ASR-9 Weather Channel Test Report.
Abstract
The ASR-9, the next generation airport surveillance radar, will be deployed by the FAA at over 100 locations throughout the U.S.. The system includes a weather channel designed to provide ATC personnel with timely and accurate weather reflectivity information as a supplement to normal aircraft information. Issues addressed in this report are: 1) whether the ASR-9 weather channel performs according to FAA specifications; and 2) whether the ASR-9 weather channel adequately represents weather reflectivity for ATC purposes. Comparisons between data from an ASR-9 in Huntsville, AL, recorded during design qualification and testing, and data from two other 'reference' radars, were used as the basis for the assessment. Several storm cases were analyzed, comprised of stratiform rain, isolated convective storms, squall lines, and cold fronts containing multiple simultaneous convective storms. Results suggest that, with the exception of an apparent 3 dB discrepancy between the weather products of the ASR-9 and the 'reference' radars, the ASR-9 weather channel seems to perform according to FAA specifications. Although the ASR-9 products give a reasonable representation of the extent and severity of potentially hazardous weather in Huntsville, the results suggest that the static storm model used to determine beamfill corrections for the ASR-9 should be optimized for the particular climatic region in which an ASR-9 will be operated. Keywords: Fan-beam radar; Ground clutter suppression; Beamfilling compensations; Pencil-beam radar. (edc)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 03, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA211749
Entities
People
- Dean C. Puzzo
- James V. Pieronek
- Mark A. Meister
- Mark E. Weber
- Seth W. Troxel
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology