earth surface where the signal is backscattered. We detail our ionospheric tomography method with the aid of benchmark tests in order to highlight the sensitivity of the radar related to the explored observational parameters: frequencies, elevations, azimuths. Having proved the necessity to take into account both effects simultaneously, we apply our method to real backscattered data from Super Darn and OTH radar. The preliminary solution obtained with the Hokkaido East SuperDARN with only two frequencies (10MHz and 11MHz), showed here, is stable and push us to deeply explore a more complete dataset that we will present at the AGU 2017. This is, in our knowledge, the first time that an ionospheric tomography has been estimated with SuperDarn backscattered data. Reference: Roy, C., G. Occhipinti, L. Boschi, J.-P. Moliné, and M. Wieczorek (2014), Effect of ray and speed perturbations on ionospheric tomography by over-the-horizon radar: A

  13. Multiple hypothesis clustering in radar plot extraction

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Huizing, A.G.; Theil, A.; Dorp, Ph. van; Ligthart, L.P.

    1995-01-01

    False plots and plots with inaccurate range and Doppler estimates may severely degrade the performance of tracking algorithms in radar systems. This paper describes how a multiple hypothesis clustering technique can be applied to mitigate the problems involved in plot extraction. The measures of

  14. Novel radar techniques and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Klemm, Richard; Koch, Wolfgang

    2017-01-01

    Novel Radar Techniques and Applications presents the state-of-the-art in advanced radar, with emphasis on ongoing novel research and development and contributions from an international team of leading radar experts. This volume covers: Waveform diversity and cognitive radar and Target tracking and data fusion.

  15. Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances Observed by Midlatitude SuperDARN Radars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frissell, N. A.; Baker, J. B.; Ruohoniemi, J. M.; West, M. L.; Bristow, W. A.

    2012-12-01

    Medium Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (MSTIDs) are wave-like perturbations of the F-region ionosphere with horizontal wavelengths on the order of 100-250 km and periods between ~15 - 60 min, and are generally thought to be the ionospheric manifestation of Atmospheric Gravity Waves (AGWs). High-latitude MSTIDs have been studied using SuperDARN radars since 1989, and are typically attributed to auroral sources and propagated by the Earth Reflected Wave (ERW) mode. Tropospheric sources and earthquakes are also known to be sources of MSTIDs. Observations of MSTIDs using both mid- and high- latitude SuperDARN radars are presented. North American radar data from November 2010 - November 2011 were searched for signatures of MSTIDs. Initial results suggest that MSTIDs are observed at high latitudes primarily in the fall/winter months, which is consistent with published results. This search also reveals that mid-latitude MSTIDs often appear concurrently with high-latitude MSTIDs and share similar wave parameters. During the fall/winter months, SuperDARN mid-latitude MSTIDs appear more often than high-latitude MSTIDs, likely due to calmer ionospheric conditions at mid-latitudes. In the springtime, SuperDARN-observed MSTIDs are less likely to be seen at high-latitudes, but still appear at mid-latitudes. Selected events are analyzed for wave parameters using the Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) technique.

  16. Derivation of Z-R equation using Mie approach for a 77 GHz radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bertoldo, Silvano; Lucianaz, Claudio; Allegretti, Marco; Perona, Giovanni

    2017-04-01

    The ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) defines the frequency band around 77 GHz as dedicated to automatic cruise control long-range radars. This work aims to demonstrate that, with specific assumption and the right theoretical background it is also possible to use a 77 GHz as a mini weather radar and/or a microwave rain gauge. To study the behavior of a 77 GHz meteorological radar, since the raindrop size are comparable to the wavelength, it is necessary to use the general Mie scattering theory. According to the Mie formulation, the radar reflectivity factor Z is defined as a function of the wavelength on the opposite of Rayleigh approximation in which is frequency independent. Different operative frequencies commonly used in radar meteorology are considered with both the Rayleigh and Mie scattering theory formulation. Comparing them it is shown that with the increasing of the radar working frequency the use of Rayleigh approximation lead to an always larger underestimation of rain. At 77 GHz such underestimation is up to 20 dB which can be avoided with the full Mie theory. The crucial derivation of the most suited relation between the radar reflectivity factor Z and rainfall rate R (Z-R equation) is necessary to achieve the best Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE) possible. Making the use of Mie scattering formulation from the classical electromagnetic theory and considering different radar working frequencies, the backscattering efficiency and the radar reflectivity factor have been derived from a wide range of rain rate using specific numerical routines. Knowing the rain rate and the corresponding reflectivity factor it was possible to derive the coefficients of the Z-R equation for each frequency with the least square method and to obtain the best coefficients for each frequency. The coefficients are then compared with the ones coming from the scientific literature. The coefficients of a 77 GHz weather radar are then obtained. A

  17. A low-cost, high-resolution, video-rate imaging optical radar

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sackos, J.T.; Nellums, R.O.; Lebien, S.M.; Diegert, C.F. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States); Grantham, J.W.; Monson, T. [Air Force Research Lab., Eglin AFB, FL (United States)

    1998-04-01

    Sandia National Laboratories has developed a unique type of portable low-cost range imaging optical radar (laser radar or LADAR). This innovative sensor is comprised of an active floodlight scene illuminator and an image intensified CCD camera receiver. It is a solid-state device (no moving parts) that offers significant size, performance, reliability, and simplicity advantages over other types of 3-D imaging sensors. This unique flash LADAR is based on low cost, commercially available hardware, and is well suited for many government and commercial uses. This paper presents an update of Sandia`s development of the Scannerless Range Imager technology and applications, and discusses the progress that has been made in evolving the sensor into a compact, low, cost, high-resolution, video rate Laser Dynamic Range Imager.

  18. A HWIL test facility of infrared imaging laser radar using direct signal injection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Qian; Lu, Wei; Wang, Chunhui; Wang, Qi

    2005-01-01

    Laser radar has been widely used these years and the hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) testing of laser radar become important because of its low cost and high fidelity compare with On-the-Fly testing and whole digital simulation separately. Scene generation and projection two key technologies of hardware-in-the-loop testing of laser radar and is a complicated problem because the 3D images result from time delay. The scene generation process begins with the definition of the target geometry and reflectivity and range. The real-time 3D scene generation computer is a PC based hardware and the 3D target models were modeled using 3dsMAX. The scene generation software was written in C and OpenGL and is executed to extract the Z-buffer from the bit planes to main memory as range image. These pixels contain each target position x, y, z and its respective intensity and range value. Expensive optical injection technologies of scene projection such as LDP array, VCSEL array, DMD and associated scene generation is ongoing. But the optical scene projection is complicated and always unaffordable. In this paper a cheaper test facility was described that uses direct electronic injection to provide rang images for laser radar testing. The electronic delay and pulse shaping circuits inject the scenes directly into the seeker's signal processing unit.

  19. Vertical Cloud Climatology During TC4 Derived from High-Altitude Aircraft Merged Lidar and Radar Profiles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hlavka, Dennis; Tian, Lin; Hart, William; Li, Lihua; McGill, Matthew; Heymsfield, Gerald

    2009-01-01

    Aircraft lidar works by shooting laser pulses toward the earth and recording the return time and intensity of any of the light returning to the aircraft after scattering off atmospheric particles and/or the Earth s surface. The scattered light signatures can be analyzed to tell the exact location of cloud and aerosol layers and, with the aid of a few optical assumptions, can be analyzed to retrieve estimates of optical properties such as atmospheric transparency. Radar works in a similar fashion except it sends pulses toward earth at a much larger wavelength than lidar. Radar records the return time and intensity of cloud or rain reflection returning to the aircraft. Lidar can measure scatter from optically thin cirrus and aerosol layers whose particles are too small for the radar to detect. Radar can provide reflection profiles through thick cloud layers of larger particles that lidar cannot penetrate. Only after merging the two instrument products can accurate measurements of the locations of all layers in the full atmospheric column be achieved. Accurate knowledge of the vertical distribution of clouds is important information for understanding the Earth/atmosphere radiative balance and for improving weather/climate forecast models. This paper describes one such merged data set developed from the Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling (TC4) experiment based in Costa Rica in July-August 2007 using the nadir viewing Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) and the Cloud Radar System (CRS) on board the NASA ER-2 aircraft. Statistics were developed concerning cloud probability through the atmospheric column and frequency of the number of cloud layers. These statistics were calculated for the full study area, four sub-regions, and over land compared to over ocean across all available flights. The results are valid for the TC4 experiment only, as preferred cloud patterns took priority during mission planning. The TC4 Study Area was a very cloudy region, with cloudy

  20. FLIGHT DEVELOPMENT OF A DISTRIBUTED INERTIAL SATELLITE MICRONAVIGATTION SYSTEM FOR SYNTHETIC - APERTURE RADAR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Vladimirovich Chernodarov

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The current state of the onboard systems is characterized by the integration of aviation and radio-electronic equipment systems for solving problems of navigation and control. These problems include micro-navigation of the anten- na phase center (APC of the radar during the review of the Earth's surface from aboard the aircraft. Increasing of the reso- lution of the radar station (RLS by hardware increasing the antenna size is not always possible due to restrictions on the aircraft onboard equipment weight and dimensions. Therefore the implementation of analytic extension of the radiation pattern by "gluing" the images, obtained by RLS on the aircraft motion trajectory is embodied. The estimations are con- verted into amendments to the signals of RLS with synthetic aperture RSA to compensate instabilities. The purpose of the research is building a theoretical basis and a practical implementation of procedures for evaluating the trajectory APS in- stabilities using a distributed system of inertial-satellite micro-navigation (DSMN taking into account the RSA flight oper- ations actual conditions. The technology of evaluation and compensation of RSA trajectory instabilities via DSMN is con- sidered. The implementation of this technology is based on the mutual support of inertial, satellite and radar systems. Syn- chronization procedures of inertial and satellite measurements in the evaluation of DSMN errors are proposed. The given results of DSMN flight testing justify the possibility and expediency to apply the proposed technology in order to improve the resolution of RSA. The compensation of aircraft trajectory instabilities in RSA signals can be provided by inertial- satellite micro-navigation system, taking into account the actual conditions of the RSA flight operations. The researches show that in order to achieve the required resolution of RSA it seems to be appropriate to define the rational balance be- tween accuracy DSMN characteristics

  1. Compact U-Slotted Antenna for Broadband Radar Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Costanzo

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The original U-shaped patch antenna is properly modified in this work to provide a compact and broadband antenna configuration with reduced cross-polar effects, well suitable for modern radar applications. The proposed antenna layout is applied to design, realize, and test two different prototypes working at P-band and C-band, typically adopted for ground-penetrating radar. The experimental results successfully demonstrate a large operating bandwidth between 15% and 20%, a significant reduction of size (about half of the standard configuration, and a low cross-polarization level within the operating frequency range.

  2. Millimeter-Wave Radar Field Measurements and Inversion of Cloud Parameters for the 1999 Mt. Washington Icing Sensors Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pazmany, Andrew L.; Reehorst, Andrew (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    The Mount Washington Icing Sensors Project (MWISP) was a multi-investigator experiment with participants from Quadrant Engineering, NOAA Environmental Technology Laboratory (NOAA/ETL), the Microwave Remote Sensing Laboratory (MIRSL) of the University of Massachusetts (UMass), and others. Radar systems from UMass and NOAA/ETL were used to measure X-, Ka-, and W-band backscatter data from the base of Mt. Washington, while simultaneous in-situ particle measurements were made from aircraft and from the observatory at the summit. This report presents range and time profiles of liquid water content and particle size parameters derived from range profiles of radar reflectivity as measured at X-, Ka-, and W-band (9.3, 33.1, and 94.9 GHz) using an artificial neural network inversion algorithm. In this report, we provide a brief description of the experiment configuration, radar systems, and a review of the artificial neural network used to extract cloud parameters from the radar data. Time histories of liquid water content (LWC), mean volume diameter (MVD) and mean Z diameter (MZD) are plotted at 300 m range intervals for slant ranges between 1.1 and 4 km. Appendix A provides details on the extraction of radar reflectivity from measured radar power, and Appendix B provides summary logs of the weather conditions for each day in which we processed data.

  3. Radar-eddy current GPR

    OpenAIRE

    A. O. Abramovych

    2014-01-01

    Introduction. At present there are many electrical schematic metal detectors (the most common kind of ground penetrating radar), which are differ in purpose. Each scheme has its own advantages and disadvantages compared to other schemes. Designing metal detector problem of optimal selection of functional units most schemes can only work with a narrow range of special purpose units. Functional units used in circuits can be replaced by better ones, but specialization schemes do not provide such...

  4. A 24GHz Radar Receiver in CMOS

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kwok, K.C.

    2015-01-01

    This thesis investigates the system design and circuit implementation of a 24GHz-band short-range radar receiver in CMOS technology. The propagation and penetration properties of EM wave offer the possibility of non-contact based remote sensing and through-the-wall imaging of distance stationary or

  5. Radar remote sensing in biology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Richard K.; Simonett, David S.

    1967-01-01

    The present status of research on discrimination of natural and cultivated vegetation using radar imaging systems is sketched. The value of multiple polarization radar in improved discrimination of vegetation types over monoscopic radars is also documented. Possible future use of multi-frequency, multi-polarization radar systems for all weather agricultural survey is noted.

  6. Exploring inner structure of Titan's dunes from Cassini Radar observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, P.; Heggy, E.; Farr, T. G.

    2013-12-01

    Linear dunes discovered in the equatorial regions of Titan by the Cassini-Huygens mission are morphologically very similar to many terrestrial linear dune fields. These features have been compared with terrestrial longitudinal dune fields like the ones in Namib desert in western Africa. This comparison is based on the overall parallel orientation of Titan's dunes to the predominant wind direction on Titan, their superposition on other geomorphological features and the way they wrap around topographic obstacles. Studying the internal layering of dunes has strong implications in understanding the hypothesis for their origin and evolution. In Titan's case, although the morphology of the dunes has been studied from Cassini Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images, it has not been possible to investigate their internal structure in detail as of yet. Since no radar sounding data is available for studying Titan's subsurface yet, we have developed another technique to examine the inner layering of the dunes. In this study, we utilize multiple complementary radar datasets, including radar imaging data for Titan's and Earth's dunes and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)/radar sounding data for terrestrial dunes. Based on dielectric mixing models, we suggest that the Cassini Ku-band microwaves should be able to penetrate up to ~ 3 m through Titan's dunes, indicating that the returned radar backscatter signal would include contributions from both surface and shallow subsurface echoes. This implies that the shallow subsurface properties can be retrieved from the observed radar backscatter (σ0). In our analysis, the variation of the radar backscatter as a function of dune height is used to provide an insight into the layering in Titan's dunes. We compare the variation of radar backscatter with elevation over individual dunes on Titan and analogous terrestrial dunes in three sites (Great Sand Sea, Siwa dunes and Qattaniya dunes) in the Egyptian Sahara. We observe a strong, positive

  7. Space radar image of Mauna Loa, Hawaii

    Science.gov (United States)

    1995-01-01

    This image of the Mauna Loa volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii shows the capability of imaging radar to map lava flows and other volcanic structures. Mauna Loa has erupted more than 35 times since the island was first visited by westerners in the early 1800s. The large summit crater, called Mokuaweoweo Caldera, is clearly visible near the center of the image. Leading away from the caldera (towards top right and lower center) are the two main rift zones shown here in orange. Rift zones are areas of weakness within the upper part of the volcano that are often ripped open as new magma (molten rock) approaches the surface at the start of an eruption. The most recent eruption of Mauna Loa was in March and April 1984, when segments of the northeast rift zones were active. If the height of the volcano was measured from its base on the ocean floor instead of from sea level, Mauna Loa would be the tallest mountain on Earth. Its peak (center of the image) rises more than 8 kilometers (5 miles) above the ocean floor. The South Kona District, known for cultivation of macadamia nuts and coffee, can be seen in the lower left as white and blue areas along the coast. North is toward the upper left. The area shown is 41.5 by 75 kilometers (25.7 by 46.5 miles), centered at 19.5 degrees north latitude and 155.6 degrees west longitude. The image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/ X-SAR) aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on its 36th orbit on October 2, 1994. The radar illumination is from the left of the image. The colors in this image were obtained using the following radar channels: red represents the L-band (horizontally transmitted and received); green represents the L-band (horizontally transmitted, vertically received); blue represents the C-band (horizontally transmitted, vertically received). The resulting color combinations in this radar image are caused by differences in surface roughness of the lava flows. Smoother flows

  8. Laser radar range and detection performance for MEMS corner cube retroreflector arrays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grasso, Robert J.; Odhner, Jefferson E.; Stewart, Hamilton; McDaniel, Robert V.

    2004-12-01

    BAE SYSTEMS reports on a program to characterize the performance of MEMS corner cube retroreflector arrays under laser illumination. These arrays have significant military and commercial application in the areas of: 1) target identification; 2) target tracking; 3) target location; 4) identification friend-or-foe (IFF); 5) parcel tracking, and; 6) search and rescue assistance. BAE SYSTEMS has theoretically determined the feasibility of these devices to learn if sufficient signal-to-noise performance exists to permit a cooperative laser radar sensor to be considered for device location and interrogation. Results indicate that modest power-apertures are required to achieve SNR performance consistent with high probability of detection and low false alarm rates.

  9. Radar Weather Observation

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Radar Weather Observation is a set of archived historical manuscripts stored on microfiche. The primary source of these radar weather observations manuscript records...

  10. Effects of target shape and reflection on laser radar cross sections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steinvall, O

    2000-08-20

    Laser radar cross sections have been evaluated for a number of ideal targets such as cones, spheres, paraboloids, and cylinders by use of different reflection characteristics. The time-independent cross section is the ratio of the cross section of one of these forms to that of a plate with the same maximum radius. The time-dependent laser radar cross section involves the impulse response from the object shape multiplied by the beam's transverse profile and the surface bidirectional reflection distribution function. It can be clearly seen that knowledge of the combined effect of object shape and reflection characteristics is important for determining the shape and the magnitude of the laser radar return. The results of this study are of interest for many laser radar applications such as ranging, three-dimensional imaging-modeling, tracking, antisensor lasers, and target recognition.

  11. Compositional Investigation of Binary Near-Earth Asteroid 66063 (1998 RO1): A Potentially Undifferentiated Assemblage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abell, P. A.; Gaffey, M. J.; Landis, R. R.; Jarvis, K. S.

    2005-01-01

    It is now thought that approximately 16% of all asteroids among the near-Earth population may be binary objects. Several independent lines of evidence, such as the presence of doublet craters on the Earth and Moon [1, 2], complex lightcurves of near-Earth objects exhibiting mutual events [3], and radar images of near-Earth asteroids revealing distinct primary and secondary objects, have supported this conclusion [4]. To date at least 23 near-Earth objects have been discovered as binary systems with expectations that many more have yet to be identified or recognized. Little is known about the physical characteristics of binary objects except that they seem to have fairly rapid rotation rates, generally have primaries in the approx. 1 km diameter range with smaller secondaries on the order of a few hundred meters, and apart from a few exceptions, are in synchronous orbits [4, 5]. Previously only two of these binary near-Earth asteroids (1998 ST27 and 2003 YT1) have been characterized in terms of detailed mineralogical investigations [6, 7]. Such investigations are required to fully understand the formation mechanisms of these binary objects and their possible source regions. In addition, detailed knowledge of these objects may play an important role for planning future spacecraft missions and for the development of impact mitigation strategies. The work presented here represents a continued effort to characterize this particular sub-group of the near- Earth asteroid population.

  12. Motion measurement for synthetic aperture radar

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Doerry, Armin W. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2015-01-01

    Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) measures radar soundings from a set of locations typically along the flight path of a radar platform vehicle. Optimal focusing requires precise knowledge of the sounding source locations in 3-D space with respect to the target scene. Even data driven focusing techniques (i.e. autofocus) requires some degree of initial fidelity in the measurements of the motion of the radar. These requirements may be quite stringent especially for fine resolution, long ranges, and low velocities. The principal instrument for measuring motion is typically an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), but these instruments have inherent limi ted precision and accuracy. The question is %22How good does an IMU need to be for a SAR across its performance space?%22 This report analytically relates IMU specifications to parametric requirements for SAR. - 4 - Acknowledgements Th e preparation of this report is the result of a n unfunded research and development activity . Although this report is an independent effort, it draws heavily from limited - release documentation generated under a CRADA with General Atomics - Aeronautical System, Inc. (GA - ASI), and under the Joint DoD/DOE Munitions Program Memorandum of Understanding. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi - program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of En ergy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract AC04-94AL85000.

  13. Deep Interior Mission: Imaging the Interior of Near-Earth Asteroids Using Radio Reflection Tomography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Safaeinili, A.; Asphaug, E.; Belton, M.; Klaasen, K.; Ostro, S.; Plaut, J.; Yeomans, D.

    2004-12-01

    Near-Earth asteroids are important exploration targets since they provide clues to the evolution of the solar system. They are also of interest since they present a clear danger to Earth in the future. Our mission objective is to image the internal structure of two NEOs using radio reflection tomography (RRT), in order to explore the record of asteroid origin and impact evolution, and to test the fundamental hypothesis that these important members of the solar system are rubble piles rather than consolidated bodies. Our mission's RRT technique is analogous to doing a ``CAT scan" of the asteroid from orbit. Closely sampled radar echoes are processed to yield volumetric maps of mechanical and compositional boundaries, and measure interior material dielectric properties. The RRT instrument is a radar that operates at 5 and 15 MHz with two 30-m (tip-to-tip) dipole antennas that are used in a cross-dipole configuration. The radar transmitter and receiver electronics have heritage from JPL's MARSIS contribution to Mars Express, and the antenna is similar to systems used in IMAGE and LACE missions. The 5-MHz channel is designed to penetrate >1 km of basaltic rock, and 15-MHz penetrates a few hundred meters or more. In addition to RRT volumetric imaging, we use a redundant color cameras to explore the surface expressions of unit boundaries, in order to relate interior radar imaging to what is observable from spacecraft imaging and from Earth. The camera also yields stereo color imaging for geology and RRT-related compositional analysis. Gravity and high fidelity geodesy are used to explore how interior structure is expressed in shape, density, mass distribution and spin. Deep interior has two targets (S-type 1999 ND43 and V-type Nyx ) whose composition bracket the diversity of solar system materials that we are likely to encounter, and are richly complementary.

