WCR Standard Operating Modes

When installed on the King Air, the radar can be configured to operate with up to 4 antennas(see below). For installation on NSF/NCAR C130 the WCR can operate up to 3 antennas (up, down and down-aft). Typically the radar is operated with maximum range set between 1 and 6 km, minimum range of 105 m, and minimum range gate spacing of 15 m.

WCR Configurations on the KingAir

Installation:

The King Air WCR installation has 4 antennas in the following configuration.

  • Antenna1: Up (near zenith) pointing antenna with single polarization
  • Antenna2: Down (near nadir) pointing antenna with single polarization
  • Antenna3: Up-fore(~30 deg forward from zenith) pointing antenna with linear single- or dual-polarization (H/V) capability
  • Antenna4: Down-fore(~30 deg forward from nadir) pointing antenna with single polarization

Antenna configurations:

The radar can switch between the antennas on a pulse-by-pulse basis. Only Antenna 3 (up-fore) allows dual-polarization therefore any configuration that includes this antenna allows recording of its polarimetric measurements. Any combination of one to four antennas is supported.

Limitations:

A side pointing antenna is not currently supported.


Radar DSP algorithms
  • Single Antenna/Polarization Mode (SPP)

Transmit:

h-pol or v-pol of 2-pulse bursts for Antenna 3 or single-pol for any of the other 3 antennas

Receive:

co-pol and cross-pol power for Antenna 3 and co-pol only for all other antennas

Calculate:

Averaged co-(and cross- for Ant.3)pol returned power magnitude
Averaged pulse-pair retrieved phase

  • Pulse-pair mode using 2 to 12 pulse burst (CPP)

Transmit:

sequence of 2 to 12 pulses

Receive:

co-pol backscatter for each antenna and cross-pol for Antenna 3

Calculate:

Averaged received power and pulse-pair retrieved phase for pulses defined in a custome designed configuration text file; any meaningful combination of pulse pairs and received pulse power is allowed.

  • FFT Mode

Transmit:

sequence of 8 to 512 single-pol pulses for 1 to 4 antennas

Receive:

co-pol and cross-pol (optional) backscatter

Calculate:

Averaged Doppler spectra