WCR3 TEST (wcr3test15) September 2015 - May 2016 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 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. This is the first time installation of WCR3 on the King Air ................................................................................ Radar Status/Problems * Preparation of the radar = use 2 additional new EMS switches for Rx protecton - The new EMS drivers are slower and required adding 3.5 us delay from the time they were closed to the time they are opened for Rx data reception. This results in about 500 m reduction in the available radar maximum range - The reading of the warm and hot loads were swapped. This had to be done because the new switches are warm loads and controlled the same as the old warm loads. The hot load switches are bracketed by the the warm load switch and therefore they have to be open when reading the hot loads. In the past the warm loads were read/closed first since the old warm loads are located before the hot loads w.r.t. the receivers. = use a new RCB - it utilizes new driver chips (NS74AS1034), which provide lower output voltage (about 2.5 VDC) = installed and use a new scope card (inRF unit), which replaces the WCR2 oscilloscope; - this card provides uncalibrated sample of the Tx transmit power by measuring and digitizing the average value b/w the Tx pulse top and bottom (level outside the Tx pulse) - this card communicates with the data system via WCR3 Intranet = installed and use 12VDC Ethernet switch to provide 2 ports needed for the RCB and scope card Intranet connections = install and use a new 12 VDC power supply for the scopecrad and the Ethernet switch = Tx Modulators - the RCB driver chip provides marginal voltage/current to trigger the modulator (trigger chip in the controller is SN74HC14N schmidt trigger chip) - tested Modulator2 with a selected SN74HC14 chip that triggers at lower voltage and it also seems to work fine - we tested Modulator1 with a small voltage divider circuit and a 5 VDC to boost the input voltage to the SN74HC14 chip - the circuit creates positive and negative overshoots (<1VDC) but seem to be working ok. Then this circuit was removed and a new SN74HCT14N, allowing for a lower triggering voltage, was tested. Modulator1 worked fine and was left with the new chip. - tested Modulator2 and Modulator3 with a couple of SN74HCT14N chips - both modulators worked fine - for the first flight installed Modulator2 with SN74HCT14N chip - Modulator3 leaking connectors were ProSealed = install and use new data acquistion system from ProSensing - ferret: new host/server computer (debian 7) - new data acquisition and display software - new data format and new FFT/PP hybrid mode is provided - ermine: new client computer for running the display gui (debian 8) = Nov 23 - replaced Modulator 2 with Modulator 1 = Dec 02 - replaced Modulator 1 with Modulator 3; no faults during ground test in early December and 'Dec16_KAonground' test Modulator 3 flown for the rest of the flights = Apr 05 - Joe Harney from ProSensing fixed a bug causing the "Roll File" . button in the WCR control web page to hang the radar server. The update is installed using a deb file for server version 1_2_2. This update also fixed a minor bug causing the server software version tring not to be updated. = May 03 - Replaced the two ZFL-1000LN amplifiers (11.2 and 11.3) with ZX60-33LN amplifiers and added two limiters VLM-52-S to limit the maximum Pentek input power to +9dBm. Also removed the 1.75dB attenuator before the passband filter 9.6. Replaced the 4dB attenuator after 12.1 amp with 2dB attenuator and replaced the 7dB attenuator after 12.2 amp with a 3 dB attenuator. All these changes resulted in extending the WCR receivers dynamic range by about 10 dB with saturation level starting at +8dBm (the Pentek limit). * Log: general and for specific flights: = For all flights the Modulator status word is occasionally corrupted caused by an interference ______ Nov 12 = mirror selection is wrong (up selects side and vice versa) Fixed by ProSensing - 16 Nov 2015 = mirror selection is not locked when radar is in 'run' or 'recording' Fixed by ProSensing - 16 Nov 2015 = various minor problems in WCR3 display(scopeview) = beams are scrambled when running FFT modes ______ Nov 24 = Modulator 1 worked without problems during the whole flight = Recorded mostly FFT3 and FFT4 modes including raw I/Q data files for processing to try to debug the beam scrambling when