  14. FPGA based hardware optimized implementation of signal processing system for LFM pulsed radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Azim, Noor ul; Jun, Wang

    2016-11-01

    Signal processing is one of the main parts of any radar system. Different signal processing algorithms are used to extract information about different parameters like range, speed, direction etc, of a target in the field of radar communication. This paper presents LFM (Linear Frequency Modulation) pulsed radar signal processing algorithms which are used to improve target detection, range resolution and to estimate the speed of a target. Firstly, these algorithms are simulated in MATLAB to verify the concept and theory. After the conceptual verification in MATLAB, the simulation is converted into implementation on hardware using Xilinx FPGA. Chosen FPGA is Xilinx Virtex-6 (XC6LVX75T). For hardware implementation pipeline optimization is adopted and also other factors are considered for resources optimization in the process of implementation. Focusing algorithms in this work for improving target detection, range resolution and speed estimation are hardware optimized fast convolution processing based pulse compression and pulse Doppler processing.

  15. Synthetic aperture radar imaging simulator for pulse envelope evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balster, Eric J.; Scarpino, Frank A.; Kordik, Andrew M.; Hill, Kerry L.

    2017-10-01

    A simulator for spotlight synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image formation is presented. The simulator produces radar returns from a virtual radar positioned at an arbitrary distance and altitude. The radar returns are produced from a source image, where the return is a weighted summation of linear frequency-modulated (LFM) pulse signals delayed by the distance of each pixel in the image to the radar. The imagery is resampled into polar format to ensure consistent range profiles to the position of the radar. The SAR simulator provides a capability enabling the objective analysis of formed SAR imagery, comparing it to an original source image. This capability allows for analysis of various SAR signal processing techniques previously determined by impulse response function (IPF) analysis. The results suggest that IPF analysis provides results that may not be directly related to formed SAR image quality. Instead, the SAR simulator uses image quality metrics, such as peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structured similarity index (SSIM), for formed SAR image quality analysis. To showcase the capability of the SAR simulator, it is used to investigate the performance of various envelopes applied to LFM pulses. A power-raised cosine window with a power p=0.35 and roll-off factor of β=0.15 is shown to maximize the quality of the formed SAR images by improving PSNR by 0.84 dB and SSIM by 0.06 from images formed utilizing a rectangular pulse, on average.

  16. Radar Rainfall Bias Correction based on Deep Learning Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Yang; Han, Dawei; Rico-Ramirez, Miguel A.

    2017-04-01

    Radar rainfall measurement errors can be considerably attributed to various sources including intricate synoptic regimes. Temperature, humidity and wind are typically acknowledged as critical meteorological factors in inducing the precipitation discrepancies aloft and on the ground. The conventional practices mainly use the radar-gauge or geostatistical techniques by direct weighted interpolation algorithms as bias correction schemes whereas rarely consider the atmospheric effects. This study aims to comprehensively quantify those meteorological elements' impacts on radar-gauge rainfall bias correction based on a deep learning approach. The deep learning approach employs deep convolutional neural networks to automatically extract three-dimensional meteorological features for target recognition based on high range resolution profiles. The complex nonlinear relationships between input and target variables can be implicitly detected by such a scheme, which is validated on the test dataset. The proposed bias correction scheme is expected to be a promising improvement in systematically minimizing the synthesized atmospheric effects on rainfall discrepancies between radar and rain gauges, which can be useful in many meteorological and hydrological applications (e.g., real-time flood forecasting) especially for regions with complex atmospheric conditions.

  17. Combined Radar-Radiometer Surface Soil Moisture and Roughness Estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akbar, Ruzbeh; Cosh, Michael H.; O'Neill, Peggy E.; Entekhabi, Dara; Moghaddam, Mahta

    2017-01-01

    A robust physics-based combined radar-radiometer, or Active-Passive, surface soil moisture and roughness estimation methodology is presented. Soil moisture and roughness retrieval is performed via optimization, i.e., minimization, of a joint objective function which constrains similar resolution radar and radiometer observations simultaneously. A data-driven and noise-dependent regularization term has also been developed to automatically regularize and balance corresponding radar and radiometer contributions to achieve optimal soil moisture retrievals. It is shown that in order to compensate for measurement and observation noise, as well as forward model inaccuracies, in combined radar-radiometer estimation surface roughness can be considered a free parameter. Extensive Monte-Carlo numerical simulations and assessment using field data have been performed to both evaluate the algorithms performance and to demonstrate soil moisture estimation. Unbiased root mean squared errors (RMSE) range from 0.18 to 0.03 cm3cm3 for two different land cover types of corn and soybean. In summary, in the context of soil moisture retrieval, the importance of consistent forward emission and scattering development is discussed and presented.

  18. Surface detection performance evaluation of pseudo-random noise continuous wave laser radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitev, Valentin; Matthey, Renaud; Pereira do Carmo, Joao

    2017-11-01

    A number of space missions (including in the ESA Exploration Programme) foreseen a use of laser radar sensor (or lidar) for determination of range between spacecrafts or between spacecraft and ground surface (altimetry). Such sensors need to be compact, robust and power efficient, at the same time with high detection performance. These requirements can be achieved with a Pseudo-Random Noise continuous wave lidar (PRN cw lidar). Previous studies have pointed to the advantages of this lidar with respect to space missions, but they also identified its limitations in high optical background. The progress of the lasers and the detectors in the near IR spectral range requires a re-evaluation of the PRN cw lidar potential. Here we address the performances of this lidar for surface detection (altimetry) in planetary missions. The evaluation is based on the following system configuration: (i) A cw fiber amplifier as lidar transmitter. The seeding laser exhibits a single-frequency spectral line, with subsequent amplitude modulation. The fiber amplifier allows high output power level, keeping the spectral characteristics and the modulation of the seeding light input. (ii) An avalanche photodiode in photon counting detection; (iii) Measurement scenarios representative for Earth, Mercury and Mars.

  19. Shigaraki UAV-Radar Experiment (ShUREX): overview of the campaign with some preliminary results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kantha, Lakshmi; Lawrence, Dale; Luce, Hubert; Hashiguchi, Hiroyuki; Tsuda, Toshitaka; Wilson, Richard; Mixa, Tyler; Yabuki, Masanori

    2017-12-01

    The Shigaraki unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-Radar Experiment (ShUREX) is an international (USA-Japan-France) observational campaign, whose overarching goal is to demonstrate the utility of small, lightweight, inexpensive, autonomous UAVs in probing and monitoring the lower troposphere and to promote synergistic use of UAVs and very high frequency (VHF) radars. The 2-week campaign lasting from June 1 to June 14, 2015, was carried out at the Middle and Upper Atmosphere (MU) Observatory in Shigaraki, Japan. During the campaign, the DataHawk UAV, developed at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and equipped with high-frequency response cold wire and pitot tube sensors (as well as an iMET radiosonde), was flown near and over the VHF-band MU radar. Measurements in the atmospheric column in the immediate vicinity of the radar were obtained. Simultaneous and continuous operation of the radar in range imaging mode enabled fine-scale structures in the atmosphere to be visualized by the radar. It also permitted the UAV to be commanded to sample interesting structures, guided in near real time by the radar images. This overview provides a description of the ShUREX campaign and some interesting but preliminary results of the very first simultaneous and intensive probing of turbulent structures by UAVs and the MU radar. The campaign demonstrated the validity and utility of the radar range imaging technique in obtaining very high vertical resolution ( 20 m) images of echo power in the atmospheric column, which display evolving fine-scale atmospheric structures in unprecedented detail. The campaign also permitted for the very first time the evaluation of the consistency of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rates in turbulent structures inferred from the spectral broadening of the backscattered radar signal and direct, in situ measurements by the high-frequency response velocity sensor on the UAV. The data also enabled other turbulence parameters such as the temperature

  20. Doppler radar physiological sensing

    CERN Document Server

    Lubecke, Victor M; Droitcour, Amy D; Park, Byung-Kwon; Singh, Aditya

    2016-01-01

    Presents a comprehensive description of the theory and practical implementation of Doppler radar-based physiological monitoring. This book includes an overview of current physiological monitoring techniques and explains the fundamental technology used in remote non-contact monitoring methods. Basic radio wave propagation and radar principles are introduced along with the fundamentals of physiological motion and measurement. Specific design and implementation considerations for physiological monitoring radar systems are then discussed in detail. The authors address current research and commercial development of Doppler radar based physiological monitoring for healthcare and other applications.

  1. Development of Radar Control system for Multi-mode Active Phased Array Radar for atmospheric probing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yasodha, Polisetti; Jayaraman, Achuthan; Thriveni, A.

    2016-07-01

    Modern multi-mode active phased array radars require highly efficient radar control system for hassle free real time radar operation. The requirement comes due to the distributed architecture of the active phased array radar, where each antenna element in the array is connected to a dedicated Transmit-Receive (TR) module. Controlling the TR modules, which are generally few hundreds in number, and functioning them in synchronisation, is a huge task during real time radar operation and should be handled with utmost care. Indian MST Radar, located at NARL, Gadanki, which is established during early 90's, as an outcome of the middle atmospheric program, is a remote sensing instrument for probing the atmosphere. This radar has a semi-active array, consisting of 1024 antenna elements, with limited beam steering, possible only along the principle planes. To overcome the limitations and difficulties, the radar is being augmented into fully active phased array, to accomplish beam agility and multi-mode operations. Each antenna element is excited with a dedicated 1 kW TR module, located in the field and enables to position the radar beam within 20° conical volume. A multi-channel receiver makes the radar to operate in various modes like Doppler Beam Swinging (DBS), Spaced Antenna (SA), Frequency Domain Interferometry (FDI) etc. Present work describes the real-time radar control (RC) system for the above described active phased array radar. The radar control system consists of a Spartan 6 FPGA based Timing and Control Signal Generator (TCSG), and a computer containing the software for controlling all the subsystems of the radar during real-time radar operation and also for calibrating the radar. The main function of the TCSG is to generate the control and timing waveforms required for various subsystems of the radar. Important components of the RC system software are (i) TR module configuring software which does programming, controlling and health parameter monitoring of the

  2. Magnetoseismology ground-based remote sensing of Earth's magnetosphere

    CERN Document Server

    Menk, Frederick W

    2013-01-01

    Written by a researcher at the forefront of the field, this first comprehensive account of magnetoseismology conveys the physics behind these movements and waves, and explains how to detect and investigate them. Along the way, it describes the principles as applied to remote sensing of near-Earth space and related remote sensing techniques, while also comparing and intercalibrating magnetoseismology with other techniques. The example applications include advanced data analysis techniques that may find wider used in areas ranging from geophysics to medical imaging, and remote sensing using radar systems that are of relevance to defense surveillance systems. As a result, the book not only reviews the status quo, but also anticipates new developments. With many figures and illustrations, some in full color, plus additional computational codes for analysis and evaluation. Aimed at graduate readers, the text assumes knowledge of electromagnetism and physical processes at degree level, but introductory chapters wil...

  3. Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) From Space - Laser Altimeters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Xiaoli

    2016-01-01

    Light detection and ranging, or lidar, is like radar but atoptical wavelengths. The principle of operation and theirapplications in remote sensing are similar. Lidars havemany advantages over radars in instrument designs andapplications because of the much shorter laser wavelengthsand narrower beams. The lidar transmitters and receiveroptics are much smaller than radar antenna dishes. Thespatial resolution of lidar measurement is much finer thanthat of radar because of the much smaller footprint size onground. Lidar measurements usually give a better temporalresolution because the laser pulses can be much narrowerthan radio frequency (RF) signals. The major limitation oflidar is the ability to penetrate clouds and ground surfaces.

  4. Radar rainfall estimation of stratiform winter precipitation in the Belgian Ardennes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hazenberg, P.; Leijnse, H.; Uijlenhoet, R.

    2011-02-01

    Radars are known for their ability to obtain a wealth of information about spatial storm field characteristics. Unfortunately, rainfall estimates obtained by this instrument are known to be affected by multiple sources of error. Especially for stratiform precipitation systems, the quality of radar rainfall estimates starts to decrease at relatively close ranges. In the current study, the hydrological potential of weather radar is analyzed during a winter half-year for the hilly region of the Belgian Ardennes. A correction algorithm is proposed which corrects the radar data for errors related to attenuation, ground clutter, anomalous propagation, the vertical profile of reflectivity (VPR), and advection. No final bias correction with respect to rain gauge data was implemented because such an adjustment would not add to a better understanding of the quality of the radar data. The impact of the different corrections is assessed using rainfall information sampled by 42 hourly rain gauges. The largest improvement in the quality of the radar data is obtained by correcting for ground clutter. The impact of VPR correction and advection depends on the spatial variability and velocity of the precipitation system. Overall during the winter period, the radar underestimates the amount of precipitation as compared to the rain gauges. Remaining differences between both instruments can be attributed to spatial and temporal variability in the type of precipitation, which has not been taken into account.

  5. Principles of modern radar radar applications

    CERN Document Server

    Scheer, James A

    2013-01-01

    Principles of Modern Radar: Radar Applications is the third of the three-volume seriesof what was originally designed to be accomplished in one volume. As the final volumeof the set, it finishes the original vision of a complete yet bounded reference for radartechnology. This volume describes fifteen different system applications or class ofapplications in more detail than can be found in Volumes I or II.As different as the applications described, there is a difference in how these topicsare treated by the authors. Whereas in Volumes I and II there is strict adherence tochapter format and leve

  6. Mobile Ground-Based Radar Sensor for Localization and Mapping: An Evaluation of two Approaches

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Damien Vivet

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper is concerned with robotic applications using a ground-based radar sensor for simultaneous localization and mapping problems. In mobile robotics, radar technology is interesting because of its long range and the robustness of radar waves to atmospheric conditions, making these sensors well-suited for extended outdoor robotic applications. Two localization and mapping approaches using data obtained from a 360° field of view microwave radar sensor are presented and compared. The first method is a trajectory-oriented simultaneous localization and mapping technique, which makes no landmark assumptions and avoids the data association problem. The estimation of the ego-motion makes use of the Fourier-Mellin transform for registering radar images in a sequence, from which the rotation and translation of the sensor motion can be estimated. The second approach uses the consequence of using a rotating range sensor in high speed robotics. In such a situation, movement combinations create distortions in the collected data. Velocimetry is achieved here by explicitly analysing these measurement distortions. As a result, the trajectory of the vehicle and then the radar map of outdoor environments can be obtained. The evaluation of experimental results obtained by the two methods is presented on real-world data from a vehicle moving at 30 km/h over a 2.5 km course.

  7. Validation of the CUTLASS HF radar gravity wave observing capability using EISCAT CP-1 data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. F. Arnold

    1998-10-01

    Full Text Available Quasi-periodic fluctuations in the returned ground-scatter power from the SuperDARN HF radars have been linked to the passage of medium-scale gravity waves. We have applied a technique that extracts the first radar range returns from the F-region to study the spatial extent and characteristics of these waves in the CUTLASS field-of-view. Some ray tracing was carried out to test the applicability of this method. The EISCAT radar facility at Tromsø is well within the CUTLASS field-of-view for these waves and provides a unique opportunity to assess independently the ability of the HF radars to derive gravity wave information. Results from 1st March, 1995, where the EISCAT UHF radar was operating in its CP-1 mode, demonstrate that the radars were in good agreement, especially if one selects the electron density variations measured by EISCAT at around 235 km. CUTLASS and EISCAT gravity wave observations complement each other; the former extends the spatial field of view considerably, whilst the latter provides detailed vertical information about a range of ionospheric parameters.Key words. Ionosphere (ionosphere – atmosphere interactions · Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics (thermospheric dynamics · Radio science (ionospheric propagations

  8. Validation of the CUTLASS HF radar gravity wave observing capability using EISCAT CP-1 data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. F. Arnold

    Full Text Available Quasi-periodic fluctuations in the returned ground-scatter power from the SuperDARN HF radars have been linked to the passage of medium-scale gravity waves. We have applied a technique that extracts the first radar range returns from the F-region to study the spatial extent and characteristics of these waves in the CUTLASS field-of-view. Some ray tracing was carried out to test the applicability of this method. The EISCAT radar facility at Tromsø is well within the CUTLASS field-of-view for these waves and provides a unique opportunity to assess independently the ability of the HF radars to derive gravity wave information. Results from 1st March, 1995, where the EISCAT UHF radar was operating in its CP-1 mode, demonstrate that the radars were in good agreement, especially if one selects the electron density variations measured by EISCAT at around 235 km. CUTLASS and EISCAT gravity wave observations complement each other; the former extends the spatial field of view considerably, whilst the latter provides detailed vertical information about a range of ionospheric parameters.

    Key words. Ionosphere (ionosphere – atmosphere interactions · Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics (thermospheric dynamics · Radio science (ionospheric propagations

  9. Navigation errors encountered using weather-mapping radar for helicopter IFR guidance to oil rigs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, J. D.; Bull, J. S.; Hegarty, D. M.; Dugan, D. C.

    1980-01-01

    In 1978 a joint NASA-FAA helicopter flight test was conducted to examine the use of weather-mapping radar for IFR guidance during landing approaches to oil rig helipads. The following navigation errors were measured: total system error, radar-range error, radar-bearing error, and flight technical error. Three problem areas were identified: (1) operational problems leading to pilot blunders, (2) poor navigation to the downwind final approach point, and (3) pure homing on final approach. Analysis of these problem areas suggests improvement in the radar equipment, approach procedure, and pilot training, and gives valuable insight into the development of future navigation aids to serve the off-shore oil industry.

  10. The Klystron Engineering Model Development (KEMD) Task - A New Design for the Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSR)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teitelbaum, L.; Liou, R.; Vodonos, Y.; Velazco, J.; Andrews, K.; Kelley, D.

    2017-08-01

    The Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR) is one of the world's great planetary radar facilities. The heart of the GSSR is its high-power transmitter, which radiates 450 kW from DSS-14, the Deep Space Network's 70-m antenna at Goldstone, by combining the output from two 250-kW klystrons. Klystrons are vacuum tube electron beam devices that are the key amplifying elements of most radio frequency telecommunications and radar transmitter systems. NASA's Science Mission Directorate sponsored the development of a new design for a 250-kW power, 50-MHz bandwidth, reliable klystron, intended to replace the aging operational devices that were developed in the mid-1990s. The design, developed in partnership with Communications & Power Industries, was verified by implementing and testing a first article prototype, the engineering model. Key elements of the design are new beam optics and focusing magnet, a seven-cavity RF body, and a modern collector able to reliably dissipate the full power of the electron beam. The first klystron based on the new VKX-7864C design was delivered to the DSN High-Power Transmitter Test Facility on November 1, 2016, the culmination of a six-year effort initiated to explore higher-resolution imaging of potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids. The new design met or exceeded all requirements, including supporting advanced GSSR ranging modulations. The first article prototype was placed into operational service on July 26, 2017, after failure of one of the older klystrons, restoring the GSSR to full-power operations.

  11. Fpga based L-band pulse doppler radar design and implementation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savci, Kubilay

    As its name implies RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) is an electromagnetic sensor used for detection and locating targets from their return signals. Radar systems propagate electromagnetic energy, from the antenna which is in part intercepted by an object. Objects reradiate a portion of energy which is captured by the radar receiver. The received signal is then processed for information extraction. Radar systems are widely used for surveillance, air security, navigation, weather hazard detection, as well as remote sensing applications. In this work, an FPGA based L-band Pulse Doppler radar prototype, which is used for target detection, localization and velocity calculation has been built and a general-purpose Pulse Doppler radar processor has been developed. This radar is a ground based stationary monopulse radar, which transmits a short pulse with a certain pulse repetition frequency (PRF). Return signals from the target are processed and information about their location and velocity is extracted. Discrete components are used for the transmitter and receiver chain. The hardware solution is based on Xilinx Virtex-6 ML605 FPGA board, responsible for the control of the radar system and the digital signal processing of the received signal, which involves Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) detection and Pulse Doppler processing. The algorithm is implemented in MATLAB/SIMULINK using the Xilinx System Generator for DSP tool. The field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) implementation of the radar system provides the flexibility of changing parameters such as the PRF and pulse length therefore it can be used with different radar configurations as well. A VHDL design has been developed for 1Gbit Ethernet connection to transfer digitized return signal and detection results to PC. An A-Scope software has been developed with C# programming language to display time domain radar signals and detection results on PC. Data are processed both in FPGA chip and on PC. FPGA uses fixed

  12. German Radar Observation Shuttle Experiment (ROSE)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sleber, A. J.; Hartl, P.; Haydn, R.; Hildebrandt, G.; Konecny, G.; Muehlfeld, R.

    1984-01-01

    The success of radar sensors in several different application areas of interest depends on the knowledge of the backscatter of radar waves from the targets of interest, the variance of these interaction mechanisms with respect to changing measurement parameters, and the determination of the influence of he measuring systems on the results. The incidence-angle dependency of the radar cross section of different natural targets is derived. Problems involved by the combination of data gained with different sensors, e.g., MSS-, TM-, SPOTand SAR-images are analyzed. Radar cross-section values gained with ground-based radar spectrometers and spaceborne radar imaging, and non-imaging scatterometers and spaceborne radar images from the same areal target are correlated. The penetration of L-band radar waves into vegetated and nonvegetated surfaces is analyzed.

  13. Long-range interactions of excited He atoms with the alkaline earth atoms Mg, Ca, and Sr

    KAUST Repository

    Zhang, J.-Y.; Babb, J. F.; Mitroy, J.; Sadeghpour, H. R.; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo; Yan, Z.-C.

    2013-01-01

    Dispersion coefficients for the long-range interactions of the first four excited states of He, i.e., He(2 1, 3 S) and He(2 1, 3 P), with the low-lying states of the alkaline earth atoms Mg, Ca, and Sr are calculated by summing over the reduced matrix elements of multipole transition operators.

