Terrain Effect on Clouds and Precipitation ? an Educational Campaign TECPEC19, 1 - 29 March 2019 Wyoming Cloud Radar Status Report Content: WCR configuration Radar Status/Problems General Notes Calibration Notes Other notes Data Files Information ................................................................................ WCR configuration: WCR3 is installed on UW King Air (UWKA) with 3-antenna configuration: Antenna 1 2,4 and polarization capability for Ant. 1. Antenna ports are: Ant1(side/up) - H1, Ant2 (near nadir) - V2, Ant4 (down-fore) - H2; H/V stands for the receiver used (there are 2 receivers). Cross-polarization channels (hxvx and vxhx,where x is 'h' or 'v') valid for Ant1 only. ................................................................................ Radar Status/Problems * Preparation and general status of WCR and KPR = 14 Jan 2019: WCR installed in the King Air = 11 Feb 2019: Broken wire in the RCB cable triggering the IRIG card is fixed and the IRIG cards is working fine = 1 Mar 2019: KPR is installed in the KingAir; issues: = have to change in private_config.pax Antenna 1 to be UP (Antenna 2 was UP for Convair installation) = the currently use LNA is S/N 1133 (G~=23.2, NF~=2.3); the original LNA S/N 1088 after repair 4/2017 (G=21.4, FN=not provided) was damaged again in Oct 2018 (at NRC) and after another repir was given to Prosensing = there is undiagnosed problem with the receiver. Data show NF ~13 dB. WL noise Reference data from TEST18 May 25: NF ~ 4-5 dB, G ~ 40 dB 30m_WLc|p=-63.0|-63.4,60m_WLc|p=-65.6|-66.5,75m_WLc|p=-66.2|-67.4 4 March 2019: NF ~13-14 dB, G ~35 dB 30m_WLc|p=-58.4|-58.7,60m_WLc|p=-60.6|-61.7,75m_WLc|p=-61.5|-62.6 = 18 Mar 2019: LNA S/N 1133 is repaired. KPR is installed in the KingAir and tested. LNA S/N 1133: NF 4.1-4.8 dB, G 39.2-41.2 dB 30m_WLc|p=-62.6|-63.1,60m_WLc|p=-65.0|-66.1,75m_WLc|p=-65.3|-66.6 = 2 Apr 2019: KPR server software update = During TECPEC KPR server failed (hang process requiring computer reboot) with I/O error. This was caused by incorrectly assigning small number of thread_averages and large number of post-averages (it should be the other way around), thus exceeding the computer resources to perform the tasks. The radar server software update fixed the bugs causing the problem. = During the debugging the above issue another (independent) issue was identified. This was a failed test of the Ka-band receiver protector switches read from the test points in the switch drivers. In this case to prevent LNA damage the radar does not fire the transmitter. This test is done once every second and therefore we do not know how many pulses are affected. This needs to be monitored for how frequently this error is issued by checking the server log: grep -B1 "bad_ems_bit_test" /ulp/log/radar.log = 3 Apr 2019: = KPR system disk is backed up to the spare sys disk = Replaced broken coax cable for Ch1 (Short Pulse) between IF and DRx = 12 Apr 2019: = KPR computer mother board X9DRL-3F-iF ver. 1.01 is replaced. The original board has a broken VGA connector (soldered to the motherboard). The new moder board identical model/version. * Log: for specific flights: = For all flights the Modulator status word is occasionally corrupted caused by an interference ______ Feb04 = WCR - IRIG card not working = KPR - not installed ______ Feb22 = WCR - radar mirror micro switches did not work will order and try new ones ______ Mar04 - KPR severely reduced sensitivity (possibly LNA problem) WCR data not recorded first ~1 hour ______ Mar05 - AC data not recorded ______ Mar07 - KPR: diagnosed that the LNA is damaged. Sent for repair. ______ Mar18 - KPR: LNA S/N 1133 repaired. KPR installed and tested. ______ Mar 21 - KPR: KPR server dies with I/O error. This is caused by software error (not identified yet) that wrongly process the INTEGRATION time by setting the THREAD_AVERAGES (averaging in the Drx) as a very small number and POST_AVERAGES (averaging in post-DRx processing) as a big number making the data rate between the DRx and the computer(processing CPUs) too high to work ______ Mar 21 - WCR: Modulator Deck Fault around 20:03:45. Recovered after recycling power. ................................................................................ General Notes: * Quick look images of reflectivity and Doppler veocity for all the flights are stored on the project WCR web site in their corresponding directories (rfXX_mmmDD) as pdf files. * WCR raw data is archived on a disk array in the UW DAS and a mass storage at NCAR. Quicklooks, dataquality, and calibration data are also archived. Level 1 and Level 2 radar processed data files in NetCDF format are available usually within 2 months after the conclusion of the experiment (preliminary version is generally available during the field campaign). The NetCDF files can be requested via a data request form on the WCR web page (select Data link under User Information). ................................................................................ Calibration notes: **************************************************************************** Power Calibration: * Calibration constants used: see wcr3conf_tecpec19.pro * Notes: 1) The absolute accuracy of the calibration constant for the "up/side" antenna(H1) is estimated to be better than 3 dB. The precision of the calibration from the corner reflector is within 1.5 dB. 2) The accuracy of the calibration constant for the rest of the beams is with respect to H1. The expected added uncertainty is about 1-2 dB. The slanted beam reflectivity uncertainty is expected to be a bit higher than the reflectivity for up, side, and down beams. 3) Cross-channel/antenna isolation: up/side antenna h-pol-to-v-pol is better than 30 dB all other antennas: greater than 50 dB: 4) No receiver saturation is expected from weather target 5) The reflectivity from first two or three rangates may be either slightly undervalued for strong echoes or slightly overvalued for very week echoes; on occasion a small hardware generated interference (spike) may be present in the first few range gates; it is estimated that the absolute error/inteference is no more than 2-3 dB. **************************************************************************** Beam angles calibration: * Unit beam angles(in AC coordinates): use Applanix AV410 (see wcr3conf_tecpec19.pro) The accuracy of the beam angles for 'up' beam is not known due to lack of calib data. The accuracy of the down beams is better than 0.1 deg King Air maneuvers for beam calibration should be done with the following considerations in mind: = preferred weather conditions: clear air, light to moderate winds = low turbulence at flight level = 3000 ft AGL flight level = 45 deg 2.5 circles in right turn and 2.5 circles in left turn = flat terrain with no ponds/lakes = no precipitation reaching the surface detected by the radar Cloud runs for checking the up beam pointing angles = light winds, deep stratiform clouds and/or very light precip are desirable = 2-3 mins passes in the middle of the cloud or precip = straight and leveled legs with up-dualdown config: -2 legs forth and back along the wind -2 legs forth and back across the wind ................................................................................ Other notes: * WCR data acquisition system (DAQ) records time stamps from an IRIG card which is slaved to the master UWKA data system time server. The recorded time stamps are UTC time using UNIX epoch. * The zero range gate (first data gate) is about 101 m (for 250 ns pulse). The far field for the 12" up/side antenna is 60 m and the far field for the 15" down-slant antenna and 18" down antenna are 91 m and 131 m, respectively. * When maximum unambiguous range is 7.5 km and the aircraft flies AGL close to that range the data can be contaminated from second trip surface echoes. * Antenna Coupling Separation for all non-polarimetric antennas is better than 50 dB, but could be less than the radar dynamic range. Coupling between down and down-aft antenna (leak into the down-aft return) as well as between up and down-aft antenna (leak into the up return) are present for strong targets (mostly surface returns). ................................................................................ WCR Data File Information: ************************************************************************** jan18 (tf09, Brett Wadsworth, Shelby Fuller, Dave Plummer, Kyle Spradley): Total data: 2.2 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 701M wcr-20190204-215039.cpp/250, U,D,D 374M wcr-20190204-221428.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190204-222709.cpp/250, U,D,D 391M wcr-20190204-225058.cpp/250, U,D,D KPR files: 0 GB (not mounted) ************************************************************************** feb22 (tf01, Tom Drew, Austin Jackson/UW Foundation, Oolman, Deng): Total data: GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 701M wcr-20190222-172922.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190222-175310.cpp/250, U,D,D 238M wcr-20190222-181659.cpp/250, U,D,D 24M wcr-20190222-182654.cpp/200, S,D,D 55M wcr-20190222-182803.cpp/200, S,D,D beamcal right turns 182810-183018 15M wcr-20190222-183044.cpp/200, S,D,D 55M wcr-20190222-183125.cpp/200, S,D,D beamcal left turns 183134-183341 4.9M wcr-20190222-183404.cpp/250, U,D,D KPR files: 0 GB (not mounted) ************************************************************************** mar04 (tf02, Tom Drew, Larry Oolman, Shreta Ghimire, Yazhe Hu (Laura)): Total data: 386 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 32M wcr-20190304-215523.cpp/250, U,D,D 151M wcr-20190304-215619.cpp/250, U,D,D 22M wcr-20190304-220051.cpp/250, U,D,D 145M wcr-20190304-220130.cpp/250, U,D,D 38M wcr-20190304-220550.cpp/250, U,D,D KPR files: 464 MB (LNA damaged, loss of sensitivity on tghe order of 10 dB) 11M kpr-20190304-204805.spp/30, U 277M kpr-20190304-212945.spp/30, U,D 177M kpr-20190304-215508.spp/30(7.5), D beamcal ************************************************************************** mar05 (tf03, Tom Drew, Larry Oolman, Coltin Grasmick, Hunter Brown): Total data: 853 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 701M wcr-20190305-212200.cpp 153M wcr-20190305-214549.cpp KPR files: 325 MB (LNA damaged, loss of sensitivity on tghe order of 10 dB) 174M kpr-20190305-205142.spp/30, U 54M kpr-20190305-212322.spp/30, U,D 50M kpr-20190305-212827.spp/60, U, D 49M kpr-20190305-214003.spp/75, U,D ************************************************************************** mar06 (rf01, Tom Drew, Bart Geerts, Larry Oolman, Melinda Hat): Total data: 1.9 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 701M Mar 6 15:12 wcr-20190306-200612.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M Mar 6 15:12 wcr-20190306-203001.cpp/250, U,D,D 485M Mar 6 15:12 wcr-20190306-205350.cpp/250, U,D,D KPR files: 703 MB (LNA damaged, loss of sensitivity on the order of 10 dB) 501M Mar 6 15:09 kpr-20190306-200858.spp/30, U 203M Mar 6 15:09 kpr-20190306-205427.spp/30, U ************************************************************************** mar08 (rf02, Tom Drew, Adam Majewski, Larry Oolman, Lin Lin): Total data: 4.0 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 701M wcr-20190308-190350.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190308-192739.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190308-195128.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190308-201516.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190308-203905.cpp/250, U,D,D 543M wcr-20190308-210254.cpp/250, U,D,D KPR: not installed; LNA sent for repair ************************************************************************** mar14 (rf03, Tom Drew, Oolman, Grasmick, and Zhang): Total data: 3.2 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 701M wcr-20190314-201156.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190314-203545.cpp/250, U,D,D 79M wcr-20190314-205934.cpp/250, U,D,D 74M wcr-20190314-210237.cpp/250, U 701M wcr-20190314-211301.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190314-213650.cpp/250, U,D,D 255M wcr-20190314-220038.cpp/250, U,D,D KPR: not installed; LNA sent for repair ************************************************************************** mar21a (rf04, Wadsworth, French, Plummer, Lambert): Total data: 5.5 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 701M wcr-20190321-141848.