Testing new equipment including a new imbedded IRS for KPR TEST18, 21 February - 10 March 2018 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 of the radar = 12 Jan 2018: WCR3 installed in the King Air = Feb 2018: Ellipse2-N installed in KA next to Aplanix Aircraft approved antenna for Ellipse is installed on the roof of the KA using the pizza pan aft of 4th seat = Mar 2018: Ellipse2-N and GPS L1 antenna installed in the KPR head. Ellipse is wired to the cabin KPR computer using 2 twisted pairs from an existing standard PMS cable in the KA right wing = May 01, 2018 : started testing Ellipse installed in the KPR head * Log: general and for specific flights: = For all flights the Modulator status word is occasionally corrupted caused by an interference ______ May04 KPR status = several KPR files are missing between 17:28:32 and 17:41:43, while the KPR display was showing normal operation. The operator did not pay attention to the file name and size showing on the display status line. Here is a description based on the operator notes: The last file before the gap is kpr-20180504-172832.spp. It has is only 200kB (less than 1 sec of data) and is corrupted. After that the next file is kpr-20180504-174142.spp. During the gap time the operator has done 2 roll off before KPR server crashed and he rebooted before collecting 174142 file. ______ May25 WCR status = ferret could not power up and neeeded to be switched on and off (it is a soft electronic switch) before finally powering; Brent will investigate if the problem is with the switch or something else = during the flight the direct A/C (airconditioning) vent for the WCR tube was not connected. WCR ws turned off during most of the flight to prevent overheating. KPR status = KPR worked fine, but like in previous flights sometime it freezes and needs re-booting ................................................................................ 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_test18.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_pacmice16.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 86 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: ************************************************************************** feb21 (tf02, Ed Siguel, Dave Plummer, Brent Glover): Total data: 681 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes testing Ellipse2-N with WCR 160M wcr-20180221-181139.cpp/250, D,D 521M wcr-20180221-182216.cpp/250, U,D,D KPR files: GB - no KPR ************************************************************************** mar04 (tf03, Brett Wadsworth, Larry Oolman, Anna Robertson, Coltin Grasmic): Total data: 1.3 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes testing Ellipse2-N with WCR 701M wcr-20180304-204625.cpp/250, U,D,D 604M wcr-20180304-211014.cpp/250, U,D,D KPR files: GB - no KPR ************************************************************************** mar13 (tf04, B.Wadsworth, D.Plummer, Nick Potts, Mack Goldstein, Zane Little): Total data: 1.4 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes clear air flight, testing Ellipse2-N with WCR 86M wcr-20180313-155951.cpp/250, U, D,D 360M wcr-20180313-160320.cpp/250, U, D,D 701M wcr-20180313-164609.cpp/250, D,D 196M wcr-20180313-170957.cpp/250, D,D KPR files: GB - no KPR ************************************************************************** may01 (tf05, Ed.Siegel, D.Plummer, L.Oolman, Austin Morgan): Total data: 3.8 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes testing Ellipse2-N installed in KPR head cloud and precip data 8.4M wcr-20180430-161843.cpp/250, Up - ground file 701M wcr-20180501-164026.cpp/250, U, D,D 701M wcr-20180501-170415.cpp/250, U, D,D 701M wcr-20180501-172803.cpp/250, U, D,D 701M wcr-20180501-175152.cpp/250, U, D,D 701M wcr-20180501-181541.cpp/250, U, D,D 380M