  14. Long-range interactions of excited He atoms with the alkaline earth atoms Mg, Ca, and Sr

    KAUST Repository

    Zhang, J.-Y.

    2013-04-05

    Dispersion coefficients for the long-range interactions of the first four excited states of He, i.e., He(2 1, 3 S) and He(2 1, 3 P), with the low-lying states of the alkaline earth atoms Mg, Ca, and Sr are calculated by summing over the reduced matrix elements of multipole transition operators.

  15. CAMEX-4 TOGA RADAR V1

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The TOGA radar dataset consists of browse and radar data collected from the TOGA radar during the CAMEX-4 experiment. TOGA is a C-band linear polarized doppler radar...

  16. Radar velocity determination using direction of arrival measurements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Doerry, Armin W.; Bickel, Douglas L.; Naething, Richard M.; Horndt, Volker

    2017-12-19

    The various technologies presented herein relate to utilizing direction of arrival (DOA) data to determine various flight parameters for an aircraft A plurality of radar images (e.g., SAR images) can be analyzed to identify a plurality of pixels in the radar images relating to one or more ground targets. In an embodiment, the plurality of pixels can be selected based upon the pixels exceeding a SNR threshold. The DOA data in conjunction with a measurable Doppler frequency for each pixel can be obtained. Multi-aperture technology enables derivation of an independent measure of DOA to each pixel based on interferometric analysis. This independent measure of DOA enables decoupling of the aircraft velocity from the DOA in a range-Doppler map, thereby enabling determination of a radar velocity. The determined aircraft velocity can be utilized to update an onboard INS, and to keep it aligned, without the need for additional velocity-measuring instrumentation.

  17. Jupiter Trojan's Shallow Subsurface: Direct Observation By Radar Sounding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herique, A.; Plettemeier, D.; Beck, P.; Michel, P.; Kumamoto, A.; Kofman, W. W.

    2017-12-01

    Most of the Jupiter's Trojan are classified as spectral type P or D from visible and near-IR observations. Still, major question remain regarding theire origin and geological evolution: What ices are present in their interior, and in what amount? What is the abundance and the nature of the organic fraction? Did they experience some level of differentiation powered by 26Al? Answering theses question is the goal of the Solar-Power Sail JAXA mission [1, 2]. This mission plans to study the surface by remote sensing in the optical in IR domain. This probe will carry a large-sized lander with a drill to sample the constitutive material at meter depth in order to complement physical and chemical properties measured by on-board instruments. The sample return is an option under study.Radar sounding of the shallow subsurface would be envisaged in complement to this payload. Sounding radar could provide the structure of the first tens of meters of the Trojan surface. It will allow identifying layering, ice lens, and embedded block. It also will enable to reconnect the surface with the deep interior in order to identify exogenous / pristine material. For the surface package, the drilling and the sample return, radar sounding is a unique opportunity to support the selection of the landing site and to provide the greater geological context of the samples that will be returned to Earth.In this paper, we will detail the objective of this instrument and then we will outline the proposed instrument, which is inheriting from the radar developed for the AIDA/AIM mission.[1] Mori, O. et al., Science experiments on a Jupiter Trojan Asteroid in the solar powerd sail mission. LPSC 2016 - 1822.[2] Okada, T. et al., Science and Exploration of a Jupiter Trojan Asteroid in the solar-power sail mission. LPSC 2017 - 1828.

  18. Radar Plan Position Indicator Scope

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Radar Plan Position Indicator Scope is the collection of weather radar imagery for the period prior to the beginning of the Next Generation Radar (NEXRAD) system...

  19. A Doppler Radar System for Sensing Physiological Parameters in Walking and Standing Positions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Malikeh Pour Ebrahim

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Doppler radar can be implemented for sensing physiological parameters wirelessly at a distance. Detecting respiration rate, an important human body parameter, is essential in a range of applications like emergency and military healthcare environments, and Doppler radar records actual chest motion. One challenge in using Doppler radar is being able to monitor several patients simultaneously and in different situations like standing, walking, or lying. This paper presents a complete transmitter-receiver Doppler radar system, which uses a 4 GHz continuous wave radar signal transmission and receiving system, to extract base-band data from a phase-shifted signal. This work reports experimental evaluations of the system for one and two subjects in various standing and walking positions. It provides a detailed signal analysis of various breathing rates of these two subjects simultaneously. These results will be useful in future medical monitoring applications.

  20. A Novel Motion Compensation Method for Random Stepped Frequency Radar with M-sequence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Zhikun; Hu, Jiemin; Lu, Dawei; Zhang, Jun

    2018-01-01

    The random stepped frequency radar is a new kind of synthetic wideband radar. In the research, it has been found that it possesses a thumbtack-like ambiguity function which is considered to be the ideal one. This also means that only a precise motion compensation could result in the correct high resolution range profile. In this paper, we will introduce the random stepped frequency radar coded by M-sequence firstly and briefly analyse the effect of relative motion between target and radar on the distance imaging, which is called defocusing problem. Then, a novel motion compensation method, named complementary code cancellation, will be put forward to solve this problem. Finally, the simulated experiments will demonstrate its validity and the computational analysis will show up its efficiency.

  1. Airborne Radar Observations of Severe Hailstorms: Implications for Future Spaceborne Radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heymsfield, Gerald M.; Tian, Lin; Li, Lihua; McLinden, Matthew; Cervantes, Jaime I.

    2013-01-01

    A new dual-frequency (Ku and Ka band) nadir-pointing Doppler radar on the high-altitude NASA ER-2 aircraft, called the High-Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (HIWRAP), has collected data over severe thunderstorms in Oklahoma and Kansas during the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E). The overarching motivation for this study is to understand the behavior of the dualwavelength airborne radar measurements in a global variety of thunderstorms and how these may relate to future spaceborne-radar measurements. HIWRAP is operated at frequencies that are similar to those of the precipitation radar on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (Ku band) and the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement mission satellite's dual-frequency (Ku and Ka bands) precipitation radar. The aircraft measurements of strong hailstorms have been combined with ground-based polarimetric measurements to obtain a better understanding of the response of the Ku- and Ka-band radar to the vertical distribution of the hydrometeors, including hail. Data from two flight lines on 24 May 2011 are presented. Doppler velocities were approx. 39m/s2at 10.7-km altitude from the first flight line early on 24 May, and the lower value of approx. 25m/s on a second flight line later in the day. Vertical motions estimated using a fall speed estimate for large graupel and hail suggested that the first storm had an updraft that possibly exceeded 60m/s for the more intense part of the storm. This large updraft speed along with reports of 5-cm hail at the surface, reflectivities reaching 70 dBZ at S band in the storm cores, and hail signals from polarimetric data provide a highly challenging situation for spaceborne-radar measurements in intense convective systems. The Ku- and Ka-band reflectivities rarely exceed approx. 47 and approx. 37 dBZ, respectively, in these storms.

  2. High accuracy 3-D laser radar

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Busck, Jens; Heiselberg, Henning

    2004-01-01

    We have developed a mono-static staring 3-D laser radar based on gated viewing with range accuracy below 1 m at 10 m and 1 cm at 100. We use a high sensitivity, fast, intensified CCD camera, and a Nd:Yag passively Q-switched 32.4 kHz pulsed green laser at 532 nm. The CCD has 752x582 pixels. Camera...

  3. Blending of Radial HF Radar Surface Current and Model Using ETKF Scheme For The Sunda Strait

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mujiasih, Subekti; Riyadi, Mochammad; Wandono, Dr; Wayan Suardana, I.; Nyoman Gede Wiryajaya, I.; Nyoman Suarsa, I.; Hartanto, Dwi; Barth, Alexander; Beckers, Jean-Marie

    2017-04-01

    Preliminary study of data blending of surface current for Sunda Strait-Indonesia has been done using the analysis scheme of the Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (ETKF). The method is utilized to combine radial velocity from HF Radar and u and v component of velocity from Global Copernicus - Marine environment monitoring service (CMEMS) model. The initial ensemble is based on the time variability of the CMEMS model result. Data tested are from 2 CODAR Seasonde radar sites in Sunda Strait and 2 dates such as 09 September 2013 and 08 February 2016 at 12.00 UTC. The radial HF Radar data has a hourly temporal resolution, 20-60 km of spatial range, 3 km of range resolution, 5 degree of angular resolution and spatial resolution and 11.5-14 MHz of frequency range. The u and v component of the model velocity represents a daily mean with 1/12 degree spatial resolution. The radial data from one HF radar site is analyzed and the result compared to the equivalent radial velocity from CMEMS for the second HF radar site. Error checking is calculated by root mean squared error (RMSE). Calculation of ensemble analysis and ensemble mean is using Sangoma software package. The tested R which represents observation error covariance matrix, is a diagonal matrix with diagonal elements equal 0.05, 0.5 or 1.0 m2/s2. The initial ensemble members comes from a model simulation spanning a month (September 2013 or February 2016), one year (2013) or 4 years (2013-2016). The spatial distribution of the radial current are analyzed and the RMSE values obtained from independent HF radar station are optimized. It was verified that the analysis reproduces well the structure included in the analyzed HF radar data. More importantly, the analysis was also improved relative to the second independent HF radar site. RMSE of the improved analysis is better than first HF Radar site Analysis. The best result of the blending exercise was obtained for observation error variance equal to 0.05 m2/s2. This study is

  4. Radar Image with Color as Height, Sman Teng, Temple, Cambodia

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-01-01

    This image of Cambodia's Angkor region, taken by NASA's Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR), reveals a temple (upper-right) not depicted on early 19th Century French archeological survey maps and American topographic maps. The temple, known as 'Sman Teng,' was known to the local Khmer people, but had remained unknown to historians due to the remoteness of its location. The temple is thought to date to the 11th Century: the heyday of Angkor. It is an important indicator of the strategic and natural resource contributions of the area northwest of the capitol, to the urban center of Angkor. Sman Teng, the name designating one of the many types of rice enjoyed by the Khmer, was 'discovered' by a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., working in collaboration with an archaeological expert on the Angkor region. Analysis of this remote area was a true collaboration of archaeology and technology. Locating the temple of Sman Teng required the skills of scientists trained to spot the types of topographic anomalies that only radar can reveal.This image, with a pixel spacing of 5 meters (16.4 feet), depicts an area of approximately 5 by 4.7 kilometers (3.1 by 2.9 miles). North is at top. Image brightness is from the P-band (68 centimeters, or 26.8 inches) wavelength radar backscatter, a measure of how much energy the surface reflects back toward the radar. Color is used to represent elevation contours. One cycle of color represents 25 meters (82 feet) of elevation change, so going from blue to red to yellow to green and back to blue again corresponds to 25 meters (82 feet) of elevation change.AIRSAR flies aboard a NASA DC-8 based at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. In the TOPSAR mode, AIRSAR collects radar interferometry data from two spatially separated antennas (2.6 meters, or 8.5 feet). Information from the two antennas is used to form radar backscatter imagery and to generate highly accurate elevation data. Built

  5. Radar rainfall estimation in a hilly environment and implications for runoff modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hazenberg, Pieter; Leijnse, Hidde; Uijlenhoet, Remko

    2010-05-01

    Radars are known for their ability to obtain a wealth of information about the spatial stormfield characteristics. Unfortunately, rainfall estimates obtained by this instrument are known to be affected by multiple sources of error. Especially for stratiform precipitation systems, the quality of radar rainfall estimates starts to decrease at relatively close ranges. In the current study the hydrological potential of weather radar is analyzed during a winter half-year for the hilly region of the Belgian Ardennes. A correction algorithm is proposed taking into account attenuation, ground clutter, anomalous propagation, the vertical profile of reflectivity (VPR) and advection. No final bias correction with respect to rain gauge data were implemented, because that does not add to a better understanding of the quality of the radar. Largest quality improvements in the radar data are obtained by ground clutter removal. The influence of VPR correction and advection depends on the precipitation system observed. Overall, the radar shows an underestimation as compared to the rain gauges, which becomes smaller after averaging at the scale of the medium-sized Ourthe catchment. Remaining differences between both devices can mainly be attributed to an improper choice of the Z-R relationship. Conceptual rainfall-runoff simulations show similar results using either catchment average radar or rain gauge data, although the largest discharge peak observed, is seriously underestimated when applying radar data. Overall, for hydrological applications corrected weather radar information in a hilly environment can be used up to 70 km during a winter half-year.

  6. Combining C- and X-band Weather Radars for Improving Precipitation Estimates over Urban Areas

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jesper Ellerbæk

    of future system state. Accurate and reliable weather radar measurements are, therefore, important for future developments and achievements within urban drainage. This PhD study investigates two types of weather radars. Both systems are in operational use in Denmark today. A network of meteorological C...... individually and owned by local water utility companies. Although the two radar systems use similar working principles, the systems have significant differences regarding technology, temporal resolution, spatial resolution, range and scanning strategy. The focus of the research was to combine the precipitation...

  7. Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave Fm-Cw Radar for Evaluation of Refractory Structures Used in Glass Manufacturing Furnaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carroll, B.; Kharkovsky, S.; Zoughi, R.; Limmer, R.

    2009-03-01

    A frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FM-CW) handheld radar operating in the frequency range of 8-18 GHz, resulting in a relatively fine range resolution was designed and constructed for on-site inspection of refractory structure thickness. This paper presents the design of the radar and the results of measurements conducted on typical refractory furnace structures assembled in the laboratory.

  8. On the Use of a 77 GHz Automotive Radar as a Microwave Rain Gauge

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Bertoldo

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI defines the frequency band of 77 GHz (W-band as the one dedicated to automatic cruise control long-range radars. A car can be thought as a moving integrated weather sensor since it can provide meteorological information exploiting the sensors installed on board. This work presents the preliminary analysis of how a 77 GHz mini radar can be used as a short range microwave rain gauge. After the discussion of the Mie scattering formulation applied to a microwave rain gauge working in the W-band, the proposal of a new Z-R equation to be used for correct rain estimation is given. Atmospheric attenuation and absorption are estimated taking into account the ITU-T recommendations. Functional requirements in adapting automatic cruise control long-range radar to a microwave rain gauge are analyzed. The technical specifications are determined in order to meet the functional requirements.

  9. Translation compensation and micro-Doppler extraction for precession ballistic targets with a wideband terahertz radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Qi; Deng, Bin; Wang, Hongqiang; Zhang, Ye; Qin, Yuliang

    2018-01-01

    Imaging, classification, and recognition techniques of ballistic targets in midcourse have always been the focus of research in the radar field for military applications. However, the high velocity translation of ballistic targets will subject range profile and Doppler to translation, slope, and fold, which are especially severe in the terahertz region. Therefore, a two-step translation compensation method based on envelope alignment is presented. The rough compensation is based on the traditional envelope alignment algorithm in inverse synthetic aperture radar imaging, and the fine compensation is supported by distance fitting. Then, a wideband imaging radar system with a carrier frequency of 0.32 THz is introduced, and an experiment on a precession missile model is carried out. After translation compensation with the method proposed in this paper, the range profile and the micro-Doppler distributions unaffected by translation are obtained, providing an important foundation for the high-resolution imaging and micro-Doppler extraction of the terahertz radar.

  10. Predictability of heavy sub-hourly precipitation amounts for a weather radar based nowcasting system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bech, Joan; Berenguer, Marc

    2015-04-01

    Heavy precipitation events and subsequent flash floods are one of the most dramatic hazards in many regions such as the Mediterranean basin as recently stressed in the HyMeX (HYdrological cycle in the Mediterranean EXperiment) international programme. The focus of this study is to assess the quality of very short range (below 3 hour lead times) precipitation forecasts based on weather radar nowcasting system. Specific nowcasting amounts of 10 and 30 minutes generated with a nowcasting technique (Berenguer et al 2005, 2011) are compared against raingauge observations and also weather radar precipitation estimates observed over Catalonia (NE Spain) using data from the Meteorological Service of Catalonia and the Water Catalan Agency. Results allow to discuss the feasibility of issuing warnings for different precipitation amounts and lead times for a number of case studies, including very intense convective events with 30minute precipitation amounts exceeding 40 mm (Bech et al 2005, 2011). As indicated by a number of verification scores single based radar precipitation nowcasts decrease their skill quickly with increasing lead times and rainfall thresholds. This work has been done in the framework of the Hymex research programme and has been partly funded by the ProFEWS project (CGL2010-15892). References Bech J, N Pineda, T Rigo, M Aran, J Amaro, M Gayà, J Arús, J Montanyà, O van der Velde, 2011: A Mediterranean nocturnal heavy rainfall and tornadic event. Part I: Overview, damage survey and radar analysis. Atmospheric Research 100:621-637 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2010.12.024 Bech J, R Pascual, T Rigo, N Pineda, JM López, J Arús, and M Gayà, 2007: An observational study of the 7 September 2005 Barcelona tornado outbreak. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science 7:129-139 http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/nhess-7-129-2007 Berenguer M, C Corral, R Sa0nchez-Diezma, D Sempere-Torres, 2005: Hydrological validation of a radar based nowcasting technique. Journal of

  11. The use of radar for bathymetry assessment

    OpenAIRE

    Aardoom, J.H.; Greidanus, H.S.F.

    1998-01-01

    The bottom topography in shallow seas can be observed by air- and spaceborne imaging radar. Bathymetric information derived from radar data is limited in accuracy, but radar has a good spatial coverage. The accuracy can be increased by assimilating the radar imagery into existing or insitu gathered bathymetric data. The paper reviews the concepts of bathymetry assessment by radar, the radar imaging mechanism, and the possibilities and limitations of the use of radar data in rapid assessment.

  12. Tsunami Arrival Detection with High Frequency (HF Radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donald Barrick

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Quantitative real-time observations of a tsunami have been limited to deep-water, pressure-sensor observations of changes in the sea surface elevation and observations of sea level fluctuations at the coast, which are essentially point measurements. Constrained by these data, models have been used for predictions and warning of the arrival of a tsunami, but to date no system exists for local detection of an actual incoming wave with a significant warning capability. Networks of coastal high frequency (HF-radars are now routinely observing surface currents in many countries. We report here on an empirical method for the detection of the initial arrival of a tsunami, and demonstrate its use with results from data measured by fourteen HF radar sites in Japan and USA following the magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Sendai, Japan, on 11 March 2011. The distance offshore at which the tsunami can be detected, and hence the warning time provided, depends on the bathymetry: the wider the shallow continental shelf, the greater this time. We compare arrival times at the radars with those measured by neighboring tide gauges. Arrival times measured by the radars preceded those at neighboring tide gauges by an average of 19 min (Japan and 15 min (USA The initial water-height increase due to the tsunami as measured by the tide gauges was moderate, ranging from 0.3 to 2 m. Thus it appears possible to detect even moderate tsunamis using this method. Larger tsunamis could obviously be detected further from the coast. We find that tsunami arrival within the radar coverage area can be announced 8 min (i.e., twice the radar spectral time resolution after its first appearance. This can provide advance warning of the tsunami approach to the coastline locations.

  13. Roadmap for an EArth Defense Initiative (READI)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burke, J. D.; Hussain, A.; Soni, A.; Johnson-Freese, J.; Faull, J.; Schmidt, N.; Wilson, T.; Thangavelu, M.

    2015-12-01

    During the 2015 Space Studies Program of the International Space University, a team of thirty-four participants from seventeen countries carried out a team project on the subject of planetary defense against near-Earth object impacts. The READI Project presents the components of a complete architecture representing practical future strategies and methods for protecting our planet and life as we know it. The findings and recommendations of the project are as follows: for detection and tracking, add infrared instruments in space and radar in Earth's southern hemisphere, as well as dedicated ground telescopes and a program for spectroscopic and other characterization of asteroids and comets; for deflection, develop and space-qualify kinetic and nuclear interceptors, as well as long-range laser ablators; for education and outreach, develop programs aimed at the cohort of children aged 6-15 and their parents; and for evacuation and recovery, provide distributed shelters and increased emergency planning. The project recognizes that the enactment of any deflection strategy would require significant international collaboration; thus, we recommend the formation of a Mitigation Action Group (MAG) in addition to the existing organizations IAWN and SMPAG. The MAG should be chartered to recommend deflection strategies to the UN Security Council in the event of an imminent NEO impact and, upon approval, to lead international deflection action.

  14. On results using automated wideband instrumentation for radar measurements and characterization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Govoni, Mark A.; Dogaru, Traian; Le, Calvin; Sobczak, Kevin

    2017-05-01

    Experiences are shared from a recent radar measurement and characterization effort. A regimented data collection procedure ensures repeatability and provides an expedited alternative to typical narrowband capabilities. Commercially-available instrumentation is repurposed to support wideband data collections spanning a contiguous range of frequencies from 700 MHz to 40 GHz. Utilizing a 4-port network analyzer, both monostatic and quasi-monostatic measurements are achievable. Polarization is varied by way of a custom-designed antenna mount that allows for the mechanical reorientation of the antennas. Computational electromagnetic modeling is briefly introduced and serves in validating the legitimacy of the collection capability. Data products presented will include high-range resolution profiles and inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imagery.

  15. Non-Cooperative Target Imaging and Parameter Estimation with Narrowband Radar Echoes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chun-mao Yeh

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This study focuses on the rotating target imaging and parameter estimation with narrowband radar echoes, which is essential for radar target recognition. First, a two-dimensional (2D imaging model with narrowband echoes is established in this paper, and two images of the target are formed on the velocity-acceleration plane at two neighboring coherent processing intervals (CPIs. Then, the rotating velocity (RV is proposed to be estimated by utilizing the relationship between the positions of the scattering centers among two images. Finally, the target image is rescaled to the range-cross-range plane with the estimated rotational parameter. The validity of the proposed approach is confirmed using numerical simulations.