running FFT ______ Dec 17 - in preparation for the RF03 (Zane was LOD) the radar had a problem. When in running w/ Tx in Ready the leak was a wide pulse (~2us) with its the top jittering several dB (upconverter switch ?, RCB ?). Restarting the radar server fixed the problem. ______ Mar 07 - ferret had to be rebooted after some issue with the server software, which stopped updating the file size in the control web page and did not restart recording after Roll file was pressed. ______ apr01 - it was established that starting a new file with "Roll File" button from WCR3 control page hangs the radar server. Joe Harney from ProSensing found and fixed the bugs. The update is made using a deb file for server version 1_2_2. This update also fixed a minor bug causing the server software version string not to be updated ................................................................................ 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 (mmmDD) as mostly 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. 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 are available via the Internet. They may be protected with a password. Contact the PI for access. ................................................................................ Calibration notes: **************************************************************************** Power Calibration: * Calibration constants used: see wcr3conf_wcr3data.pro * Notes: 1) I am using the cal constants from OWLES13 corrected for estimated additional loss of 1 dB due to the new switches. See TEST14 raw/Jun18 CRcal data. 2) 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. 3) 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. 4) Cross-channel/antenna isolation: up/side antenna h-pol-to-v-pol is better than 30 dB all other antennas: is greater than 50 dB: 5) Saturation at close range for strong targets starts at about 2 dBm (the ZFL-1000 amplifier is the limitting device). The data from the first several range gates (up to ~300 m) may be saturated for the up/side and down antennas when the cloud/precip return exeeds approximately +24 dBZ. Surface return for up to ~6 km AGL may have pixels(data points) in the saturation range (0 to ~2.7 dBm). The percentage of saturated profiles decreases with range and is small at large ranges. 6) The reflectivity from first two or three rangates may be either slightly undervalued for strong echoes or slightly overvalued for very week echoes; this needs more data to confirm, but it is expected the error is no more than 2-3 dB. **************************************************************************** Beam angles calibration: * Unit beam angles(in AC coordinates): use Applanix AV410 (see wcr3conf_wcr3test.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 within 0.4 deg for Honeywell IRS and about 0.1 deg for Applanix. 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 KA data system time server. The recorded time stamps are UTC time. * 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: ************************************************************************** nov12 (rf01, Ed Sigel,Sharon Sullivan,L.Oolman,Damao Zhang): Total data: 4.4 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 489M wcr-20151112-182331.cpp/200 S,D,D beamcal right turn +44-45 183209-183405, 184106-184306 left turn -44.5 183441-183649, 184354-184613 86M wcr-20151112-184831.cpp/250 D,D 65M wcr-20151112-185420.cpp/250 S,D RMP_H1(side) spikes>1dB side beam hitting ground 26M wcr-20151112-185849.cpp/250 S,D,D RMP_H1 is clean 190M wcr-20151112-190124.cpp/250 S,D RMP_H1(side) spikes>1dB side beam maybe hitting ground ?? timeint=30ms ??? - previous file had 100 av and it did not get updated to 180 when this config was loaded !!!!! 285M wcr-20151112-190902.cpp CPP/250 U_p,D,D nice wave cloud all FF3 side messed up - H1H1=H2H2 501M wcr-20151112-191557.fft3/250,S,D,D 3.84MB/s, 501MB(130s) 501M wcr-20151112-191807.fft3/250,S,D,D timeflg=40 irigtime[1348:1351]=0.0 hosttime[1206] as expected (dt=0.096) hosttime[1207] jumped 8.8 ms(dt=0.105) hosttime[1208] jumed back 17.6ms(dt=0.088) and hosttime[1209] returned to normal(dt=0.096) 132M wcr-20151112-192018.fft3/250,S,D,D all FF4 up messed up - H1H1/H1V1=H2H2, V1V1/V1H1=V2V2 217M wcr-20151112-192203.fft4/250 U_p,D,D 5.75MB/s 501M wcr-20151112-192241.fft4/250 U_p,D,D 5.75MB/s, 501MB(87s) 501M wcr-20151112-192408.fft4/250 U_p,D,D last 5 sec DeckFault/Fault2 255M wcr-20151112-192535.fft4/250 U_p,D,D all DeckFault/Fault2 501M wcr-20151112-193058.cpp /250 U,D,D some clouds, TxLeak/spike in up 206M wcr-20151112-194758.cpp /250 U,D,D some clouds, TxLeak/spike in up ************************************************************************** nov24 (rf02, Ed Sigel,L.Oolman,Brent Glover, Sam Haimov): Total data: 817 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 59M wcr-20151124-170655.fft2/250 U_p 31M wcr-20151124-171255.fft3/250 U,D,D 25M wcr-20151124-171413.fft3/250 U,D,D 194M wcr-20151124-171816.fft4/250 U_p,D,D 39M wcr-20151124-172159.fft4/250 U_p,D,D 148M wcr-20151124-172251.cpp /250 U_p,D,D 52M wcr-20151124-173217.fft3/250 U,D,D 46M wcr-20151124-173406.fft4/250 U_p,D,D 52M wcr-20151124-173610.fft3/250 U,D,D 19M wcr-20151124-173836.fft4/250 U_p,D,D 76M wcr-20151124-173916.fft4/250 U_p,D,D 81M wcr-20151124-174124.cpp /250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** dec17 (rf03, Ed Sigel,L.Oolman,Damao Zhang, grad student): Total data: 3.3 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 90M wcr-20151217-173538.cpp/250 U,D,D 149M wcr-20151217-174119.cpp/250 U,D,D upwind 116M wcr-20151217-174538.cpp/250 U_p,D,D downwind 501M wcr-20151217-175039.fft3/250 U,D,D upwind 55M wcr-20151217-175249.fft3/250 U,D,D upwind 113M wcr-20151217-175342.cpp/250 U_p,D,D downwind 91M wcr-20151217-175735.cpp/250 U,D,D upwind 501M wcr-20151217-180241.fft4/250 U_p,D,D downwind 193M wcr-20151217-180408.fft4/250 U_p,D,D downwind 501M wcr-20151217-180740.cpp/250 U,D,D 389M wcr-20151217-182441.cpp/250 U,D,D 281M wcr-20151217-184232.cpp/200 S,D,D beamcal left turn -44.4 184541-184758 right turn 44.1 185250-185457 301M wcr-20151217-185701.cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan20 (rf04; KPR tf01 ): Total data: 819 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 66M wcr-20160120-190917.spp/250 U,D,D 501M wcr-20160120-191309.cpp/250 U,D,D 253M wcr-20160120-194343.cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** jan25 (rf05; KPR tf02 ): Total data: 557 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 501M wcr-20160125-213349.cpp/250 U,D,D 56M wcr-20160125-220423.cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** mar04 (rf06; Drew, Oolman, Damao, student): test in situ probes Total data: 298 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 296M wcr-20160304-190013.cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** mar07 (rf07; , Oolman, Damao, student): test in situ probes Total data: 3.0 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 855K wcr-20160307-215032.cpp/250 U,D,D 501M wcr-20160307-221228.cpp/250 U,D,D 501M wcr-20160307-222928.cpp/250 U,D,D 501M wcr-20160307-224629.cpp/250 U,D,D 501M wcr-20160307-230329.cpp/250 U,D,D 120M wcr-20160307-232030.cpp/250 U,D,D ; scopeview stopped updating ; the file size; roll file ; did not restart a new file ; ferret was rebooted 501M wcr-20160307-233228.cpp/250 U,D,D 409M wcr-20160307-234928.cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** mar28 (rf08; Ed Sigel, Nick Guy, Min Den, Decheng Wu): TF01 zenith FOV lidar Total data: 364 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 364M wcr-20160328-214742.cpp/250 U,D,D no data; Tx was left OFF ************************************************************************** apr01 (rf09; Ed Sigel, Nick Guy, Min Den, Decheng Wu): TF02 zenith FOV lidar mostly clear air data Total data: 475 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 217M wcr-20160401-163823.cpp/250 U,D,D 162M wcr-20160401-164545.cpp/250 U,D,D 69M wcr-20160401-165540.cpp/250 U,D,D 29M wcr-20160401-165833.cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** apr14 (rf10; Ed Sigel, Nick Guy, Min Den, Decheng Wu): TF03 zenith FOV lidar mostly clear air data Total data: 1.7 GB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 284M wcr-20160414-182340.cpp/250 U,D,D 330M wcr-20160414-183441.cpp/250 U,D,D 331M wcr-20160414-184741.cpp/250 U,D,D 298M wcr-20160414-190556.cpp/250 U,D,D 312M wcr-20160414-191732.cpp/250 U,D,D 144M wcr-20160414-192843.cpp/250 U,D,D ************************************************************************** may03 (LAR hangar ground tests after replacing the the 11.2 and 11.3 amps) Total data: 50 MB Alg/Pulse Antennas Notes 24M wcr-20160503-213545.cpp - test with 3dB and 4dB attenuators ground target till 21:40 then sky 26M wcr-20160503-215758.cpp - test with 2dB and 3dB attenuators (final) sky till 22:08 then ground target **************************************************************************