wcr-20180501-183929.cpp/250, U, D,D KPR files: 1.5 GB 12M kpr-20180501-153930.spp/30, U - ground file 38M kpr-20180501-163737.spp/30, U,D 25M kpr-20180501-164131.spp/60, U,D 28M kpr-20180501-164403.spp/75, U,D 58M kpr-20180501-164656.spp/30, D - 7.5 rgs 363M kpr-20180501-165110.spp/30, U,D 177M kpr-20180501-172649.spp/60, U,D 349M kpr-20180501-174349.spp/75, U,D 299M kpr-20180501-181647.spp/30, U,D 94M kpr-20180501-184614.spp/60, U,D ************************************************************************** may04 (tf06, Wadsworth, D.Plummer, B. Glover): Total data: 2.7 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes testing Ellipse2-N installed in KPR head cmprs filters and beam cal data 545M wcr-20180504-165616.cpp/250, U, D,D 115M wcr-20180504-171448.cpp/250, U, D,D 185M wcr-20180504-171841.cpp/250, U, D,D 131M wcr-20180504-172458.cpp/250, U, D,D 14M wcr-20180504-172944.cpp/200, S, D,D - beamcal 107M wcr-20180504-173022.cpp/200, S, D,D - beamcal 139M wcr-20180504-173534.cpp/200, S, D,D - beamcal 116M wcr-20180504-174219.cpp/200, S, D,D - beamcal 102M wcr-20180504-174758.cpp/200, S, D,D - beamcal 100M wcr-20180504-175255.cpp/200, S, D,D - beamcal 4.8M wcr-20180504-175747.cpp/200, S, D,D - beamcal 195M wcr-20180504-175858.cpp/250, U, D,D 136M wcr-20180504-180535.cpp/250, U, D,D 143M wcr-20180504-181012.cpp/250, U, D,D 44M wcr-20180504-181504.cpp/250, U, D,D 596M wcr-20180504-181633.cpp/250, U, D,D KPR files: 1.0 GB (also recorded raw data for cmprs filters design) Ellipse data: 16:36:57-17:28:05, 17:29:07 - 18:39:17 16M kpr-20180504-161554.spp/30, U - ground file 89M kpr-20180504-165354.spp/30, U,D 138M kpr-20180504-170235.spp/75, U,D 1.5M kpr-20180504-171532.spp/75, U,D 29M kpr-20180504-171542.spp/75, U,D 20M kpr-20180504-171828.spp/60, U,D 2.0M kpr-20180504-172019.spp/60, U,D 30M kpr-20180504-172031.spp/60, U,D 19M kpr-20180504-172325.spp/30, U,D 2.0M kpr-20180504-172512.spp/30, U,D 31M kpr-20180504-172525.spp/30, U,D 8.7M kpr-20180504-174142.spp/30, D 81M kpr-20180504-174219.spp/30, D - beamcal -30deg,174226-174412-174604 71M kpr-20180504-174757.spp/30, D - beamcal +30deg,174805-174950-175134 78M kpr-20180504-175255.spp/30, D - beamcal -30deg,175310-175457-175645 81M kpr-20180504-175825.spp/30, U,D 2.5M kpr-20180504-180618.spp/30, U,D 1.2M kpr-20180504-180634.spp/30, U,D - 30m filt straight over lake 8.8M kpr-20180504-180642.spp/30, U,D 30M kpr-20180504-180738.spp/60, U,D 1.9M kpr-20180504-181029.spp/60, U,D - 60m filt straight over lake 14M kpr-20180504-181041.spp/60, U,D 35M kpr-20180504-181203.spp/75, U,D 1.4M kpr-20180504-181517.spp/75, U,D - 75m filt straight over lake 27M kpr-20180504-181526.spp/75, U,D 193M kpr-20180504-181800.spp/30, U,D ************************************************************************** may25 (tf07, Wadsworth, D.Plummer, z. Little): Total data: 559 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes testing Ellipse2-N installed in KPR head 396M wcr-20180525-194635.cpp/250, U, D,D 163M wcr-20180525-201659.cpp/250, U, D,D KPR files: 1.1 GB Ellipse data: 19:28:58-21:28:52 5.0M kpr-20180525-191317.spp/30, U - ground file 85M kpr-20180525-194428.spp/30, U,D 23M kpr-20180525-195255.spp/60, U,D 88M kpr-20180525-195521.spp/75, U,D 192M kpr-20180525-200335.spp/75, U,D 86M kpr-20180525-202145.spp/60, U,D 146M kpr-20180525-203001.spp/30, U,D 51M kpr-20180525-204433.spp/30, D 71M kpr-20180525-204803.spp/30, D - beamcal -30deg, 204816-205010-205202 49M kpr-20180525-205301.spp/30, D - beamcal +30deg, 205304-205458-205611 74M kpr-20180525-205623.spp/30, D - beamcal -30deg, 205628-205822-210016 90M kpr-20180525-210130.spp/30, D - beamcal +30deg, 210246-210438-210632 55M kpr-20180525-210750.spp/30, U,D 38M kpr-20180525-211317.spp/60, U,D 23M kpr-20180525-211654.spp/75, U,D **************************************************************************