  16. An optimal beam alignment method for large-scale distributed space surveillance radar system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Jian; Wang, Dongya; Xia, Shuangzhi

    2018-06-01

    Large-scale distributed space surveillance radar is a very important ground-based equipment to maintain a complete catalogue for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space debris. However, due to the thousands of kilometers distance between each sites of the distributed radar system, how to optimally implement the Transmitting/Receiving (T/R) beams alignment in a great space using the narrow beam, which proposed a special and considerable technical challenge in the space surveillance area. According to the common coordinate transformation model and the radar beam space model, we presented a two dimensional projection algorithm for T/R beam using the direction angles, which could visually describe and assess the beam alignment performance. Subsequently, the optimal mathematical models for the orientation angle of the antenna array, the site location and the T/R beam coverage are constructed, and also the beam alignment parameters are precisely solved. At last, we conducted the optimal beam alignment experiments base on the site parameters of Air Force Space Surveillance System (AFSSS). The simulation results demonstrate the correctness and effectiveness of our novel method, which can significantly stimulate the construction for the LEO space debris surveillance equipment.

  17. DYNAMICS OF DUST PARTICLES RELEASED FROM OORT CLOUD COMETS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO RADAR METEORS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nesvorný, David; Vokrouhlický, David; Pokorný, Petr; Janches, Diego

    2011-01-01

    The Oort Cloud Comets (OCCs), exemplified by the Great Comet of 1997 (Hale-Bopp), are occasional visitors from the heatless periphery of the solar system. Previous works hypothesized that a great majority of OCCs must physically disrupt after one or two passages through the inner solar system, where strong thermal gradients can cause phase transitions or volatile pressure buildup. Here we study the fate of small debris particles produced by OCC disruptions to determine whether the imprints of a hypothetical population of OCC meteoroids can be found in the existing meteor radar data. We find that OCC particles with diameters D ∼ 1 mm have a very low Earth-impact probability. The intermediate particle sizes, D ∼ 100 μm, represent a sweet spot. About 1% of these particles orbitally evolve by Poynting-Robertson drag to reach orbits with semimajor axis a ∼ 1 AU. They are expected to produce meteors with radiants near the apex of Earth's orbital motion. We find that the model distributions of their impact speeds and orbits provide a good match to radar observations of apex meteors, except for the eccentricity distribution, which is more skewed toward e ∼ 1 in our model. Finally, we propose an explanation for the long-standing problem in meteor science related to the relative strength of apex and helion/antihelion sources. As we show in detail, the observed trend, with the apex meteors being more prominent in observations of highly sensitive radars, can be related to orbital dynamics of particles released on the long-period orbits.

  18. Steve Ostro and the Near-Earth Asteroid Impact Hazard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapman, Clark R.

    2009-09-01

    The late Steve Ostro, whose scientific interests in Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) primarily related to his planetary radar research in the 1980s, soon became an expert on the impact hazard. He quickly realized that radar provided perspectives on close-approaching NEAs that were both very precise as well as complementary to traditional astrometry, enabling good predictions of future orbits and collision probabilities extending for centuries into the future. He also was among the few astronomers who considered the profound issues raised by this newly recognized hazard and by early suggestions of how to mitigate the hazard. With Carl Sagan, Ostro articulated the "deflection dilemma" and other potential low-probability but real dangers of mitigation technologies that might be more serious than the low-probability impact hazard itself. Yet Ostro maintained a deep interest in developing responsible mitigation technologies, in educating the public about the nature of the impact hazard, and in learning more about the population of threatening bodies, especially using the revealing techniques of delay-doppler radar mapping of NEAs and their satellites.

  19. Noise considerations for vital signs CW radar sensors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Brian Sveistrup; Jensen, Thomas; Zhurbenko, Vitaliy

    2011-01-01

    and the underlying signal theory for such sensors. Then to point out and especially clarify one of the most important effects aiding the design of vital signs radars (VSR), a more detailed discussion concerning phase noise cancellation (or filtering) by range correlation is given. This discussion leads to some...... general conclusions about which system components are the most critical concerning noise contribution and thus detection accuracy and dynamic range....

  20. Development of Radar-Satellite Blended QPF (Quantitative Precipitation Forecast) Technique for heavy rainfall

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Sangmin; Yoon, Sunkwon; Rhee, Jinyoung; Park, Kyungwon

    2016-04-01

    Due to the recent extreme weather and climate change, a frequency and size of localized heavy rainfall increases and it may bring various hazards including sediment-related disasters, flooding and inundation. To prevent and mitigate damage from such disasters, very short range forecasting and nowcasting of precipitation amounts are very important. Weather radar data very useful in monitoring and forecasting because weather radar has high resolution in spatial and temporal. Generally, extrapolation based on the motion vector is the best method of precipitation forecasting using radar rainfall data for a time frame within a few hours from the present. However, there is a need for improvement due to the radar rainfall being less accurate than rain-gauge on surface. To improve the radar rainfall and to take advantage of the COMS (Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite) data, a technique to blend the different data types for very short range forecasting purposes was developed in the present study. The motion vector of precipitation systems are estimated using 1.5km CAPPI (Constant Altitude Plan Position Indicator) reflectivity by pattern matching method, which indicates the systems' direction and speed of movement and blended radar-COMS rain field is used for initial data. Since the original horizontal resolution of COMS is 4 km while that of radar is about 1 km, spatial downscaling technique is used to downscale the COMS data from 4 to 1 km pixels in order to match with the radar data. The accuracies of rainfall forecasting data were verified utilizing AWS (Automatic Weather System) observed data for an extreme rainfall occurred in the southern part of Korean Peninsula on 25 August 2014. The results of this study will be used as input data for an urban stream real-time flood early warning system and a prediction model of landslide. Acknowledgement This research was supported by a grant (13SCIPS04) from Smart Civil Infrastructure Research Program funded by

  1. Drone Detection with Chirp‐Pulse Radar Based on Target Fluctuation Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Byung‐Kwan Kim

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a pulse radar system to detect drones based on a target fluctuation model, specifically the Swerling target model. Because drones are small atypical objects and are mainly composed of non‐conducting materials, their radar cross‐section value is low and fluctuating. Therefore, determining the target fluctuation model and applying a proper integration method are important. The proposed system is herein experimentally verified and the results are discussed. A prototype design of the pulse radar system is based on radar equations. It adopts three different pulse modes and a coherent pulse integration to ensure a high signal‐to‐noise ratio. Outdoor measurements are performed with a prototype radar system to detect Doppler frequencies from both the drone frame and blades. The results indicate that the drone frame and blades are detected within an instrumental maximum range. Additionally, the results show that the drone's frame and blades are close to the Swerling 3 and 4 target models, respectively. By the analysis of the Swerling target models, proper integration methods for detecting drones are verified and can thus contribute to increasing in detectability.

  2. Testing the gravitational interaction in the field of the Earth via satellite laser ranging and the Laser Ranged Satellites Experiment (LARASE)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lucchesi, D M; Peron, R; Visco, M; Anselmo, L; Pardini, C; Bassan, M; Pucacco, G

    2015-01-01

    In this work, the Laser Ranged Satellites Experiment (LARASE) is presented. This is a research program that aims to perform new refined tests and measurements of gravitation in the field of the Earth in the weak field and slow motion (WFSM) limit of general relativity (GR). For this objective we use the free available data relative to geodetic passive satellite lasers tracked from a network of ground stations by means of the satellite laser ranging (SLR) technique. After a brief introduction to GR and its WFSM limit, which aims to contextualize the physical background of the tests and measurements that LARASE will carry out, we focus on the current limits of validation of GR and on current constraints on the alternative theories of gravity that have been obtained with the precise SLR measurements of the two LAGEOS satellites performed so far. Afterward, we present the scientific goals of LARASE in terms of upcoming measurements and tests of relativistic physics. Finally, we introduce our activities and we give a number of new results regarding the improvements to the modelling of both gravitational and non-gravitational perturbations to the orbit of the satellites. These activities are a needed prerequisite to improve the forthcoming new measurements of gravitation. An innovation with respect to the past is the specialization of the models to the LARES satellite, especially for what concerns the modelling of its spin evolution, the neutral drag perturbation and the impact of Earth's solid tides on the satellite orbit. (paper)

  3. A Compact, Versatile Six-Port Radar Module for Industrial and Medical Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah Linz

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The Six-port receiver has been intensively investigated in the last decade to be implemented as an alternative radar architecture. Plenty of current scientific publications demonstrate the effectiveness and versatility of the Six-port radar for special industrial, automotive, and medical applications, ranging from accurate contactless vibration analysis, through automotive radar calibration, to remote breath and heartbeat monitoring. Its highlights, such as excellent phase discrimination, trivial signal processing, low circuit complexity, and cost, have lately drawn the attention of companies working with radar technology. A joint project involving the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and InnoSenT GmbH (Innovative Sensor Technology led to the development of a highly accurate, compact, and versatile Six-port radar module aiming at a reliable high-integration of all subcomponents such as antenna, Six-port front-end, baseband circuitry, and digital signal processing in one single package. Innovative aspects in the RF front-end design as well as in the integration strategy are hereby presented, together with a system overview and measurement results.

  4. An approach to combine radar and gauge based rainfall data under consideration of their qualities in low mountain ranges of Saxony

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Jatho

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available An approach to combine gauge and radar data and additional quality information is presented. The development was focused on the improvement of the diagnostic for temporal (one hour and spatial (1×1 km2 highly resolved precipitation data. The method is embedded in an online tool and was applied to the target area Saxony, Germany. The aim of the tool is to provide accurate spatial rainfall estimates. The results can be used for rainfall run-off modelling, e.g. in a flood management system.

    Quality information allows a better assessment of the input data and the resulting precipitation field. They are stored in corresponding fields and represent the static and dynamic uncertainties of radar and gauge data. Objective combination of various precipitation and quality fields is realised using a cost function.

    The findings of cross validation reveal that the proposed combination method merged the benefits and disadvantages of interpolated gauge and radar data and leads to mean estimates. The sampling point validation implies that the presented method slightly overestimated the areal rain as well as the high rain intensities in case of convective and advective events, while the results of pure interpolation method performed better. In general, the use of presented cost function avoids false rainfall amount in areas of low input data quality and improves the reliability in areas of high data quality. It is obvious that the combined product includes the small-scale variability of radar, which is seen as the important benefit of the presented combination approach. Local improvements of the final rain field are possible due to consideration of gauges that were not used for radar calibration, e.g. in topographic distinct regions.

  5. Air and spaceborne radar systems an introduction

    CERN Document Server

    Lacomme, Philippe; Hardange, Jean-Philippe; Normant, Eric

    2001-01-01

    A practical tool on radar systems that will be of major help to technicians, student engineers and engineers working in industry and in radar research and development. The many users of radar as well as systems engineers and designers will also find it highly useful. Also of interest to pilots and flight engineers and military command personnel and military contractors. """"This introduction to the field of radar is intended for actual users of radar. It focuses on the history, main principles, functions, modes, properties and specific nature of modern airborne radar. The book examines radar's

  6. Earth Observation Research for GMES Initial Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Beijma, Sybrand; Balzter, Heiko; Nicolas-Perea, Virginia

    2013-04-01

    GMES Initial Operations - Network for Earth Observation Research Training (GIONET) is a Marie Curie funded project that aims to establish the first of a kind European Centre of Excellence for Earth Observation Research Training. GIONET is a partnership of leading Universities, research institutes and private companies from across Europe aiming to cultivate a community of early stage researchers in the areas of optical and radar remote sensing skilled for the emerging GMES land monitoring services during the GMES Initial Operations period (2011-2013) and beyond. GIONET is expected to satisfy the demand for highly skilled researchers and provide personnel for operational phase of the GMES and monitoring and emergency services. It will achieve this by: * Providing postgraduate training in Earth Observation Science that exposes students to different research disciplines and complementary skills, providing work experiences in the private and academic sectors, and leading to a recognized qualification (Doctorate). * Enabling access to first class training in both fundamental and applied research skills to early-stage researchers at world-class academic centres and market leaders in the private sector. * Building on the experience from previous GMES research and development projects in the land monitoring and emergency information services. * Developing a collaborative training network, through the placement of researchers for short periods in other GIONET organizations. Reliable, thorough and up-to-date environmental information is essential for understanding climate change the impacts it has on people's lives and ways to adapt to them. The GIONET researchers are being trained to understand the complex physical processes that determine how electromagnetic radiation interacts with the atmosphere and the land surface ultimately form the signal received by a satellite. In order to achieve this, the researchers have been placed in industry and universities across Europe, as

  7. Human walking estimation with radar

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dorp, Ph. van; Groen, F.C.A.

    2003-01-01

    Radar can be used to observe humans that are obscured by objects such as walls. These humans cannot be visually observed. The radar measurements are used to animate an obscured human in virtual reality. This requires detailed information about the motion. The radar measurements give detailed

  8. Radar meteor rates and solar activity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prikryl, P.

    1983-01-01

    The short-term variation of diurnal radar meteor rates with solar activity represented by solar microwave flux Fsub(10.7), and sunspots relative number Rsub(z), is investigated. Applying the superposed-epoch analysis to the observational material of radar meteor rates from Christchurch (1960-61 and 1963-65), a decrease in the recorded radar rates is found during days of enhanced solar activity. No effect of geomagnetic activity similar to the one reported for the Swedish and Canadian radar meteor data was found by the author in the Christchurch data. A possible explanation of the absence of the geomagnetic effect on radar meteor rates from New Zealand due to a lower echo ceiling height of the Christchurch radar is suggested. The variation of the atmospheric parameters as a possible cause of the observed variation in radar meteor rates is also discussed. (author)

  9. Decadal variation in Earth's oblateness (J2) from satellite laser ranging data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Minkang; Ries, John C.

    2018-02-01

    For four decades, satellite laser ranging has recorded the global nature of the long-wavelength hydrological mass redistribution within the Earth system, which results in significant variations in the Earth's dynamical oblateness, characterized by the second degree zonal geopotential spherical harmonic J2 (or C20). Analysis of the J2 time-series has shown a significant variation related to the strong El Niño-Southern Oscillation events with periods of 2-6 yr. In particular, the variation related to the powerful 2015-2016 El Niño that peaked during 2015 November-December was one of the strongest on record, comparable with the 1982-1983 and 1997-1998 events. In this study, we investigate further the hydrological mass transfer between atmosphere-ocean-land and their signature in the decadal variations of J2 with timescales of ˜10 yr. We found that the ˜6.4-yr variations can be accounted for by the atmosphere and ocean mass variations based on the improved Atmosphere-Ocean De-aliasing data, and the observed decadal variation in J2 correlates well with the decadal tropical variability characterized by the 5-yr running mean of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation Index, although existing physical models, especially the land water storage, are limited for the purpose of further studies of the excitation.

  10. Radar cross section

    CERN Document Server

    Knott, Gene; Tuley, Michael

    2004-01-01

    This is the second edition of the first and foremost book on this subject for self-study, training, and course work. Radar cross section (RCS) is a comparison of two radar signal strengths. One is the strength of the radar beam sweeping over a target, the other is the strength of the reflected echo sensed by the receiver. This book shows how the RCS ?gauge? can be predicted for theoretical objects and how it can be measured for real targets. Predicting RCS is not easy, even for simple objects like spheres or cylinders, but this book explains the two ?exact? forms of theory so well that even a

  11. Three-Dimensional Target Localization and Cramér-Rao Bound for Two-Dimensional OFDM-MIMO Radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xingxing Li

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Target localization using a frequency diversity multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO system is one of the hottest research directions in the radar society. In this paper, three-dimensional (3D target localization is considered for two-dimensional MIMO radar with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing linear frequency modulated (OFDM-LFM waveforms. To realize joint estimation for range and angle in azimuth and elevation, the range-angle-dependent beam pattern with high range resolution is produced by the OFDM-LFM waveform. Then, the 3D target localization proposal is presented and the corresponding closed-form expressions of Cramér-Rao bound (CRB are derived. Furthermore, for mitigating the coupling of angle and range and further improving the estimation precision, a CRB optimization method is proposed. Different from the existing methods of FDA-based radar, the proposed method can provide higher range estimation because of multiple transmitted frequency bands. Numerical simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach and its improved performance of target localization.

  12. Storm Identification, Tracking and Forecasting Using High-Resolution Images of Short-Range X-Band Radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sajid Shah

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Rain nowcasting is an essential part of weather monitoring. It plays a vital role in human life, ranging from advanced warning systems to scheduling open air events and tourism. A nowcasting system can be divided into three fundamental steps, i.e., storm identification, tracking and nowcasting. The main contribution of this work is to propose procedures for each step of the rain nowcasting tool and to objectively evaluate the performances of every step, focusing on two-dimension data collected from short-range X-band radars installed in different parts of Italy. This work presents the solution of previously unsolved problems in storm identification: first, the selection of suitable thresholds for storm identification; second, the isolation of false merger (loosely-connected storms; and third, the identification of a high reflectivity sub-storm within a large storm. The storm tracking step of the existing tools, such as TITANand SCIT, use only up to two storm attributes, i.e., center of mass and area. It is possible to use more attributes for tracking. Furthermore, the contribution of each attribute in storm tracking is yet to be investigated. This paper presents a novel procedure called SALdEdA (structure, amplitude, location, eccentricity difference and areal difference for storm tracking. This work also presents the contribution of each component of SALdEdA in storm tracking. The second order exponential smoothing strategy is used for storm nowcasting, where the growth and decay of each variable of interest is considered to be linear. We evaluated the major steps of our method. The adopted techniques for automatic threshold calculation are assessed with a 97% goodness. False merger and sub-storms within a cluster of storms are successfully handled. Furthermore, the storm tracking procedure produced good results with an accuracy of 99.34% for convective events and 100% for stratiform events.

  13. Attention-Based Recurrent Temporal Restricted Boltzmann Machine for Radar High Resolution Range Profile Sequence Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yifan Zhang

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The High Resolution Range Profile (HRRP recognition has attracted great concern in the field of Radar Automatic Target Recognition (RATR. However, traditional HRRP recognition methods failed to model high dimensional sequential data efficiently and have a poor anti-noise ability. To deal with these problems, a novel stochastic neural network model named Attention-based Recurrent Temporal Restricted Boltzmann Machine (ARTRBM is proposed in this paper. RTRBM is utilized to extract discriminative features and the attention mechanism is adopted to select major features. RTRBM is efficient to model high dimensional HRRP sequences because it can extract the information of temporal and spatial correlation between adjacent HRRPs. The attention mechanism is used in sequential data recognition tasks including machine translation and relation classification, which makes the model pay more attention to the major features of recognition. Therefore, the combination of RTRBM and the attention mechanism makes our model effective for extracting more internal related features and choose the important parts of the extracted features. Additionally, the model performs well with the noise corrupted HRRP data. Experimental results on the Moving and Stationary Target Acquisition and Recognition (MSTAR dataset show that our proposed model outperforms other traditional methods, which indicates that ARTRBM extracts, selects, and utilizes the correlation information between adjacent HRRPs effectively and is suitable for high dimensional data or noise corrupted data.

  14. 46 CFR 184.404 - Radars.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... within one mile of land must be fitted with a FCC Type Accepted general marine radar system for surface... Federal Communications Commission (FCC) type accepted general marine radar system for surface navigation... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Radars. 184.404 Section 184.404 Shipping COAST GUARD...

  15. Determination of meteoroid physical properties from tristatic radar observations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Kero

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available In this work we give a review of the meteor head echo observations carried out with the tristatic 930 MHz EISCAT UHF radar system during four 24 h runs between 2002 and 2005 and compare these with earlier observations. A total number of 410 tristatic meteors were observed. We describe a method to determine the position of a compact radar target in the common volume monitored by the three receivers and demonstrate its applicability for meteor studies. The inferred positions of the meteor targets have been utilized to estimate their velocities, decelerations and directions of arrival as well as their radar cross sections with unprecedented accuracy. The velocity distribution of the meteoroids is bimodal with peaks at 35–40 km/s and 55–60 km/s, and ranges from 19–70 km/s. The estimated masses are between 10−9–10−5.5 kg. There are very few detections below 30 km/s. The observations are clearly biased to high-velocity meteoroids, but not so biased against slow meteoroids as has been presumed from previous tristatic measurements. Finally, we discuss how the radial deceleration observed with a monostatic radar depends on the meteoroid velocity and the angle between the trajectory and the beam. The finite beamwidth leads to underestimated meteoroid masses if radial velocity and deceleration of meteoroids approaching the radar are used as estimates of the true quantities in a momentum equation of motion.

  16. Detecting Interplanetary Dust Particles with Radars to Study the Dynamics at the Edge of the Space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janches, Diego

    2015-01-01

    The Earth's mesosphere is the region of the atmosphere between approximately 60-120 km altitude, where the transition from hydrodynamic flow to molecular diffusion occurs. It is highly dynamic region where turbulence by wave braking is produced and energy is deposited from sources from both, below and above this altitude range. Because aircraft and nearly all balloons reach altitudes below approximately 50 km and orbital spacecrafts are well above approximately 400 km, the mesosphere has only been accessed through the use of sounding rockets or remote sensing techniques, and as a result, it is the most poorly understood part of the atmosphere. In addition, millions of Interplanetary Dust Particles (IDPs) enter the atmosphere. Within the mesosphere most of these IDPs melt or vaporize as a result of collisions with the air particles producing meteors that can be detected with radars. This provides a mean to study the dynamics of this region. In this lecture the basic principles of the utilization of meteor radars to study the dynamics of the mesosphere will be presented. A system overview of these systems will be provided as well as discuss the advantages/disadvantages of these systems, provide details of the data processing methodology and give a brief overview of the current status of the field as well as the vision for the next decade.

  17. Compressive laser ranging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babbitt, Wm Randall; Barber, Zeb W; Renner, Christoffer

    2011-12-15

    Compressive sampling has been previously proposed as a technique for sampling radar returns and determining sparse range profiles with a reduced number of measurements compared to conventional techniques. By employing modulation on both transmission and reception, compressive sensing in ranging is extended to the direct measurement of range profiles without intermediate measurement of the return waveform. This compressive ranging approach enables the use of pseudorandom binary transmit waveforms and return modulation, along with low-bandwidth optical detectors to yield high-resolution ranging information. A proof-of-concept experiment is presented. With currently available compact, off-the-shelf electronics and photonics, such as high data rate binary pattern generators and high-bandwidth digital optical modulators, compressive laser ranging can readily achieve subcentimeter resolution in a compact, lightweight package.

  18. COMPARAÇÃO ENTRE DADOS ALTIMÉTRICOS SHUTTLE RADAR TOPOGRAPHY MISSION , CARTAS TOPOGRÁFICAS E GPS: NUMA ÁREA COM RELEVO ESCARPADO

    OpenAIRE

    Eduardo da Silva Pinheiro

    2006-01-01

    Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) flown with Space Shuttle Endeavour, which was launched on 11 February 2000 , aimed to obtain the Earth digital elevation data (DEM). These data were acquired using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) in C (5.6cm – 5.3GHz) and X (3.1cm – 9.6GHz) bands. This paper presents a comparative analysis of elevation data from SRTM and Topographic map (1:50.000) with Differential - GPS field data. The study was conducted in Planalto das Araucárias ar...

  19. Sensor management in RADAR/IRST track fusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Shi-qiang; Jing, Zhong-liang

    2004-07-01

    In this paper, a novel radar management strategy technique suitable for RADAR/IRST track fusion, which is based on Fisher Information Matrix (FIM) and fuzzy stochastic decision approach, is put forward. Firstly, optimal radar measurements' scheduling is obtained by the method of maximizing determinant of the Fisher information matrix of radar and IRST measurements, which is managed by the expert system. Then, suggested a "pseudo sensor" to predict the possible target position using the polynomial method based on the radar and IRST measurements, using "pseudo sensor" model to estimate the target position even if the radar is turned off. At last, based on the tracking performance and the state of target maneuver, fuzzy stochastic decision is used to adjust the optimal radar scheduling and retrieve the module parameter of "pseudo sensor". The experiment result indicates that the algorithm can not only limit Radar activity effectively but also keep the tracking accuracy of active/passive system well. And this algorithm eliminates the drawback of traditional Radar management methods that the Radar activity is fixed and not easy to control and protect.

  20. DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION USING EARTH OBSERVATION TECHNIQUE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. Ito

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available In the present study, we introduce to secondary education an Earth observation technique using synthetic aperture radar (SAR. The goal is to increase interest in and raise the awareness of students in the Earth observation technique through practical activities. A curriculum is developed based on the result of questionnaire surveys of school teachers. The curriculum is composed of 16 units. Teaching materials related to the Earth observation technique are researched and developed. We designed a visual SAR processor and a small corner reflector (CR as a new teaching technique. In teaching sessions at secondary school, the developed teaching materials and software were used effectively. In observation experiments, students set up CRs that they had built, and ALOS PALSAR was able to clearly observe all of the CRs. The proposed curriculum helped all of the students to understand the usefulness of the Earth observation technique.

  1. I. The effect of volcanic aerosols on ultraviolet radiation in Antarctica. II. A novel method for enhancing subsurface radar imaging using radar interferometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsitas, Steven Ronald

    The theory of radiative transfer is used to explain how a stratospheric aerosol layer may, for large solar zenith angles, increase the flux of UV-B light at the ground. As previous explanations are heuristic and incomplete, I first provide a rigorous and complete explanation of how this occurs. I show that an aerosol layer lying above Antarctica during spring will decrease the integrated daily dose of biologically weighted irradiance, weighted by the erythema action spectrum, by only up to 5%. Thus after a volcanic eruption, life in Antarctica during spring will suffer the combined effects of the spring ozone hole and ozone destruction induced by volcanic aerosols, with the latter effect only slightly offset by aerosol scattering. I extend subsurface radar imaging by considering the additional information that may be derived from radar interferometry. I show that, under the conditions that temporal and spatial decorrelation between observations is small so that the effects of these decorrelations do not swamp the signature expected from a subsurface layer, the depth of burial of the lower surface may be derived. Also, the echoes from the lower and upper surfaces may be separated. The method is tested with images acquired by SIR-C of the area on the Egypt/Sudan border where buried river channels were first observed by SIR-A. Temporal decorrelation between the images, due to some combination of physical changes in the scene, changes in the spacecraft attitude and errors in the processing by NASA of the raw radar echoes into the synthetic aperture radar images, swamps the expected signature for a layer up to 40 meters thick. I propose a test to determine whether or not simultaneous observations are required, and then detail the radar system requirements for successful application of the method for both possible outcomes of the test. I also describe in detail the possible applications of the method. These include measuring the depth of burial of ice in the polar

  2. ISTEF Laser Radar Program

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Stryjewski, John

    1998-01-01

    The BMDO Innovative Science and Technology Experimentation Facility (BMDO/ISTEF) laser radar program is engaged in an ongoing program to develop and demonstrate advanced laser radar concepts for Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD...

  3. The design of infrared laser radar for vehicle initiative safety

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gong, Ping; Xu, Xi-ping; Li, Xiao-yu; Li, Tian-zhi; Liu, Yu-long; Wu, Jia-hui

    2013-09-01

    Laser radar for vehicle is mainly used in advanced vehicle on-board active safety systems, such as forward anti-collision systems, active collision warning systems and adaptive cruise control systems, etc. Laser radar for vehicle plays an important role in the improvement of vehicle active safety and the reduction of traffic accidents. The stability of vehicle active anti-collision system in dynamic environment is still one of the most difficult problems to break through nowadays. According to people's driving habit and the existed detecting technique of sensor, combining the infrared laser range and galvanometer scanning technique , design a 3-D infrared laser radar which can be used to assist navigation, obstacle avoidance and the vehicle's speed control for the vehicle initiative safety. The device is fixed to the head of vehicle. Then if an accident happened, the device could give an alarm to remind the driver timely to decelerate or brake down, by which way can people get the purpose of preventing the collision accidents effectively. To accomplish the design, first of all, select the core components. Then apply Zemax to design the transmitting and receiving optical system. Adopt 1550 nm infrared laser transmitter as emission unit in the device, a galvanometer scanning as laser scanning unit and an InGaAs-APD detector as laser echo signal receiving unit. Perform the construction of experimental system using FPGA and ARM as the core controller. The system designed in this paper can not only detect obstacle in front of the vehicle and make the control subsystem to execute command, but also transfer laser data to PC in real time. Lots of experiments using the infrared laser radar prototype are made, and main performance of it is under tested. The results of these experiments show that the imaging speed of the laser radar can reach up to 25 frames per second, the frame resolution of each image can reach 30×30 pixels, the horizontal angle resolution is about 6. 98

  4. Design and Manufacture of a Low-Profile Radar Retro-Reflector

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Bird, Dudley

    2005-01-01

    .... Radar retro-reflectors are often passive, but active elements can be included to enhance the backscattered signal, or to modify it in some way, such as by the introduction of modulation or simulation of range profiles...

  5. Radar Cross Section measurements on the stealth metamaterial objects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Iwaszczuk, Krzysztof; Fan, Kim; Strikwerda, Andrew C.

    have been realized in the form of thin, flexible metallized films of polyimide [1]. Here we apply a near-unity absorbing MM as a way to reduce the radar cross section of an object, and consider the real-life situation where the probe beam is significantly larger than the MM film and the object under...... investigation. We use a terahertz radar cross section (RCS) setup [2] for the characterization of the RCS of a real object covered with an absorbing MM film designed for high absorption in the THz frequency range, specifically at 0.8 THz. The results are in a form of 2D maps (sinograms), from which the RCS...

  6. Use of radars to monitor stream discharge by noncontact methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, J.E.; Cheng, R.T.; Haeni, F.P.; Melcher, N.; Spicer, K.R.; Hayes, E.; Plant, W.; Hayes, K.; Teague, C.; Barrick, D.

    2006-01-01

    . Time series of surface velocity obtained by different radars in the Cowlitz River experiment also show small‐amplitude pulsations not found in stage records that reflect tidal energy at the gauging station. Noncontact discharge measurements made during a flood on 30 January 2004 agreed with the rated discharge to within 5%. Measurement at both field sites confirm that lognormal velocity profiles exist for a wide range of flows in these rivers, and mean velocity is approximately 0.85 times measured surface velocity. Noncontact methods of flow measurement appear to (1) be as accurate as conventional methods, (2) obtain data when standard contact methods are dangerous or cannot be obtained, and (3) provide insight into flow dynamics not available from detailed stage records alone.

  7. Forest Biomass Mapping From Lidar and Radar Synergies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Guoqing; Ranson, K. Jon; Guo, Z.; Zhang, Z.; Montesano, P.; Kimes, D.

    2011-01-01

    The use of lidar and radar instruments to measure forest structure attributes such as height and biomass at global scales is being considered for a future Earth Observation satellite mission, DESDynI (Deformation, Ecosystem Structure, and Dynamics of Ice). Large footprint lidar makes a direct measurement of the heights of scatterers in the illuminated footprint and can yield accurate information about the vertical profile of the canopy within lidar footprint samples. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is known to sense the canopy volume, especially at longer wavelengths and provides image data. Methods for biomass mapping by a combination of lidar sampling and radar mapping need to be developed. In this study, several issues in this respect were investigated using aircraft borne lidar and SAR data in Howland, Maine, USA. The stepwise regression selected the height indices rh50 and rh75 of the Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor (LVIS) data for predicting field measured biomass with a R(exp 2) of 0.71 and RMSE of 31.33 Mg/ha. The above-ground biomass map generated from this regression model was considered to represent the true biomass of the area and used as a reference map since no better biomass map exists for the area. Random samples were taken from the biomass map and the correlation between the sampled biomass and co-located SAR signature was studied. The best models were used to extend the biomass from lidar samples into all forested areas in the study area, which mimics a procedure that could be used for the future DESDYnI Mission. It was found that depending on the data types used (quad-pol or dual-pol) the SAR data can predict the lidar biomass samples with R2 of 0.63-0.71, RMSE of 32.0-28.2 Mg/ha up to biomass levels of 200-250 Mg/ha. The mean biomass of the study area calculated from the biomass maps generated by lidar- SAR synergy 63 was within 10% of the reference biomass map derived from LVIS data. The results from this study are preliminary, but do show the

  8. Radar and electronic navigation

    CERN Document Server

    Sonnenberg, G J

    2013-01-01

    Radar and Electronic Navigation, Sixth Edition discusses radar in marine navigation, underwater navigational aids, direction finding, the Decca navigator system, and the Omega system. The book also describes the Loran system for position fixing, the navy navigation satellite system, and the global positioning system (GPS). It reviews the principles, operation, presentations, specifications, and uses of radar. It also describes GPS, a real time position-fixing system in three dimensions (longitude, latitude, altitude), plus velocity information with Universal Time Coordinated (UTC). It is accur

  9. Temperature sheets and aspect sensitive radar echoes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Luce

    Full Text Available here have been years of discussion and controversy about the existence of very thin and stable temperature sheets and their relationship to the VHF radar aspect sensitivity. It is only recently that very high-resolution in situ temperature observations have brought credence to the reality and ubiquity of these structures in the free atmosphere and to their contribution to radar echo enhancements along the vertical. Indeed, measurements with very high-resolution sensors are still extremely rare and rather difficult to obtain outside of the planetary boundary layer. They have only been carried out up to the lower stratosphere by Service d’A´ eronomie (CNRS, France for about 10 years. The controversy also persisted due to the volume resolution of the (Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere VHF radars which is coarse with respect to sheet thickness, although widely sufficient for meteorological or mesoscale investigations. The contribution within the range gate of many of these structures, which are advected by the wind, and decay and grow at different instants and could be distorted either by internal gravity waves or turbulence fields, could lead to radar echoes with statistical properties similar to those produced by anisotropic turbulence. Some questions thus remain regarding the manner in which temperature sheets contribute to VHF radar echoes. In particular, the zenithal and azimuthal angular dependence of the echo power may not only be produced by diffuse reflection on stable distorted or corrugated sheets, but also by extra contributions from anisotropic turbulence occurring in the stratified atmosphere. Thus, for several years, efforts have been put forth to improve the radar height resolution in order to better describe thin structures. Frequency interferometric techniques are widely used and have been recently further developed with the implementation of high-resolution data processings. We begin by reviewing briefly some characteristics

  10. Temperature sheets and aspect sensitive radar echoes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Luce

    2001-08-01

    Full Text Available here have been years of discussion and controversy about the existence of very thin and stable temperature sheets and their relationship to the VHF radar aspect sensitivity. It is only recently that very high-resolution in situ temperature observations have brought credence to the reality and ubiquity of these structures in the free atmosphere and to their contribution to radar echo enhancements along the vertical. Indeed, measurements with very high-resolution sensors are still extremely rare and rather difficult to obtain outside of the planetary boundary layer. They have only been carried out up to the lower stratosphere by Service d’A´ eronomie (CNRS, France for about 10 years. The controversy also persisted due to the volume resolution of the (Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere VHF radars which is coarse with respect to sheet thickness, although widely sufficient for meteorological or mesoscale investigations. The contribution within the range gate of many of these structures, which are advected by the wind, and decay and grow at different instants and could be distorted either by internal gravity waves or turbulence fields, could lead to radar echoes with statistical properties similar to those produced by anisotropic turbulence. Some questions thus remain regarding the manner in which temperature sheets contribute to VHF radar echoes. In particular, the zenithal and azimuthal angular dependence of the echo power may not only be produced by diffuse reflection on stable distorted or corrugated sheets, but also by extra contributions from anisotropic turbulence occurring in the stratified atmosphere. Thus, for several years, efforts have been put forth to improve the radar height resolution in order to better describe thin structures. Frequency interferometric techniques are widely used and have been recently further developed with the implementation of high-resolution data processings. We begin by reviewing briefly some characteristics

  11. IFT&E Industry Report Wind Turbine-Radar Interference Test Summary.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Karlson, Benjamin; LeBlanc, Bruce Philip.; Minster, David G; Estill, Milford; Miller, Bryan Edward; Busse, Franz (MIT LL); Keck, Chris (MIT LL); Sullivan, Jonathan (MIT LL); Brigada, David (MIT LL); Parker, Lorri (MIT LL); Younger, Richard (MIT LL); Biddle, Jason (MIT LL)

    2014-10-01

    Wind turbines have grown in size and capacity with today's average turbine having a power capacity of around 1.9 MW, reaching to heights of over 495 feet from ground to blade tip, and operating with speeds at the tip of the blade up to 200 knots. When these machines are installed within the line-of-sight of a radar system, they can cause significant clutter and interference, detrimentally impacting the primary surveillance radar (PSR) performance. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) were co-funded to conduct field tests and evaluations over two years in order to: I. Characterize the impact of wind turbines on existing Program-of-Record (POR) air surveillance radars; II. Assess near-term technologies proposed by industry that have the potential to mitigate the interference from wind turbines on radar systems; and III. Collect data and increase technical understanding of interference issues to advance development of long-term mitigation strategies. MIT LL and SNL managed the tests and evaluated resulting data from three flight campaigns to test eight mitigation technologies on terminal (short) and long-range (60 nmi and 250 nmi) radar systems. Combined across the three flight campaigns, more than 460 of hours of flight time were logged. This paper summarizes the Interagency Field Test & Evaluation (IFT&E) program and publicly- available results from the tests. It will also discuss the current wind turbine-radar interference evaluation process within the government and a proposed process to deploy mitigation technologies.

  12. Weather Radar Impact Zones

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — These data represent an inventory of the national impacts of wind turbine interference with NEXRAD radar stations. This inventory was developed by the NOAA Radar...

  13. Pocket radar guide key facts, equations, and data

    CERN Document Server

    Curry, G Richard

    2010-01-01

    ThePocket Radar Guideis a concise collection of key radar facts and important radar data that provides you with necessary radar information when you are away from your office or references. It includes statements and comments on radar design, operation, and performance; equations describing the characteristics and performance of radar systems and their components; and tables with data on radar characteristics and key performance issues.It is intended to supplement other radar information sources by providing a pocket companion to refresh memory and provide details whenever you need them such a

  14. Synthetic aperture radar capabilities in development

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Miller, M. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)

    1994-11-15

    The Imaging and Detection Program (IDP) within the Laser Program is currently developing an X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to support the Joint US/UK Radar Ocean Imaging Program. The radar system will be mounted in the program`s Airborne Experimental Test-Bed (AETB), where the initial mission is to image ocean surfaces and better understand the physics of low grazing angle backscatter. The Synthetic Aperture Radar presentation will discuss its overall functionality and a brief discussion on the AETB`s capabilities. Vital subsystems including radar, computer, navigation, antenna stabilization, and SAR focusing algorithms will be examined in more detail.

  15. Extended Target Recognition in Cognitive Radar Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiqin Wang

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available We address the problem of adaptive waveform design for extended target recognition in cognitive radar networks. A closed-loop active target recognition radar system is extended to the case of a centralized cognitive radar network, in which a generalized likelihood ratio (GLR based sequential hypothesis testing (SHT framework is employed. Using Doppler velocities measured by multiple radars, the target aspect angle for each radar is calculated. The joint probability of each target hypothesis is then updated using observations from different radar line of sights (LOS. Based on these probabilities, a minimum correlation algorithm is proposed to adaptively design the transmit waveform for each radar in an amplitude fluctuation situation. Simulation results demonstrate performance improvements due to the cognitive radar network and adaptive waveform design. Our minimum correlation algorithm outperforms the eigen-waveform solution and other non-cognitive waveform design approaches.

  16. Borehole radar measurements performed on preliminary investigation areas in Finland for final disposal of spent nuclear fuel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlsten, S.

    1991-05-01

    Borehole radar measurements with the RAMAC system have been performed in 24 boreholes distributed between the investigation areas Kuhmo Romuvaara, Hyrynsalmi Veitsivaara, Konginkangas Kivetty, Sievi Syyry, and Eurajoki Olkiluoto. The purpose of the borehole radar measurement program has been to investigate the bedrock in the vicinity of the boreholes in order to obtain information about geometry and extent of fracture zones, lithological contacts and other structures. The measurements have been performed as singlehole radar reflection measurements and Vertical Radar Profiling (VRP) measurements, using antennas with 22 MHz frequency range in both configurations. The total measured length in the singlehole radar reflection mode is 13304 meter and in the VRP mode 9200 meter. The VRP measurements are not presented in the report. Radar data from the singlehole reflection measurements are presented as grey scale radar maps after digital filtering with a bandpass filter and a moving average filter. Interpreted zones from the singlehole radar measurements are presented in tables for each borehole. It has been possible to study structures at distances of more than 110 meter from the borehole

  17. Pemfokusan Citra Radar untuk Hasil Pemodelan Radar Penembus Permukaan menggunakan Algoritma Migrasi Jarak

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    AZIZAH AZIZAH

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRAK Citra Radar Penembus Permukaan (GPR memberikan gambaran tentang objek dalam bentuk kurva hiperbola. Kurva hiperbola ini memiliki resolusi yang rendah sehingga sulit untuk menganalisis lokasi objek yang sebenarnya. Oleh karena itu diperlukan proses untuk membuat citra menjadi lebih fokus. Proses ini disebut transformasi atau migrasi. Salah satu algoritma migrasi adalah algoritma migrasi jarak. Terdapat beberapa langkah yang dilakukan dalam penelitian ini. Pertama, pemodelan GPR dilakukan menggunakan perangkat lunak. Kemudian, algoritma migrasi jarak diimplementasikan untuk data hasil pemodelan. Terakhir, dilakukan analisis hasil yang didapat. Informasi jumlah dan lokasi objek didapatkan dari citra hasil migrasi ini dengan persentase kesalahan untuk pada sumbu x sebesar 4 % untuk 1 objek, 17 % untuk 2 objek, dan 4 % untuk 3 objek. Sedangkan persentase kesalahan pada sumbu y sebesar 2% untuk 1 objek, 3% untuk 2 objek, dan 8% untuk 3 objek. Kata kunci: GPR, migrasi, algoritma, migrasi jarak, fokus, ABSTRACT Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR image give description about object in hyperbolic curve. This hyperbolic curve has low resolution so it is too difficult to analysis the actual object position. Therefore, we need a process can make the image more focus. This process usually called transformation or migration. One of them is range migration algorithm. There are several steps in this reseacrh. First, GPR modelling done using software. Next, range migration algorithm is implemented for the data result from simulation. Last, the result are analyzed. The information about the number and object position is obtained from the image in this migration process with margin error in x-axis are 4% for 1 object, 17% for 2 object, and 4% for 3 object. On the other side, margin error in y-axis are 2% for 1 object, 4% for 2 object, and 8% for 3 object. Keywords: GPR, migration, algorithm, range migration, focus

  18. Evidence for ground-ice occurrence on asteroid Vesta using Dawn bistatic radar observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer, E. M.; Heggy, E.; Kofman, W. W.

    2017-12-01

    From 2011 to 2012, the Dawn spacecraft orbited asteroid Vesta, the first of its two targets in the asteroid belt, and conducted the first bistatic radar (BSR) experiment at a small-body, during which Dawn's high-gain communications antenna is used to transmit radar waves that scatter from Vesta's surface toward Earth at high incidence angles just before and after occultation of the spacecraft behind the asteroid. Among the 14 observed mid-latitude forward-scatter reflections, the radar cross section ranges from 84 ± 8 km2 (near Saturnalia Fossae) to 3,588 ± 200 km2 (northwest of Caparronia crater), implying substantial spatial variation in centimeter- to decimeter-scale surface roughness. The compared distributions of surface roughness and subsurface hydrogen concentration [H]—measured using data from Dawn's BSR experiment and Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer (GRaND), respectively—reveal the occurrence of heightened subsurface [H] with smoother terrains that cover tens of square kilometers. Furthermore, unlike on the Moon, we observe no correlation between surface roughness and surface ages on Vesta—whether the latter is derived from lunar or asteroid-flux chronology [Williams et al., 2014]—suggesting that cratering processes alone are insufficient to explain Vesta's surface texture at centimeter-to-decimeter scales. Dawn's BSR observations support the hypothesis of transient melting, runoff and recrystallization of potential ground-ice deposits, which are postulated to flow along fractures after an impact, and provide a mechanism for the smoothing of otherwise rough, fragmented impact ejecta. Potential ground-ice presence within Vesta's subsurface was first proposed by Scully et al. [2014], who identified geomorphological evidence for transient water flow along several of Vesta's crater walls using Dawn Framing Camera images. While airless, differentiated bodies such as Vesta and the Moon are thought to have depleted their initial volatile content

  19. Penn State Radar Systems: Implementation and Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urbina, J. V.; Seal, R.; Sorbello, R.; Kuyeng, K.; Dyrud, L. P.

