A Single Aperature Dual-Wavelength Dual Polarized Antenna for AWRAP

Severe weather impacts our daily lives, society and nation’s economy. From an average of $10B (2005 dollars) annual loss due to tropical cyclones since 1900 to $200B in the commercial shipping industry that is threatened by severe ocean storms to the hundreds of lives and assets being lost in the $20B recreational boating industry. In these cases and many more, accurate now-casting and forecasting could prevent these losses and reduce risks. Key observation to improve our knowledge of the weather is the ocean vector wind. NOAA is embarking on an ambitious but needed effort to launch a new satellite-based instrument called the Dual Frequency Scatterometer (DFS) that will provide accurate global mapping of the ocean vector wind in a timely manner. The Advance Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (AWRAP) can play a pivotal role for this mission by providing critical measurements to improve the geophysical model function that DFS will relay to estimate the winds. However, AWRAP requires a novel antenna to collect dual polarized, dual wavelength measurements. This proposed Phase I study will develop a single aperture, narrow beam C/Ku-band polarimetric antenna for AWRAP that will enable the acquisition of the necessary measurements from the NOAA WP-3D aircraft.