Loglinear Group, LLC

Foster-miller, Inc.

Mark Henderson

Marshall Bradley

An airborne wind profiling portable radar (AWiPPR) system comprising a mobile airborne platform including one or more navigation units configured to produce navigation data including at least the position and orientation of the mobile airborne platform. A radar unit is mounted and positioned to the mobile airborne platform, the radar unit is configured to transmit a wide-band frequency modulated continuous wave radar signal in a downward direction from the mobile airborne platform towards the ground and configured to continuously receive a reflected signal from a plurality of clear air scatters (CAS) targets or volumetric targets and output radar data. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) in communication with the one or more navigation units and the radar unit is configured to receive the navigation data and determine the position and orientation of the radar at a specific point in time and output IMU data. A data acquisition unit in communication with the radar unit and the IMU is configured to receive and time align radar data and the IMU data for each reflected signal from each of the plurality of CAS targets or volumetric targets to provide an antenna pointing direction for each received reflected signal. The data acquisition unit is configured to process the time aligned radar data and IMU data to determine a distance and a Doppler velocity of each of the plurality of CAS targets or volumetric targets, provide a range, a velocity, and an antenna pointing direction for each of the plurality of CAS targets or volumetric targets, and calculate a vector wind velocity using the range, the velocity, and the antenna pointing direction for each of the plurality of CAS targets or volumetric scatters targets. The data acquisition unit may be configured to further correct the range, the velocity, and/or the antenna pointing direction of each of the plurality of CAS targets or volumetric targets to accommodate for a motion shift in data produced by one or more of: a relative motion and orientation of the mobile airborne platform, a Doppler spread in the range, the velocity and/or the antenna pointing direction, and a ground echo.

Airborne wind profiling portable radar system and method

A single beam frequency modulated continuous wave radar for clear air scatter (CAS) detection and method of monitoring clear air scatterers are provided. CAS monitoring capabilities, including the ability to estimate wind velocity and direction, are obtained using data from a single defined width beam of energy that instead of being averaged is sampled at discrete time steps over a range of altitudes.

Single beam FMCW radar wind speed and direction determination

Systems and methods for measuring wind speed and direction in clear air conditions using a wide band Doppler radar in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In one embodiment of the invention, a wide band Doppler radar system includes an antenna assembly includes at least one transmit antenna and at least one receive antenna; a transceiver connected to the antenna assembly configured to transmit a radar beam includes a transmit signal on a Ka-band carrier frequency and receive a backscattered radar beam includes a carrier frequency that is frequency shifted relative to the transmitted Ka-band carrier frequency of the backscattered radar beam; a data acquisition system connected to the transceiver configured to estimate a wind velocity vector by calculating a Doppler shift between at least one transmitted radar beam and at least one received backscattered radar beam.

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Kiln, MS, United States of America

Mark Henderson