    2014-12-01

    Software Defined Radio/Radar (SDR) platforms have become increasingly popular as researchers, hobbyists, and military seek more efficient and cost-effective means for radar construction and operation. SDR platforms, by definition, utilize a software-based interface for configuration in contrast to traditional, hard-wired platforms. In an effort to provide new and improved radar sensing capabilities, Penn State has been developing advanced instruments and technologies for future radars, with primary objectives of making such instruments more capable, portable, and more cost effective. This paper will describe the design and implementation of two low-cost radar systems and their deployment in ionospheric research at both low and mid-latitudes. One radar has been installed near Penn State campus, University Park, Pennsylvania (77.97°W, 40.70°N), to make continuous meteor observations and mid-latitude plasma irregularities. The second radar is being installed in Huancayo (12.05°S, -75.33°E), Peru, which is capable of detecting E and F region plasma irregularities as well as meteor reflections. In this paper, we examine and compare the diurnal and seasonal variability of specular, non- specular, and head-echoes collected with these two new radar systems and discuss sampling biases of each meteor observation technique. We report our current efforts to validate and calibrate these radar systems with other VHF radars such as Jicamarca and SOUSY. We also present the general characteristics of continuous measurements of E-region and F-region coherent echoes using these modern radar systems and compare them with coherent radar events observed at other geographic mid-latitude radar stations.

  20. RESULTS OF THE SHORT COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MATHEMATICAL MODELS OF INFLUENCE OF THE IONOSPHERE OF THE EARTH ON ULTRA BROADBAND SIGNALS X-RANGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. M. Kasperovich

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available For range portrait formation at usage ultrabroadband linearly frequency-modulated signal in radar it is necessary to consider all distortions of an electromagnetic wave on a radio route. At observation over circumterraneousobjects the signal transits through an ionosphere. The electromagnetic wave in it will be exposed to non-linearity distortions, which transform of signal time structure. It leads to distance error origin. For its compensating it is necessary to use the mathematical model of signal distortions in an ionosphere.

  1. A simple model for retrieving bare soil moisture from radar-scattering coefficients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, K.S.; Yen, S.K.; Huang, W.P.

    1995-01-01

    A simple algorithm based on a rough surface scattering model was developed to invert the bare soil moisture content from active microwave remote sensing data. In the algorithm development, a frequency mixing model was used to relate soil moisture to the dielectric constant. In particular, the Integral Equation Model (IEM) was used over a wide range of surface roughness and radar frequencies. To derive the algorithm, a sensitivity analysis was performed using a Monte Carlo simulation to study the effects of surface parameters, including height variance, correlation length, and dielectric constant. Because radar return is inherently dependent on both moisture content and surface roughness, the purpose of the sensitivity testing was to select the proper radar parameters so as to optimally decouple these two factors, in an attempt to minimize the effects of one while the other was observed. As a result, the optimal radar parameter ranges can be chosen for the purpose of soil moisture content inversion. One thousand samples were then generated with the IEM model followed by multivariate linear regression analysis to obtain an empirical soil moisture model. Numerical comparisons were made to illustrate the inversion performance using experimental measurements. Results indicate that the present algorithm is simple and accurate, and can be a useful tool for the remote sensing of bare soil surfaces. (author)

  2. SMAP RADAR Calibration and Validation

    Science.gov (United States)

    West, R. D.; Jaruwatanadilok, S.; Chaubel, M. J.; Spencer, M.; Chan, S. F.; Chen, C. W.; Fore, A.

    2015-12-01

    The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission launched on Jan 31, 2015. The mission employs L-band radar and radiometer measurements to estimate soil moisture with 4% volumetric accuracy at a resolution of 10 km, and freeze-thaw state at a resolution of 1-3 km. Immediately following launch, there was a three month instrument checkout period, followed by six months of level 1 (L1) calibration and validation. In this presentation, we will discuss the calibration and validation activities and results for the L1 radar data. Early SMAP radar data were used to check commanded timing parameters, and to work out issues in the low- and high-resolution radar processors. From April 3-13 the radar collected receive only mode data to conduct a survey of RFI sources. Analysis of the RFI environment led to a preferred operating frequency. The RFI survey data were also used to validate noise subtraction and scaling operations in the radar processors. Normal radar operations resumed on April 13. All radar data were examined closely for image quality and calibration issues which led to improvements in the radar data products for the beta release at the end of July. Radar data were used to determine and correct for small biases in the reported spacecraft attitude. Geo-location was validated against coastline positions and the known positions of corner reflectors. Residual errors at the time of the beta release are about 350 m. Intra-swath biases in the high-resolution backscatter images are reduced to less than 0.3 dB for all polarizations. Radiometric cross-calibration with Aquarius was performed using areas of the Amazon rain forest. Cross-calibration was also examined using ocean data from the low-resolution processor and comparing with the Aquarius wind model function. Using all a-priori calibration constants provided good results with co-polarized measurements matching to better than 1 dB, and cross-polarized measurements matching to about 1 dB in the beta release. During the

  3. Deep Interior: Radio Reflection Tomographic Imaging of Earth-Crossing Asteroids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asphaug, E.; Belton, M.; Safaeinili, A.; Klaasen, K.; Ostro, S.; Yeomans, D.; Plaut, J.

    2004-12-01

    Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) present an important scientific question and an intriguing space hazard. They are scrutinized by a number of large, dedicated groundbased telescopes, and their diverse compositions are represented by thousands of well-studied meteorites. A successful program of NEO spacecraft exploration has begun, and we are proposing Deep Interior as the next logical step. Our mission objective is to image the deep interior structure of two NEOs using radio reflection tomography (RRT), in order to explore the record of asteroid origin and impact evolution, and to test the fundamental hypothesis that these important members of the solar system are rubble piles rather than consolidated bodies. Asteroid Interiors. Our mission's RRT technique is like a CAT scan from orbit. Closely sampled radar echoes yield volumetric maps of mechanical and compositional boundaries, and measure interior material dielectric properties. Exteriors. We use color imaging to explore the surface expressions of unit boundaries, in order to relate interior radar imaging to what is observable from spacecraft imaging and from Earth. Gravity and high fidelity geodesy are used to explore how interior structure is expressed in shape, density, mass distribution and spin. Diversity. We first visit a common, primitive, S-type asteroid. We next visit an asteroid that was perhaps blasted from the surface of a differentiated asteroid. We attain an up-close and inside look at two taxonomic archetypes spanning an important range of NEO mass and spin rate. Scientific focus is achieved by keeping our payload simple: Radar. A 30-m (tip-to-tip) cross-dipole antenna system operates at 5 and 15-MHz, with electronics heritage from JPL's MARSIS contribution to Mars Express, and antenna heritage from IMAGE and LACE. The 5-MHz channel is designed to penetrate >1 km of basaltic rock, and 15-MHz penetrates a few 100 m or more. They bracket the diversity of solar system materials that we are likely to

  4. Solid-state radar switchboard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thiebaud, P.; Cross, D. C.

    1980-07-01

    A new solid-state radar switchboard equipped with 16 input ports which will output data to 16 displays is presented. Each of the ports will handle a single two-dimensional radar input, or three ports will accommodate a three-dimensional radar input. A video switch card of the switchboard is used to switch all signals, with the exception of the IFF-mode-control lines. Each card accepts inputs from up to 16 sources and can pass a signal with bandwidth greater than 20 MHz to the display assigned to that card. The synchro amplifier of current systems has been eliminated and in the new design each PPI receives radar data via a single coaxial cable. This significant reduction in cabling is achieved by adding a serial-to-parallel interface and a digital-to-synchro converter located at the PPI.

  5. E-region decameter-scale plasma waves observed by the dual TIGER HF radars

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. A. Carter

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The dual Tasman International Geospace Environment Radar (TIGER HF radars regularly observe E-region echoes at sub-auroral magnetic latitudes 58°–60° S including during geomagnetic storms. We present a statistical analysis of E-region backscatter observed in a period of ~2 years (late 2004–2006 by the TIGER Bruny Island and Unwin HF radars, with particular emphasis on storm-time backscatter. It is found that the HF echoes normally form a 300-km-wide band at ranges 225–540 km. In the evening sector during geomagnetic storms, however, the HF echoes form a curved band joining to the F-region band at ~700 km. The curved band lies close to the locations where the geometric aspect angle is zero, implying little to no refraction during geomagnetic storms, which is an opposite result to what has been reported in the past. The echo occurrence, Doppler velocity, and spectral width of the HF echoes are examined in order to determine whether new HF echo types are observed at sub-auroral latitudes, particularly during geomagnetic storms. The datasets of both TIGER radars are found to be dominated by low-velocity echoes. A separate population of storm-time echoes is also identified within the datasets of both radars with most of these echoes showing similar characteristics to the low-velocity echo population. The storm-time backscatter observed by the Bruny Island radar, on the other hand, includes near-range echoes (r<405 km that exhibit some characteristics of what has been previously termed the High Aspect angle Irregularity Region (HAIR echoes. We show that these echoes appear to be a storm-time phenomenon and further investigate this population by comparing their Doppler velocity with the simultaneously measured F- and E-region irregularity velocities. It is suggested that the HAIR-like echoes are observed only by HF radars with relatively poor geometric aspect angles when electron density is low and when the electric field is particularly

  6. Active laser radar (lidar) for measurement of corresponding height and reflectance images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Froehlich, Christoph; Mettenleiter, M.; Haertl, F.

    1997-08-01

    For the survey and inspection of environmental objects, a non-tactile, robust and precise imaging of height and depth is the basis sensor technology. For visual inspection,surface classification, and documentation purposes, however, additional information concerning reflectance of measured objects is necessary. High-speed acquisition of both geometric and visual information is achieved by means of an active laser radar, supporting consistent 3D height and 2D reflectance images. The laser radar is an optical-wavelength system, and is comparable to devices built by ERIM, Odetics, and Perceptron, measuring the range between sensor and target surfaces as well as the reflectance of the target surface, which corresponds to the magnitude of the back scattered laser energy. In contrast to these range sensing devices, the laser radar under consideration is designed for high speed and precise operation in both indoor and outdoor environments, emitting a minimum of near-IR laser energy. It integrates a laser range measurement system and a mechanical deflection system for 3D environmental measurements. This paper reports on design details of the laser radar for surface inspection tasks. It outlines the performance requirements and introduces the measurement principle. The hardware design, including the main modules, such as the laser head, the high frequency unit, the laser beam deflection system, and the digital signal processing unit are discussed.the signal processing unit consists of dedicated signal processors for real-time sensor data preprocessing as well as a sensor computer for high-level image analysis and feature extraction. The paper focuses on performance data of the system, including noise, drift over time, precision, and accuracy with measurements. It discuses the influences of ambient light, surface material of the target, and ambient temperature for range accuracy and range precision. Furthermore, experimental results from inspection of buildings, monuments

  7. Determination of meteoroid physical properties from tristatic radar observations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Kero

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available In this work we give a review of the meteor head echo observations carried out with the tristatic 930 MHz EISCAT UHF radar system during four 24 h runs between 2002 and 2005 and compare these with earlier observations. A total number of 410 tristatic meteors were observed. We describe a method to determine the position of a compact radar target in the common volume monitored by the three receivers and demonstrate its applicability for meteor studies. The inferred positions of the meteor targets have been utilized to estimate their velocities, decelerations and directions of arrival as well as their radar cross sections with unprecedented accuracy. The velocity distribution of the meteoroids is bimodal with peaks at 35–40 km/s and 55–60 km/s, and ranges from 19–70 km/s. The estimated masses are between 10−9–10−5.5 kg. There are very few detections below 30 km/s. The observations are clearly biased to high-velocity meteoroids, but not so biased against slow meteoroids as has been presumed from previous tristatic measurements. Finally, we discuss how the radial deceleration observed with a monostatic radar depends on the meteoroid velocity and the angle between the trajectory and the beam. The finite beamwidth leads to underestimated meteoroid masses if radial velocity and deceleration of meteoroids approaching the radar are used as estimates of the true quantities in a momentum equation of motion.

  8. CW Laser radar for combustion diagnostics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Malmqvist Elin

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available A CW-laser radar system developed for combustion diagnostics is described. The system is based on triangulation to attain range information. A portable system has been constructed and here we show some result from measurements in various flames, for example Rayleigh scattering thermometry and monitoring of particle distributions with high temporal and spatial resolution. The concept can equally well be based on pulsed lasers, allowing suppression of background emission through gated detection.

  9. The use of radar for bathymetry assessment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aardoom, J.H.; Greidanus, H.S.F.

    1998-01-01

    The bottom topography in shallow seas can be observed by air- and spaceborne imaging radar. Bathymetric information derived from radar data is limited in accuracy, but radar has a good spatial coverage. The accuracy can be increased by assimilating the radar imagery into existing or insitu gathered

  10. Customizable Digital Receivers for Radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moller, Delwyn; Heavey, Brandon; Sadowy, Gregory

    2008-01-01

    Compact, highly customizable digital receivers are being developed for the system described in 'Radar Interferometer for Topographic Mapping of Glaciers and Ice Sheets' (NPO-43962), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 31, No. 7 (August 2007), page 72. The receivers are required to operate in unison, sampling radar returns received by the antenna elements in a digital beam-forming (DBF) mode. The design of these receivers could also be adapted to commercial radar systems. At the time of reporting the information for this article, there were no commercially available digital receivers capable of satisfying all of the operational requirements and compact enough to be mounted directly on the antenna elements. A provided figure depicts the overall system of which the digital receivers are parts. Each digital receiver includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a demultiplexer (DMUX), and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The ADC effects 10-bit band-pass sampling of input signals having frequencies up to 3.5 GHz. The input samples are demultiplexed at a user-selectable rate of 1:2 or 1:4, then buffered in part of the FPGA that functions as a first-in/first-out (FIFO) memory. Another part of the FPGA serves as a controller for the ADC, DMUX, and FIFO memory and as an interface between (1) the rest of the receiver and (2) a front-panel data port (FPDP) bus, which is an industry-standard parallel data bus that has a high data-rate capability and multichannel configuration suitable for DBF. Still other parts of the FPGA in each receiver perform signal-processing functions. The digital receivers can be configured to operate in a stand-alone mode, or in a multichannel mode as needed for DBF. The customizability of the receiver makes it applicable to a broad range of system architectures. The capability for operation of receivers in either a stand-alone or a DBF mode enables the use of the receivers in an unprecedentedly wide variety of radar systems.

  11. Characterization of the Interior Density Structure of Near Earth Objects with Muons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prettyman, T. H.; Sykes, M. V.; Miller, R. S.; Pinsky, L. S.; Empl, A.; Nolan, M. C.; Koontz, S. L.; Lawrence, D. J.; Mittlefehldt, D. W.; Reddell, B. D.

    2015-12-01

    Near Earth Objects (NEOs) are a diverse population of short-lived asteroids originating from the main belt and Jupiter family comets. Some have orbits that are easy to access from Earth, making them attractive as targets for science and exploration as well as a potential resource. Some pose a potential impact threat. NEOs have undergone extensive collisional processing, fragmenting and re-accreting to form rubble piles, which may be compositionally heterogeneous (e.g., like 2008 TC3, the precursor to Almahata Sitta). At present, little is known about their interior structure or how these objects are held together. The wide range of inferred NEO macroporosities hint at complex interiors. Information about their density structure would aid in understanding their formation and collisional histories, the risks they pose to human interactions with their surfaces, the constraints on industrial processing of NEO resources, and the selection of hazard mitigation strategies (e.g., kinetic impactor vs nuclear burst). Several methods have been proposed to characterize asteroid interiors, including radar imaging, seismic tomography, and muon imaging (muon radiography and tomography). Of these, only muon imaging has the potential to determine interior density structure, including the relative density of constituent fragments. Muons are produced by galactic cosmic ray showers within the top meter of asteroid surfaces. High-energy muons can traverse large distances through rock with little deflection. Muons transmitted through an Itokawa-sized asteroid can be imaged using a compact hodoscope placed on or near the surface. Challenges include background rejection and correction for variations in muon production with surface density. The former is being addressed by hodoscope design. Surface density variations can be determined via radar or muon limb imaging. The performance of muon imaging is evaluated for prospective NEO interior-mapping missions.

  12. Coherent change detection and interferometric ISAR measurements in the folded compact range

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sorensen, K.W.

    1996-08-01

    A folded compact range configuration has been developed ant the Sandia National Laboratories` compact range antenna and radar-cross- section measurement facility as a means of performing indoor, environmentally-controlled, far-field simulations of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements of distributed target samples (i.e. gravel, sand, etc.). The folded compact range configuration has previously been used to perform coherent-change-detection (CCD) measurements, which allow disturbances to distributed targets on the order of fractions of a wavelength to be detected. This report describes follow-on CCD measurements of other distributed target samples, and also investigates the sensitivity of the CCD measurement process to changes in the relative spatial location of the SAR sensor between observations of the target. Additionally, this report describes the theoretical and practical aspects of performing interferometric inverse-synthetic-aperture-radar (IFISAR) measurements in the folded compact range environment. IFISAR measurements provide resolution of the relative heights of targets with accuracies on the order of a wavelength. Several examples are given of digital height maps that have been generated from measurements performed at the folded compact range facility.

  13. Orthogonal on-off control of radar pulses for the suppression of mutual interference

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yong Cheol

    1998-10-01

    Intelligent vehicles of the future will be guided by radars and other sensors to avoid obstacles. When multiple vehicles move simultaneously in autonomous navigational mode, mutual interference among car radars becomes a serious problem. An obstacle is illuminated with electromagnetic pulses from several radars. The signal at a radar receiver is actually a mixture of the self-reflection and the reflection of interfering pulses emitted by others. When standardized pulse- type radars are employed on vehicles for obstacle avoidance and so self-pulse and interfering pulses have identical pulse repetition interval, this SI (synchronous Interference) is very difficult to separate from the true reflection. We present a method of suppressing such a synchronous interference. By controlling the pulse emission of a radar in a binary orthogonal ON, OFF pattern, the true self-reflection can be separated from the false one. Two range maps are generated, TRM (true-reflection map) and SIM (synchronous- interference map). TRM is updated for every ON interval and SIM is updated for every OFF interval of the self-radar. SIM represents the SI of interfering radars while TRM keeps a record of a mixture of the true self-reflection and SI. Hence the true obstacles can be identified by the set subtraction operation. The performance of the proposed method is compared with that of the conventional M of N method. Bayesian analysis shows that the probability of false alarm is improved by order of 103 to approximately 106 while the deterioration in the probability of detection is negligible.

  14. Radar sensing via a Micro-UAV-borne system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Catapano, Ilaria; Ludeno, Giovanni; Gennarelli, Gianluca; Soldovieri, Francesco; Rodi Vetrella, Amedeo; Fasano, Giancarmine

    2017-04-01

    -equipped drone. The system is made by a commercial radar system, whose mass, size, power and cost budgets is compatible with the installation on micro-UAV. The radar system has been mounted on a DJI 550 UAV, a flexible hexacopter allowing both complex flight operations and static flight, and has been equipped with small size log-periodic antennas, having a 6 dB gain over the frequency range from 2 GHz to 11 GHz. An ad-hoc signal processing chain has been adopted to process the collected raw data and obtain an image of the investigated scenario providing an accurate target detection and localization. This chain involves a SVD-based noise filter procedure and an advanced data processing approach, which assumes a linear model of the underlying scattering phenomenon. REFERENCES [1] K. Whitehead, C. H. Hugenholtz, "Remote sensing of the environment with small unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), part 1: a review of progress and challenges", J. Unmanned Vehicle Systems, vol.2, pp. 69-85, 2014. [2] K. Ouchi, Recent trend and advance of synthetic aperture radar with selected topics, Remote Sens, vol.5, pp.716-807, 2013. [3] D. Altdor et al., UAV-borne electromagnetic induction and ground-penetrating radar measurements: a feasibility test, 74th Annual Meeting of the Deutsche Geophysikalische Gesellschaft in Karlsruhe, Germany, March 9 - 13, 2014.

  15. Radar spectrum opportunities for cognitive communications transmission

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, L; McGeehan, JP; Williams, C; Doufexi, A

    2008-01-01

    In relation to opportunistic access to radar spectrum, the impact of the radar on a communication system is investigated in this paper. This paper illustrates that by exploring the spatial and temporal opportunities in the radar spectrum and therefore improving the tolerance level to radar interference, a substantial increase on the throughput of a communication system is possible. Results are presented regarding the impact of swept radars on a WiMAX system. The results show the impact of SIR...

  16. Three-dimensional ground penetrating radar imaging using multi-frequency diffraction tomography

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mast, J.E.; Johansson, E.M. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)

    1994-11-15

    In this talk we present results from a three-dimensional image reconstruction algorithm for impulse radar operating in monostatic pule-echo mode. The application of interest to us is the nondestructive evaluation of civil structures such as bridge decks. We use a multi-frequency diffraction tomography imaging technique in which coherent backward propagations of the received reflected wavefield form a spatial image of the scattering interfaces within the region of interest. This imaging technique provides high-resolution range and azimuthal visualization of the subsurface region. We incorporate the ability to image in planarly layered conductive media and apply the algorithm to experimental data from an offset radar system in which the radar antenna is not directly coupled to the surface of the region. We present a rendering in three-dimensions of the resulting image data which provides high-detail visualization.

  17. Comparison of the performance of different radar pulse compression techniques in an incoherent scatter radar measurement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Damtie

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available Improving an estimate of an incoherent scatter radar signal is vital to provide reliable and unbiased information about the Earth's ionosphere. Thus optimizing the measurement spatial and temporal resolutions has attracted considerable attention. The optimization usually relies on employing different kinds of pulse compression filters in the analysis and a matched filter is perhaps the most widely used one. A mismatched filter has also been used in order to suppress the undesirable sidelobes that appear in the case of matched filtering. Moreover, recently an adaptive pulse compression method, which can be derived based on the minimum mean-square error estimate, has been proposed. In this paper we have investigated the performance of matched, mismatched and adaptive pulse compression methods in terms of the output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR and the variance and bias of the estimator. This is done by using different types of optimal radar waveforms. It is shown that for the case of low SNR the signal degradation associated to an adaptive filtering is less than that of the mismatched filtering. The SNR loss of both matched and adaptive pulse compression techniques was found to be nearly the same for most of the investigated codes for the case of high SNR. We have shown that the adaptive filtering technique is a compromise between matched and mismatched filtering method when one evaluates its performance in terms of the variance and the bias of the estimator. All the three analysis methods were found to have the same performance when a sidelobe-free matched filter code is employed.

  18. Comparison of the performance of different radar pulse compression techniques in an incoherent scatter radar measurement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Damtie

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available Improving an estimate of an incoherent scatter radar signal is vital to provide reliable and unbiased information about the Earth's ionosphere. Thus optimizing the measurement spatial and temporal resolutions has attracted considerable attention. The optimization usually relies on employing different kinds of pulse compression filters in the analysis and a matched filter is perhaps the most widely used one. A mismatched filter has also been used in order to suppress the undesirable sidelobes that appear in the case of matched filtering. Moreover, recently an adaptive pulse compression method, which can be derived based on the minimum mean-square error estimate, has been proposed. In this paper we have investigated the performance of matched, mismatched and adaptive pulse compression methods in terms of the output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR and the variance and bias of the estimator. This is done by using different types of optimal radar waveforms. It is shown that for the case of low SNR the signal degradation associated to an adaptive filtering is less than that of the mismatched filtering. The SNR loss of both matched and adaptive pulse compression techniques was found to be nearly the same for most of the investigated codes for the case of high SNR. We have shown that the adaptive filtering technique is a compromise between matched and mismatched filtering method when one evaluates its performance in terms of the variance and the bias of the estimator. All the three analysis methods were found to have the same performance when a sidelobe-free matched filter code is employed.

  19. Disribution and interplay of geologic processes on Titan from Cassini radar data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopes, R.M.C.; Stofan, E.R.; Peckyno, R.; Radebaugh, J.; Mitchell, K.L.; Mitri, Giuseppe; Wood, C.A.; Kirk, R.L.; Wall, S.D.; Lunine, J.I.; Hayes, A.; Lorenz, R.; Farr, Tom; Wye, L.; Craig, J.; Ollerenshaw, R.J.; Janssen, M.; LeGall, A.; Paganelli, F.; West, R.; Stiles, B.; Callahan, P.; Anderson, Y.; Valora, P.; Soderblom, L.

    2010-01-01

    The Cassini Titan Radar Mapper is providing an unprecedented view of Titan's surface geology. Here we use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image swaths (Ta-T30) obtained from October 2004 to December 2007 to infer the geologic processes that have shaped Titan's surface. These SAR swaths cover about 20% of the surface, at a spatial resolution ranging from ~350 m to ~2 km. The SAR data are distributed over a wide latitudinal and longitudinal range, enabling some conclusions to be drawn about the global distribution of processes. They reveal a geologically complex surface that has been modified by all the major geologic processes seen on Earth - volcanism, tectonism, impact cratering, and erosion and deposition by fluvial and aeolian activity. In this paper, we map geomorphological units from SAR data and analyze their areal distribution and relative ages of modification in order to infer the geologic evolution of Titan's surface. We find that dunes and hummocky and mountainous terrains are more widespread than lakes, putative cryovolcanic features, mottled plains, and craters and crateriform structures that may be due to impact. Undifferentiated plains are the largest areal unit; their origin is uncertain. In terms of latitudinal distribution, dunes and hummocky and mountainous terrains are located mostly at low latitudes (less than 30 degrees), with no dunes being present above 60 degrees. Channels formed by fluvial activity are present at all latitudes, but lakes are at high latitudes only. Crateriform structures that may have been formed by impact appear to be uniformly distributed with latitude, but the well-preserved impact craters are all located at low latitudes, possibly indicating that more resurfacing has occurred at higher latitudes. Cryovolcanic features are not ubiquitous, and are mostly located between 30 degrees and 60 degrees north. We examine temporal relationships between units wherever possible, and conclude that aeolian and fluvial

  20. Distribution and interplay of geologic processes on Titan from Cassini radar data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopes, R.M.C.; Stofan, E.R.; Peckyno, R.; Radebaugh, J.; Mitchell, K.L.; Mitri, Giuseppe; Wood, C.A.; Kirk, R.L.; Wall, S.D.; Lunine, J.I.; Hayes, A.; Lorenz, R.; Farr, Tom; Wye, L.; Craig, J.; Ollerenshaw, R.J.; Janssen, M.; LeGall, A.; Paganelli, F.; West, R.; Stiles, B.; Callahan, P.; Anderson, Y.; Valora, P.; Soderblom, L.

    2010-01-01

    The Cassini Titan Radar Mapper is providing an unprecedented view of Titan's surface geology. Here we use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image swaths (Ta-T30) obtained from October 2004 to December 2007 to infer the geologic processes that have shaped Titan's surface. These SAR swaths cover about 20% of the surface, at a spatial resolution ranging from ???350 m to ???2 km. The SAR data are distributed over a wide latitudinal and longitudinal range, enabling some conclusions to be drawn about the global distribution of processes. They reveal a geologically complex surface that has been modified by all the major geologic processes seen on Earth - volcanism, tectonism, impact cratering, and erosion and deposition by fluvial and aeolian activity. In this paper, we map geomorphological units from SAR data and analyze their areal distribution and relative ages of modification in order to infer the geologic evolution of Titan's surface. We find that dunes and hummocky and mountainous terrains are more widespread than lakes, putative cryovolcanic features, mottled plains, and craters and crateriform structures that may be due to impact. Undifferentiated plains are the largest areal unit; their origin is uncertain. In terms of latitudinal distribution, dunes and hummocky and mountainous terrains are located mostly at low latitudes (less than 30??), with no dunes being present above 60??. Channels formed by fluvial activity are present at all latitudes, but lakes are at high latitudes only. Crateriform structures that may have been formed by impact appear to be uniformly distributed with latitude, but the well-preserved impact craters are all located at low latitudes, possibly indicating that more resurfacing has occurred at higher latitudes. Cryovolcanic features are not ubiquitous, and are mostly located between 30?? and 60?? north. We examine temporal relationships between units wherever possible, and conclude that aeolian and fluvial/pluvial/lacustrine processes are the

  1. The bistatic radar capabilities of the Medicina radiotelescopes in space debris detection and tracking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montebugnoli, S.; Pupillo, G.; Salerno, E.; Pluchino, S.; di Martino, M.

    2010-03-01

    An accurate measurement of the position and trajectory of the space debris fragments is of primary importance for the characterization of the orbital debris environment. The Medicina Radioastronomical Station is a radio observation facility that is here proposed as receiving part of a ground-based space surveillance system for detecting and tracking space debris at different orbital regions (from Low Earth Orbits up to Geostationary Earth Orbits). The proposed system consists of two bistatic radars formed by the existing Medicina receiving antennas coupled with appropriate transmitters. This paper focuses on the current features and future technical development of the receiving part of the observational setup. Outlines of possible transmitting systems will also be given together with the evaluation of the observation strategies achievable with the proposed facilities.

  2. Subarray-based FDA radar to counteract deceptive ECM signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abdalla, Ahmed; Wang, Wen-Qin; Yuan, Zhao; Mohamed, Suhad; Bin, Tang

    2016-12-01

    In recent years, the frequency diverse array (FDA) radar concept has attracted extensive attention, as it may benefit from a small frequency increment, compared to the carrier frequency across the array elements and thereby achieve an array factor that is a function of the angle, the time, and the range which is superior to the conventional phase array radar (PAR). However, limited effort on the subject of FDA in electronic countermeasure scenarios, especially in the presence of mainbeam deceptive jamming, has been published. Basic FDA is not desirable for anti-jamming applications, due to the range-angle coupling response of targets. In this paper, a novel method based on subarrayed FDA signal processing is proposed to counteract deceptive ECM signals. We divide the FDA array into multiple subarrays, each of which employs a distinct frequency increment. As a result, in the subarray-based FDA, the desired target can be distinguished at subarray level in joint range-angle-Doppler domain by utilizing the fact that the jammer generates false targets with the same ranges to each subarray without reparations. The performance assessment shows that the proposed solution is effective for deceptive ECM targets suppression. The effectiveness is verified by simulation results.

  3. Radar studies of the atmosphere using spatial and frequency diversity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Tian-You

    This work provides results from a thorough investigation of atmospheric radar imaging including theory, numerical simulations, observational verification, and applications. The theory is generalized to include the existing imaging techniques of coherent radar imaging (CRI) and range imaging (RIM), which are shown to be special cases of three-dimensional imaging (3D Imaging). Mathematically, the problem of atmospheric radar imaging is posed as an inverse problem. In this study, the Fourier, Capon, and maximum entropy (MaxEnt) methods are proposed to solve the inverse problem. After the introduction of the theory, numerical simulations are used to test, validate, and exercise these techniques. Statistical comparisons of the three methods of atmospheric radar imaging are presented for various signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), receiver configuration, and frequency sampling. The MaxEnt method is shown to generally possess the best performance for low SNR. The performance of the Capon method approaches the performance of the MaxEnt method for high SNR. In limited cases, the Capon method actually outperforms the MaxEnt method. The Fourier method generally tends to distort the model structure due to its limited resolution. Experimental justification of CRI and RIM is accomplished using the Middle and Upper (MU) Atmosphere Radar in Japan and the SOUnding SYstem (SOUSY) in Germany, respectively. A special application of CRI to the observation of polar mesosphere summer echoes (PMSE) is used to show direct evidence of wave steepening and possibly explain gravity wave variations associated with PMSE.

  4. Antimatter applied for Earth protection from asteroid collision

    Science.gov (United States)

    Satori, Shin; Kuninaka, Hitoshi; Kuriki, Kyoichi

    1990-01-01

    An Earth protection system against asteroids and meteorites in colliding orbit is proposed. The system consists of detection and deorbiting systems. Analyses are given for the resolution of microwave optics, the detectability of radar, the orbital plan of intercepting operation, and the antimatter mass require for totally or partially blasting the asteroid. Antimatter of 1 kg is required for deorbiting an asteroid 200 m in diameter. An experimental simulation of antimatter cooling and storage is planned. The facility under construction is discussed.

  5. Radar observations of Mercury

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harmon, J.K.; Campbell, D.B.

    1988-01-01

    Some of the radar altimetry profiles of Mercury obtained on the basis of data from the Arecibo Observatory are presented. In these measurements, the delay-Doppler method was used to measure altitudes along the Doppler equator, rather than to map radar reflectivity. The profiles, derived from observations made over a 6-yr period, provide extensive coverage over a restricted equatorial band and permit the identification of radar signatures for features as small as 50-km diameter craters and 1-km-high arcuate scarps. The data allowed identification of large-scale topographic features such as smooth plains subsidence zones and major highland regions

  6. Low Power CMOS Circuit Techniques for Optical Interconnects and High Speed Pulse Compression Radar

    OpenAIRE

    Li, Jun

    2015-01-01

    High performance computing and high resolution range sensor motivates the intelligent system innovations such as smart car, smart home/community and 3D motion games. Most importantly, 3D graphics technique requires high performance computation to provide high quality and vivid real-time videos. Accurate motion sensing requires high resolution radar sensor. However, in general, data transmission limits the large scale computation while high resolution radar signal processor limits the detectio...

  7. A Theory of Radar Scattering by the Moon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senior, T. B. A.; Siegel, K. M.

    1959-01-01

    A theory is described in which the moon is regarded as a "quasi-smooth" scatterer at radar frequencies. A scattered pulse is then composed of a number of individual returns each of which is provided by a single scattering area. In this manner it is possible to account for all the major features of the pulse, and the evidence in favor of the theory is presented. From a study of the measured power received at different frequencies, it is shown that the scattering area nearest to the earth is the source of a specular return, and it is then possible to obtain information about the material of which the area is composed. The electromagnetic constants are derived and their significance discussed.

  8. SAR-EDU - An education initiative for applied Synthetic Aperture Radar remote sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckardt, Robert; Richter, Nicole; Auer, Stefan; Eineder, Michael; Roth, Achim; Hajnsek, Irena; Walter, Diana; Braun, Matthias; Motagh, Mahdi; Pathe, Carsten; Pleskachevsky, Andrey; Thiel, Christian; Schmullius, Christiane

    2013-04-01

    Since the 1970s, radar remote sensing techniques have evolved rapidly and are increasingly employed in all fields of earth sciences. Applications are manifold and still expanding due to the continuous development of new instruments and missions as well as the availability of very high-quality data. The trend worldwide is towards operational employment of the various algorithms and methods that have been developed. However, the utilization of operational services does not keep up yet with the rate of technical developments and the improvements in sensor technology. With the enhancing availability and variety of space borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and a growing number of analysis algorithms the need for a vital user community is increasing. Therefore the German Aerospace Center (DLR) together with the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (FSU) and the Technical University Munich (TUM) launched the education initiative SAR-EDU. The aim of the project is to facilitate access to expert knowledge in the scientific field of radar remote sensing. Within this effort a web portal will be created to provide seminar material on SAR basics, methods and applications to support both, lecturers and students. The overall intension of the project SAR-EDU is to provide seminar material for higher education in radar remote sensing covering the topic holistically from the very basics to the most advanced methods and applications that are available. The principles of processing and interpreting SAR data are going to be taught using test data sets and open-source as well as commercial software packages. The material that is provided by SAR-EDU will be accessible at no charge from a DLR web portal. The educational tool will have a modular structure, consisting of separate modules that broach the issue of a particular topic. The aim of the implementation of SAR-EDU as application-oriented radar remote sensing educational tool is to advocate the development and wider use of

  9. Radar reflection off extensive air showers

    CERN Document Server

    Stasielak, J; Bertaina, M; Blümer, J; Chiavassa, A; Engel, R; Haungs, A; Huege, T; Kampert, K -H; Klages, H; Kleifges, M; Krömer, O; Ludwig, M; Mathys, S; Neunteufel, P; Pekala, J; Rautenberg, J; Riegel, M; Roth, M; Salamida, F; Schieler, H; Šmída, R; Unger, M; Weber, M; Werner, F; Wilczyński, H; Wochele, J

    2012-01-01

    We investigate the possibility of detecting extensive air showers by the radar technique. Considering a bistatic radar system and different shower geometries, we simulate reflection of radio waves off the static plasma produced by the shower in the air. Using the Thomson cross-section for radio wave reflection, we obtain the time evolution of the signal received by the antennas. The frequency upshift of the radar echo and the power received are studied to verify the feasibility of the radar detection technique.

  10. Active microwave remote sensing research program plan. Recommendations of the Earth Resources Synthetic Aperture Radar Task Force. [application areas: vegetation canopies, surface water, surface morphology, rocks and soils, and man-made structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    1980-01-01

    A research program plan developed by the Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications to provide guidelines for a concentrated effort to improve the understanding of the measurement capabilities of active microwave imaging sensors, and to define the role of such sensors in future Earth observations programs is outlined. The focus of the planned activities is on renewable and non-renewable resources. Five general application areas are addressed: (1) vegetation canopies, (2) surface water, (3) surface morphology, (4) rocks and soils, and (5) man-made structures. Research tasks are described which, when accomplished, will clearly establish the measurement capabilities in each area, and provide the theoretical and empirical results needed to specify and justify satellite systems using imaging radar sensors for global observations.

  11. Laser radar cross-section estimation from high-resolution image data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osche, G R; Seeber, K N; Lok, Y F; Young, D S

    1992-05-10

    A methodology for the estimation of ladar cross sections from high-resolution image data of geometrically complex targets is presented. Coherent CO(2) laser radar was used to generate high-resolution amplitude imagery of a UC-8 Buffalo test aircraft at a range of 1.3 km at nine different aspect angles. The average target ladar cross section was synthesized from these data and calculated to be sigma(T) = 15.4 dBsm, which is similar to the expected microwave radar cross sections. The aspect angle dependence of the cross section shows pronounced peaks at nose on and broadside, which are also in agreement with radar results. Strong variations in both the mean amplitude and the statistical distributions of amplitude with the aspect angle have also been observed. The relative mix of diffuse and specular returns causes significant deviations from a simple Lambertian or Swerling II target, especially at broadside where large normal surfaces are present.

  12. Towards Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) for small sea vessels

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Abdul Gaffar, MY

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Aperture Radar (ISAR) for Small Sea Vessels M.Y. Abdul Gaffar Council for Scientific and Industrial Research University of Cape Town Slide 2 © CSIR 2006 www.csir.co.za What is ISAR? • Technique that produces cross range...

  13. Multimode Adaptable Microwave Radar Sensor Based on Leaky-Wave Antennas

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hudec, P.; Pánek, Petr; Jeník, V.

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 65, č. 9 (2017), s. 3464-3473 ISSN 0018-9480 Institutional support: RVO:67985882 Keywords : adaptable sensor * low-range radar * multimode sensor Subject RIV: JA - Electronics ; Optoelectronics, Electrical Engineering OBOR OECD: Electrical and electronic engineering Impact factor: 2.897, year: 2016

  14. Imaging observations of nighttime mid-latitude F-region field-aligned irregularities by an MU radar ultra-multi-channel system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Saito

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available Mid-latitude F-region field-aligned irregularities (FAIs were studied by using the middle-and-upper atmosphere (MU radar ultra-multi-channel system with the radar imaging technique. On 12 June 2006, F-region FAI echoes with a period of about one hour were observed intermittently. These echoes were found to be embedded in medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs observed as variations of total electron content (TEC. The echoes drifting away from (toward the radar were observed in the depletion (enhancement phase of the MSTID. The Doppler velocity of the echoes is consistent with the range rates in the the range-time-intensity (RTI maps. Fine scale structures with a spatial scale of 10 km or less were found by the radar imaging analysis. Those structures with positive Doppler velocities (moving away from the radar appeared to drift north- (up- westward, and those with negative Doppler velocities south- (down- eastward approximately along the wavefronts of the MSTID. FAIs with positive Doppler velocities filling TEC depletion regions were observed.

  15. Detecting and classifying low probability of intercept radar

    CERN Document Server

    Pace, Philip E

    2008-01-01

    This revised and expanded second edition brings you to the cutting edge with new chapters on LPI radar design, including over-the-horizon radar, random noise radar, and netted LPI radar. You also discover critical LPI detection techniques, parameter extraction signal processing techniques, and anti-radiation missile design strategies to counter LPI radar.

  16. Radar probing of the auroral plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brekke, A.

    1977-01-01

    The European Incoherent Scatter Radar in the Auroral Zone (EISCAT) is an intereuropean organization planning to install an incoherent scatter radar system in Northern Scandinavia. It is supported by Finland, France, Norway, Great Britain, Sweden and West Germany, and its headquarters is in Kiruna, Sweden. The radar is planned to be operating in 1979. In order to introduce students and young scientists to the incoherent scatter radar technique, a summer school was held in Tromsoe, from 5th to 13th June 1975. In these proceedings an introduction to the basic theory of fluctuations in a plasma is given. Some of the present incoherent scatter radars now in use are presented and special considerations with respect to the planned EISACT facility are discussed. Reviews of some recent results and scientific problems relevant to EISCAT are also presented and finally a presentation of some observational techniques complementary to incoherent scatter radars is included. (Ed.)

  17. Method for radar detection of persons wearing wires

    OpenAIRE

    Fox, William P.

    2014-01-01

    8,730,098 B1 Methods are described for radar detection of persons wearing wires using radar spectra data including the vertical polarization (VV) radar cross section and the horizontal polarization (HH) radar cross section for a person. In one embodiment, the ratio of the vertical polarization (VV) radar cross section to the horizontal polarization (HH) radar cross section for a person is compared to a detection threshold to determine whether the person is wearing wire...

  18. Phased-array radars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brookner, E.

    1985-02-01

    The operating principles, technology, and applications of phased-array radars are reviewed and illustrated with diagrams and photographs. Consideration is given to the antenna elements, circuitry for time delays, phase shifters, pulse coding and compression, and hybrid radars combining phased arrays with lenses to alter the beam characteristics. The capabilities and typical hardware of phased arrays are shown using the US military systems COBRA DANE and PAVE PAWS as examples.

  19. Downhole pulse radar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Hsi-Tien

    1987-09-28

    A borehole logging tool generates a fast rise-time, short duration, high peak-power radar pulse having broad energy distribution between 30 MHz and 300 MHz through a directional transmitting and receiving antennas having barium titanate in the electromagnetically active region to reduce the wavelength to within an order of magnitude of the diameter of the antenna. Radar returns from geological discontinuities are sampled for transmission uphole. 7 figs.

  20. A New Empirical Model for Radar Scattering from Bare Soil Surfaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolas Baghdadi

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to propose a new semi-empirical radar backscattering model for bare soil surfaces based on the Dubois model. A wide dataset of backscattering coefficients extracted from synthetic aperture radar (SAR images and in situ soil surface parameter measurements (moisture content and roughness is used. The retrieval of soil parameters from SAR images remains challenging because the available backscattering models have limited performances. Existing models, physical, semi-empirical, or empirical, do not allow for a reliable estimate of soil surface geophysical parameters for all surface conditions. The proposed model, developed in HH, HV, and VV polarizations, uses a formulation of radar signals based on physical principles that are validated in numerous studies. Never before has a backscattering model been built and validated on such an important dataset as the one proposed in this study. It contains a wide range of incidence angles (18°–57° and radar wavelengths (L, C, X, well distributed, geographically, for regions with different climate conditions (humid, semi-arid, and arid sites, and involving many SAR sensors. The results show that the new model shows a very good performance for different radar wavelengths (L, C, X, incidence angles, and polarizations (RMSE of about 2 dB. This model is easy to invert and could provide a way to improve the retrieval of soil parameters.