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190321-144237.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190321-150626.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190321-153014.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190321-155403.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190321-161752.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190321-164140.cpp/250, U,D,D 579M wcr-20190321-170529.cpp/250, U,D,D 120M wcr-20190321-172543.cpp/250, U KPR files: 1.3 GB 4.9M kpr-20190321-144220.spp/60, U,D 41M kpr-20190321-144813.spp/30, U,D 28M kpr-20190321-145213.spp/60, U,D 65M kpr-20190321-145713.spp/75, U,D 269M kpr-20190321-151110.spp/30, U,D 158M kpr-20190321-153550.spp/60, U,D 2.9M kpr-20190321-160734.spp/75, U,D 383M kpr-20190321-160827.spp/30, U,D 98M kpr-20190321-164326.spp/75, U,D 124M kpr-20190321-170426.spp/60, U,D 85M kpr-20190321-172629.spp/30, U ************************************************************************** mar21b (rf05, Wadsworth, John Lin, Plummer, Eric McNamee): Total data: 648 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 648M wcr-20190321-204637.cpp/250, U KPR files: 332 MB 5.2M kpr-20190321-195934.spp/30, U on the ground 175M kpr-20190321-204707.spp/30, U 55M kpr-20190321-211838.spp/75, U 98M kpr-20190321-214128.spp/60, U ************************************************************************** mar22 (rf06, Wadsworth, Ed Zipser, Plummer, Eric Betsill ): Total data: 4.8 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 701M wcr-20190322-201102.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190322-203451.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190322-205840.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190322-212228.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190322-214617.cpp/250, U,D,D 701M wcr-20190322-221006.cpp/250, U,D,D 625M wcr-20190322-223354.cpp/250, U,D,D KPR files: 1.3 GB 3.6M kpr-20190322-190003.spp/30, U on the ground 501M kpr-20190322-201152.spp/30, U,D 287M kpr-20190322-205720.spp/30, U,D 218M kpr-20190322-212338.spp/75, U,D 153M kpr-20190322-221024.spp/60, U,D 169M kpr-20190322-224007.spp/30, U,D ************************************************************************** mar23a (rf07, Wadsworth, Mike Wessler, Plummer, Eric Btesill ): Total data: 423 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 343M wcr-20190323-170815.cpp/250, U 80M wcr-20190323-175442.cpp/250, U KPR files: 238 GB 5.9M kpr-20190323-155742.spp/30, U on the ground 135M kpr-20190323-170423.spp/30, U 74M kpr-20190323-172844.spp/75, U 24M kpr-20190323-175920.spp/60, U ************************************************************************** mar23b (ff01, Wadsworth, Geerts, Plummer, Andy Park ): Total data: 1.7 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 262M wcr-20190323-195541.cpp/250, U,D Deck Fault after ~20:03:45 1.3M wcr-20190323-201752.cpp/250, Up 701M wcr-20190323-201852.cpp/250, U,D 701M wcr-20190323-204241.cpp/250, U,D 78M wcr-20190323-210630.cpp/250, U,D KPR files: 611 MB 3.9M kpr-20190323-190320.spp/30, U on the ground 441M kpr-20190323-195326.spp/30, U,D 117M kpr-20190323-203342.spp/60, U,D 45M kpr-20190323-205418.spp/75, U,D 4.8M kpr-20190323-210405.spp/75, U ************************************************************************** mar29 (rf08, Ed Sigel, Hunter Brown, Dave Plummer, Alice Shen): Total data: 4.3 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 2.0M wcr-20190329-183823.cpp/30, U on the ground 701M wcr-20190329-191915.cpp/250, U,D 701M wcr-20190329-194304.cpp/250, U,D 701M wcr-20190329-200652.cpp/250, U,D 701M wcr-20190329-203041.cpp/250, U,D 701M wcr-20190329-205430.cpp/250, U,D 654M wcr-20190329-211819.cpp/250, U,D 153M wcr-20190329-214045.cpp/250, U KPR files: 1.5 GB 1.7M kpr-20190329-184017.spp/30, U on the ground 5.9M kpr-20190329-184243.spp/30, U on the ground 341M kpr-20190329-192008.spp/30, U,D 189M kpr-20190329-195128.spp/60, U,D 501M kpr-20190329-202443.spp/30, U,D 331M kpr-20190329-211012.spp/30, U,D 113M kpr-20190329-214026.spp/30, U **************************************************************************