Development of Advanced Weather Surveillance Algorithms and Techniques for Rapid Scanning Tactical Radars

This Phase I STTR proposal describes our plan to develop advanced algorithms and techniques for a weather surveillance mode for rapid scanning phased array radar system. Our company recently developed an add-on weather radar processor for the military tactical radar and demonstrated the ability of the radar to generate rapidly updated images of reflectivity and velocity in precipitation to ranges in excess of 30 km. During Phase I, we plan to develop volumetric sampling algorithms to make optimal use of the electronic scanning capability of the radar. Using previously collected raw data, we will test various clutter rejection filters off-line, and determine suitable filters for implementation in the real time processor in Phase II. We also plan to design and field test a radar calibration procedure required to produce properly calibrated reflectivity measurements. Software modifications are also planned to archive processed data in the widely accepted NetCDF format.