  1. Near-Earth Asteroids: Destinations for Human Exploration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbee, Brent W.

    2014-01-01

    The Near-Earth Object Human Space Flight Accessible Targets Study (NHATS) is a system that monitors the near-Earth asteroid (NEA) population to identify NEAs whose orbital characteristics may make them potential destinations for future round-trip human space flight missions. To accomplish this monitoring, Brent Barbee (GSFC) developed and automated a system that applies specialized trajectory processing to the orbits of newly discovered NEAs, and those for which we have updated orbit knowledge, obtained from the JPL Small Bodies Database (SBDB). This automated process executes daily and the results are distributed to the general public and the astronomy community. This aids in prioritizing telescope radar time allocations for obtaining crucial follow-up observations of highly accessible NEAs during the critical, because it is often fleeting, time period surrounding the time at which the NEAs are initially discovered.

  2. Scanning ARM Cloud Radars Part II. Data Quality Control and Processing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kollias, Pavlos [McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada); Jo, Ieng [McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada); Borque, Paloma [McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada); Tatarevic, Aleksandra [McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada); Lamer, Katia [McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada); Bharadwaj, Nitin [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Widener, Kevin B. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Johnson, Karen [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Clothiaux, Eugene E. [Pennsylvania State Univ., State College, PA (United States)

    2013-10-04

    The Scanning ARM Cloud Radars (SACR’s) are the primary instruments for documenting the four-dimensional structure and evolution of clouds within a 20-30 km radius from the ARM fixed and mobile sites. Here, the post-processing of the calibrated SACR measurements is discussed. First, a feature mask algorithm that objectively determines the presence of significant radar returns is described. The feature mask algorithm is based on the statistical properties of radar receiver noise. It accounts for atmospheric emission and is applicable even for SACR profiles with few or no signal-free range gates. Using the nearest-in-time atmospheric sounding, the SACR radar reflectivities are corrected for gaseous attenuation (water vapor and oxygen) using a line-by-line absorption model. Despite having a high pulse repetition frequency, the SACR has a narrow Nyquist velocity limit and thus Doppler velocity folding is commonly observed. An unfolding algorithm that makes use of a first guess for the true Doppler velocity using horizontal wind measurements from the nearest sounding is described. The retrieval of the horizontal wind profile from the Hemispherical Sky – Range Height Indicator SACR scan observations and/or nearest sounding is described. The retrieved horizontal wind profile can be used to adaptively configure SACR scan strategies that depend on wind direction. Several remaining challenges are discussed, including the removal of insect and second-trip echoes. The described algorithms significantly enhance SACR data quality and constitute an important step towards the utilization of SACR measurements for cloud research.

  3. Development of wide band digital receiver for atmospheric radars using COTS board based SDR

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yasodha, Polisetti; Jayaraman, Achuthan; Thriveni, A.

    2016-07-01

    Digital receiver extracts the received echo signal information, and is a potential subsystem for atmospheric radar, also referred to as wind profiling radar (WPR), which provides the vertical profiles of 3-dimensional wind vector in the atmosphere. This paper presents the development of digital receiver using COTS board based Software Defined Radio technique, which can be used for atmospheric radars. The developmental work is being carried out at National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL), Gadanki. The digital receiver consists of a commercially available software defined radio (SDR) board called as universal software radio peripheral B210 (USRP B210) and a personal computer. USRP B210 operates over a wider frequency range from 70 MHz to 6 GHz and hence can be used for variety of radars like Doppler weather radars operating in S/C bands, in addition to wind profiling radars operating in VHF, UHF and L bands. Due to the flexibility and re-configurability of SDR, where the component functionalities are implemented in software, it is easy to modify the software to receive the echoes and process them as per the requirement suitable for the type of the radar intended. Hence, USRP B210 board along with the computer forms a versatile digital receiver from 70 MHz to 6 GHz. It has an inbuilt direct conversion transceiver with two transmit and two receive channels, which can be operated in fully coherent 2x2 MIMO fashion and thus it can be used as a two channel receiver. Multiple USRP B210 boards can be synchronized using the pulse per second (PPS) input provided on the board, to configure multi-channel digital receiver system. RF gain of the transceiver can be varied from 0 to 70 dB. The board can be controlled from the computer via USB 3.0 interface through USRP hardware driver (UHD), which is an open source cross platform driver. The USRP B210 board is connected to the personal computer through USB 3.0. Reference (10 MHz) clock signal from the radar master oscillator

  4. Differential Absorption Radar: An Emerging Technology for Remote Sounding of Water Vapor Within Clouds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lebsock, M. D.; Millan Valle, L. F.; Cooper, K. B.; Siles, J.; Monje, R.

    2017-12-01

    We present the results of our efforts to build and demonstrate the first Differential Absorption Radar (DAR), which will provide unique capabilities to remotely sound for water vapor within cloudy and precipitating atmospheres. The approach leverages multiple radar channels located near the 183 GHz water vapor absorption feature to simultaneously derive microphysical and water vapor profiles. The DAR technique has the potential to neatly complement existing water vapor sounding techniques such as infrared and microwave sounding and GPS radio occultation. These precisions rival those of existing water vapor remote sensing instruments. The approach works best from above clouds because the water vapor burden and line width increases towards the Earth surface allowing increased sampling from the top-down compared with bottom-up. From an airborne or satellite platform channels can be selected that target either upper-tropospheric or lower-tropospheric clouds. Our theoretical studies suggest that the water vapor concentration can be retrieved to within 1-3 gm-3 and the column integrated water vapor can be retrieved to within 1 kgm-2. The high-frequency radar is only recently enabled by technological advances that have allowed us to demonstrate 0.5 W of continuous power near 183 GHz. We are currently developing an airborne DAR using a Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) architecture with a quasi-optical duplexer providing 80 dB of transmit/receive isolation. A prototype of this instrument recently made the first ever range resolved DAR measurements of humidity out to several hundred meters during a light rain event at JPL. The spectral dependence of the attenuation was in excellent agreement with the predicted attenuation based on nearby weather stations, proving for the first time the feasibility of the concept. A major impediment to implementing DAR is the international regulation of radio-frequency transmissions below 300 GHz. The major roadblocks and potential

  5. Radar reflection off extensive air showers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Werner F.

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available We investigate the possibility of detecting extensive air showers by the radar technique. Considering a bistatic radar system and different shower geometries, we simulate reflection of radio waves off the static plasma produced by the shower in the air. Using the Thomson cross-section for radio wave reflection, we obtain the time evolution of the signal received by the antennas. The frequency upshift of the radar echo and the power received are studied to verify the feasibility of the radar detection technique.

  6. NCAR Earth Observing Laboratory - An End-to-End Observational Science Enterprise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rockwell, A.; Baeuerle, B.; Grubišić, V.; Hock, T. F.; Lee, W. C.; Ranson, J.; Stith, J. L.; Stossmeister, G.

    2017-12-01

    Researchers who want to understand and describe the Earth System require high-quality observations of the atmosphere, ocean, and biosphere. Making these observations not only requires capable research platforms and state-of-the-art instrumentation but also benefits from comprehensive in-field project management and data services. NCAR's Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) is an end-to-end observational science enterprise that provides leadership in observational research to scientists from universities, U.S. government agencies, and NCAR. Deployment: EOL manages the majority of the NSF Lower Atmosphere Observing Facilities, which includes research aircraft, radars, lidars, profilers, and surface and sounding systems. This suite is designed to address a wide range of Earth system science - from microscale to climate process studies and from the planet's surface into the Upper Troposphere/Lower Stratosphere. EOL offers scientific, technical, operational, and logistics support to small and large field campaigns across the globe. Development: By working closely with the scientific community, EOL's engineering and scientific staff actively develop the next generation of observing facilities, staying abreast of emerging trends, technologies, and applications in order to improve our measurement capabilities. Through our Design and Fabrication Services, we also offer high-level engineering and technical expertise, mechanical design, and fabrication to the atmospheric research community. Data Services: EOL's platforms and instruments collect unique datasets that must be validated, archived, and made available to the research community. EOL's Data Management and Services deliver high-quality datasets and metadata in ways that are transparent, secure, and easily accessible. We are committed to the highest standard of data stewardship from collection to validation to archival. Discovery: EOL promotes curiosity about Earth science, and fosters advanced understanding of the

  7. HF Radar Sea-echo from Shallow Water

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josh Kohut

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available HF radar systems are widely and routinely used for the measurement of ocean surface currents and waves. Analysis methods presently in use are based on the assumption of infinite water depth, and may therefore be inadequate close to shore where the radar echo is strongest. In this paper, we treat the situation when the radar echo is returned from ocean waves that interact with the ocean floor. Simulations are described which demonstrate the effect of shallow water on radar sea-echo. These are used to investigate limits on the existing theory and to define water depths at which shallow-water effects become significant. The second-order spectral energy increases relative to the first-order as the water depth decreases, resulting in spectral saturation when the waveheight exceeds a limit defined by the radar transmit frequency. This effect is particularly marked for lower radar transmit frequencies. The saturation limit on waveheight is less for shallow water. Shallow water affects second-order spectra (which gives wave information far more than first-order (which gives information on current velocities, the latter being significantly affected only for the lowest radar transmit frequencies for extremely shallow water. We describe analysis of radar echo from shallow water measured by a Rutgers University HF radar system to give ocean wave spectral estimates. Radar-derived wave height, period and direction are compared with simultaneous shallow-water in-situ measurements.

  8. New Cloud and Precipitation Research Avenues Enabled by low-cost Phased-array Radar Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kollias, P.; Oue, M.; Fridlind, A. M.; Matsui, T.; McLaughlin, D. J.

    2017-12-01

    For over half a century, radars operating in a wide range of frequencies have been the primary source of observational insights of clouds and precipitation microphysics and dynamics and contributed to numerous significant advancements in the field of cloud and precipitation physics. The development of multi-wavelength and polarization diversity techniques has further strengthened the quality of microphysical and dynamical retrievals from radars and has assisted in overcoming some of the limitations imposed by the physics of scattering. Atmospheric radars have historically employed a mechanically-scanning dish antenna and their ability to point to, survey, and revisit specific points or regions in the atmosphere is limited by mechanical inertia. Electronically scanned, or phased-array, radars capable of high-speed, inertialess beam steering, have been available for several decades, but the cost of this technology has limited its use to military applications. During the last 10 years, lower power and lower-cost versions of electronically scanning radars have been developed, and this presents an attractive and affordable new tool for the atmospheric sciences. The operational and research communities are currently exploring phased array advantages in signal processing (i.e. beam multiplexing, improved clutter rejection, cross beam wind estimation, adaptive sensing) and science applications (i.e. tornadic storm morphology studies). Here, we will present some areas of atmospheric research where inertia-less radars with ability to provide rapid volume imaging offers the potential to advance cloud and precipitation research. We will discuss the added value of single phased-array radars as well as networks of these radars for several problems including: multi-Doppler wind retrieval techniques, cloud lifetime studies and aerosol-convection interactions. The performance of current (dish) and future (e-scan) radar systems for these atmospheric studies will be evaluated using

  9. Impact of dual-polarization radar technology and Twitter on the Hattiesburg, Mississippi tornado.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cates, Alexis L; Arnold, Brent W; Cooper, Guy Paul; Yeager, Violet; Stake, Josh; Ali, Mohammed; Calderone, Richard C; Wilkinson, James; Hsu, Edbert; Parrillo, Steven; Piper, Steven; Subbarao, Italo

    2013-12-01

    Dual-Polarization Radar and Twitter were analyzed to determine the impact on injuries sustained by the Hattiesburg EF-4 tornado. Tracking data provided from the Dual-Pol radar systems in National Weather Service Jackson were reviewed. Twitter data from four local Twitter handles were obtained. The change in tweets and followers for the day of the storm were compared to historical averages. A Student t-test was utilized in determining statistical significance (ptornado. An Injury Severity Score (ISS) was calculated for trauma records related to the tornado. Radar detection of the tornado gave approximately 30 minutes of advanced warning time. Statistical significance in follower growth was seen in all four Twitter handles. Out of 50 patients, the average ISS was 3.9 with a range of 1 to 29. There were zero fatalities. An ISS average of 3.9 was significantly less than two previous tornadoes of similar strength that occurred prior to increased usage of Dual-pol radar and Twitter as a means for communicating severe weather information. Early detection from Dual-pol radar improved warning time. Tweets informed citizens to seek appropriate shelter. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;7:585-592).

  10. Marine X-band Weather Radar Data Calibration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thorndahl, Søren Liedtke; Rasmussen, Michael R.

    2012-01-01

    estimates. This paper presents some of the challenges in small marine X-band radar calibration by comparing three calibration procedures for assessing the relationship between radar and rain gauge data. Validation shows similar results for precipitation volumes but more diverse results on peak rain......Application of weather radar data in urban hydrology is evolving and radar data is now applied for both modelling, analysis, and real time control purposes. In these contexts, it is allimportant that the radar data is well calibrated and adjusted in order to obtain valid quantitative precipitation...

  11. Raindrop size distribution and radar reflectivity-rain rate relationships for radar hydrology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Uijlenhoet, R.

    2001-01-01

    The conversion of the radar reflectivity factor Z (mm6m-3) to rain rate R (mm h-1) is a crucial step in the hydrological application of weather radar measurements. It has been common practice for over 50 years now to take for this conversion a simple power law relationship between Z and R. It is the

  12. A Radar/Radiometer Instrument for Mapping Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hildebrand, Peter H.; Hilliard, Laurence; Rincon, Rafael; LeVine, David; Mead, James

    2003-01-01

    The RadSTAR instrument combines an L-band, digital beam-forming radar with an L-band synthetic aperture, thinned array (STAR) radiometer. The RadSTAR development will support NASA Earth science goals by developing a novel, L-band scatterometer/ radiometer that measures Earth surface bulk material properties (surface emissions and backscatter) as well as surface characteristics (backscatter). Present, real aperture airborne L-Band active/passive measurement systems such as the JPUPALS (Wilson, et al, 2000) provide excellent sampling characteristics, but have no scanning capabilities, and are extremely large; the huge JPUPALS horn requires a the C-130 airborne platform, operated with the aft loading door open during flight operation. The approach used for the upcoming Aquarius ocean salinity mission or the proposed Hydros soil mission use real apertures with multiple fixed beams or scanning beams. For real aperture instruments, there is no upgrade path to scanning over a broad swath, except rotation of the whole aperture, which is an approach with obvious difficulties as aperture size increases. RadSTAR will provide polarimetric scatterometer and radiometer measurements over a wide swath, in a highly space-efficient configuration. The electronic scanning approaches provided through STAR technology and digital beam forming will enable the large L-band aperture to scan efficiently over a very wide swath. RadSTAR technology development, which merges an interferometric radiometer with a digital beam forming scatterometer, is an important step in the path to space for an L-band scatterometer/radiometer. RadSTAR couples a patch array antenna with a 1.26 GHz digital beam forming radar scatterometer and a 1.4 GHz STAR radiometer to provide Earth surface backscatter and emission measurements in a compact, cross-track scanning instrument with no moving parts. This technology will provide the first L-band, emission and backscatter measurements in a compact aircraft instrument

  13. Low-Cost Mini Radar: Design Prototyping and Tests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dario Tarchi

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Radar systems are largely employed for surveillance of wide and remote areas; the recent advent of drones gives the opportunity to exploit radar sensors on board of unmanned aerial platforms. Nevertheless, whereas drone radars are currently available for military applications, their employment in the civilian domain is still limited. The present research focuses on design, prototyping, and testing of an agile, low-cost, mini radar system, to be carried on board of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPAs or tethered aerostats. In particular, the paper faces the challenge to integrate the in-house developed radar sensor with a low-cost navigation board, which is used to estimate attitude and positioning data. In fact, a suitable synchronization between radar and navigation data is essential to properly reconstruct the radar picture whenever the platform is moving or the radar is scanning different azimuthal sectors. Preliminary results, relative to tests conducted in preoperational conditions, are provided and exploited to assert the suitable consistency of the obtained radar pictures. From the results, there is a high consistency between the radar images and the picture of the current environment emerges; finally, the comparison of radar images obtained in different scans shows the stability of the platform.

  14. ISAR imaging using the instantaneous range instantaneous Doppler method

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Wazna, TM

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available In Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) imaging, the Range Instantaneous Doppler (RID) method is used to compensate for the nonuniform rotational motion of the target that degrades the Doppler resolution of the ISAR image. The Instantaneous Range...

  15. Radar signal analysis and processing using Matlab

    CERN Document Server

    Mahafza, Bassem R

    2008-01-01

    Offering radar-related software for the analysis and design of radar waveform and signal processing, this book provides comprehensive coverage of radar signals and signal processing techniques and algorithms. It contains numerous graphical plots, common radar-related functions, table format outputs, and end-of-chapter problems. The complete set of MATLAB[registered] functions and routines are available for download online.

  16. Radar efficiency and the calculation of decade-long PMSE backscatter cross-section for the Resolute Bay VHF radar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Swarnalingam

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available The Resolute Bay VHF radar, located in Nunavut, Canada (75.0° N, 95.0° W and operating at 51.5 MHz, has been used to investigate Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes (PMSE since 1997. PMSE are a unique form of strong coherent radar echoes, and their understanding has been a challenge to the scientific community since their discovery more than three decades ago. While other high latitude radars have recorded strong levels of PMSE activities, the Resolute Bay radar has observed relatively lower levels of PMSE strengths. In order to derive absolute measurements of PMSE strength at this site, a technique is developed to determine the radar efficiency using cosmic (sky noise variations along with the help of a calibrated noise source. VHF radars are only rarely calibrated, but determination of efficiency is even less common. Here we emphasize the importance of efficiency for determination of cross-section measurements. The significant advantage of this method is that it can be directly applied to any MST radar system anywhere in the world as long as the sky noise variations are known. The radar efficiencies for two on-site radars at Resolute Bay are determined. PMSE backscatter cross-section is estimated, and decade-long PMSE strength variations at this location are investigated. It was noticed that the median of the backscatter cross-section distribution remains relatively unchanged, but over the years a great level of variability occurs in the high power tail of the distribution.

  17. Diurnal evolution of wind structure and data availability measured by the DOE prototype radar system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirth, Brian D.; Schroeder, John L.; Guynes, Jerry G.

    2017-11-01

    A new Doppler radar prototype has been developed and deployed at Texas Tech University with a focus on enhancing the technologies’ capability to contribute to wind plant relevant complex flow measurements. In particular, improvements in data availability, total data coverage, and autonomous operation were targeted to enable contributions to a wider range of wind energy applications. Doppler radar offers rapid scan speeds, extended maximum range and excellent along-beam range resolution allowing for the simultaneous measurement of various wind phenomena ranging from regional and wind plant scales to inflow and wake flow assessment for an individual turbine. Data examples and performance improvements relative to a previous edition of the technology are presented, including insights into the influence of diurnal atmospheric stability evolution of wind structure and system performance.

  18. Wind farm radar study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davies, N.G.

    1995-01-01

    This report examines the possible degradations of radar performance that may be caused by the presence of a wind turbine generator within the radar coverage area. A brief literature survey reviews the previously published work, which is mainly concerned with degradation of broadcast TV reception. Estimates are made of wind turbine generator scattering cross-sections, and of the time and Doppler characteristics of the echo signals from representative wind turbine generator. The general characteristics of radar detection and tracking methods are described, and the behaviour of such systems in the presence of strong returns from a wind turbine generator (or an array of them) is discussed. (author)

  19. Radar techniques using array antennas

    CERN Document Server

    Wirth, Wulf-Dieter

    2013-01-01

    Radar Techniques Using Array Antennas is a thorough introduction to the possibilities of radar technology based on electronic steerable and active array antennas. Topics covered include array signal processing, array calibration, adaptive digital beamforming, adaptive monopulse, superresolution, pulse compression, sequential detection, target detection with long pulse series, space-time adaptive processing (STAP), moving target detection using synthetic aperture radar (SAR), target imaging, energy management and system parameter relations. The discussed methods are confirmed by simulation stud

  20. Basic Radar Altimetry Toolbox: Tools and Tutorial to Use Cryosat Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benveniste, J.; Bronner, E.; Dinardo, S.; Lucas, B. M.; Rosmorduc, V.; Earith, D.; Niemeijer, S.

    2011-12-01

    Radar altimetry is very much a technique expanding its applications. Even If quite a lot of effort has been invested for oceanography users, the use of Altimetry data for cryosphere application, especially with the new ESA CryoSat-2 mission data is still somehow tedious for new Altimetry data products users. ESA and CNES therfore developed the Basic Radar Altimetry Toolbox a few years ago, and are improving and upgrading it to fit new missions and the growing number of altimetry uses. The Basic Radar Altimetry Toolbox is an "all-altimeter" collection of tools, tutorials and documents designed to facilitate the use of radar altimetry data. The software is able: - to read most distributed radar altimetry data, from ERS-1 & 2, Topex/Poseidon, Geosat Follow-on, Jason-1, Envisat, Jason- 2, CryoSat, the future Saral missions and is ready for adaptation to Sentinel-3 products - to perform some processing, data editing and statistic, - and to visualize the results. It can be used at several levels/several ways: - as a data reading tool, with APIs for C, Fortran, Matlab and IDL - as processing/extraction routines, through the on-line command mode - as an educational and a quick-look tool, with the graphical user interface As part of the Toolbox, a Radar Altimetry Tutorial gives general information about altimetry, the technique involved and its applications, as well as an overview of past, present and future missions, including information on how to access data and additional software and documentation. It also presents a series of data use cases, covering all uses of altimetry over ocean, cryosphere and land, showing the basic methods for some of the most frequent manners of using altimetry data. It is an opportunity to teach remote sensing with practical training. It has been available since April 2007, and had been demonstrated during training courses and scientific meetings. About 2000 people downloaded it (Summer 2011), with many "newcomers" to altimetry among them