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At least 559 records · Page 31

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NASA NTRS1980

Stereo side-looking radar experiments

The application of side-looking radar images in geoscience fields can be enhanced when using overlapping image strips that are viewed in stereo. A question concerns the quality of stereo radar. This quality is described evaluating stereo viewability and using the concept of vertical exaggeration with sets of actual radar images. A conclusion is that currently available stereo radar data are not optimized, that therefore a better quality can be achieved if data acquisition is appropriately arranged, and that the actual limitations of stereo radar are still unexplored.

Leberl, F.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Effects of volume averaging on the line spectra of vertical velocity from multiple-Doppler radar observations

Calculations of the ratio of the true one-dimensional spectrum of vertical velocity and that measured with multiple-Doppler radar beams are presented. It was assumed that the effects of pulse volume averaging and objective analysis routines is replacement of a point measurement with a volume integral. A u and v estimate was assumed to be feasible when orthogonal radars are not available. Also, the target fluid was configured as having an infinite vertical dimension, zero vertical velocity at the top and bottom, and having homogeneous and isotropic turbulence with a Kolmogorov energy spectrum. The ratio obtained indicated that equal resolutions among radars yields a monotonically decreasing, wavenumber-dependent response function. A gain of 0.95 was demonstrated in an experimental situation with 40 levels. Possible errors introduced when using unequal resolution radars were discussed. Finally, it was found that, for some flows, the extent of attenuation depends on the number of vertical levels resolvable by the radars.

Gal-Chen, T.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Lightning propagation and flash density in squall lines as determined with radar

Lightning echo rise times and range-time variations due to discharge propagation are determined using S and L band radars, and the evolution of precipitation reflectivity and the associated lightning activity in squall lines is investigated using VHF and L band radars. The rise time of radar echoes can be explained by ionized channel propagation through the radar beams. Speeds of at least 250,000 m/s are found from measurements of the radial velocity of streamer propagation along the antenna beam. The range-time variations in lightning echoes indicate that either new ionization occurs as streamers develop into different parts of the cloud, channel delay occurs during which adequate ionization exists for radar detection, or continuing current occurs. Determinations of the lightning flash density for a squall line in the U.S. show that the maximum lightning density tends to be near the leading edge of the precipitation cores in developing cells. Long discharges are produced as a cell in the squall line develops and the total lightning density increases, although short discharges predominate. As the cell dissipates, short flashes diminish or cease and the long flashes dominate the lightning activity.

Mazur, V.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Stereo side-looking radar experiments

Leberl, F.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Radar backscattering properties of corn and soybeans at frequencies of 1.6, 4.75, and 13.3. GHz

The NASA Johnson Space Center made an observational study of the radar-backscattering properties of corn and soybeans in commercial fields in a test site in Webster County, IA. Aircraft-based radar scatterometers measured the backscattering coefficient of the crops at three frequencies, 1.6 GHz (L-band), 4.75 GHz (C-band), and 13.3 GHz (Ku-band), at 10 sensor look-angles (5 to 50 degrees from the nadir in steps of 5 degrees), and with several polarization combinations. Among other findings, it was determined that: (1) row direction differences among fields affected significantly the radar-backscattering coefficient of the fields when the radar system used like-polarization at look-angles from 5 to 25 degrees; (2) row-direction differences had no effect on radar backscattering when the system used either cross-polarization or look-angles greater than 25 degrees regardless of the polarization; (3) wet surface-soil moisture conditions resulted in significantly poorer spectral separability of the two crops as compared to dry-soil conditions; and (4) on the dry-soil date, the best channel for separating corn from soybeans was the C-band cross-polarized measurement at a look-angle of 50 degrees.

Paris, J. F.↗

NASA NTRS1983

A FMCW Radar Ranging Device for the Teleoperator Maneuvering System

A frequency-modulated continuous wave radar system is under development in the Communications Systems Branch of the Information and Electronic Systems Laboratory at Marshall Space Flight Center. The radar unit is being designed for use on the teleoperator maneuvering system. Its function is to provide millimeter-level accuracy in range and range rate measurements out to a range of thirty meters. This will facilitate soft docking with accuracy. This report is an updating of previous developments reported on this system. An innovation in the system is the utilization of a standard reference signal generated by shunting a portion of the radar energy into a shorted coaxial delay line. The regular radar target return signal is constantly compared with the reference signal to provide internal error compensation. Within a five meter range, a limit imposed by present laboratory dimensions, the radar system exhibits reliable accuracy with range error less than 0.2%.

Mcdonald, M. W.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Shuttle Imaging Radar: A/B sensors

The exciting discoveries of the Shuttle Imaging Radar-A (SIR-A) experiment prompted a refly of the instrument to be designated the Shuttle Imaging Radar-B. The SIR-B instrument will reuse the hardware flown for the SIR-A mission and add some interesting refinements. The two radar sensors are described in detail. The SIR-A and SIR-B instruments are both tailored for use on the Space Shuttle. They are physically configured to fit in the Shuttle's payload bay, are powered and cooled by shuttle systems, are controlled by the crew or from the ground, and record data on board or beam it to the ground using the orbiter's data links. The radars are designed to accommodate a range of orbiter altitudes and have built in operating modes to cover a wide variety of mission objectives. The flexibility and utility of these radars make them ideal, cost effective instruments for research in the Space Shuttle environment.

Granger, J. L.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Capabilities and limitations of existing MST radars: Colorado wind profilers

The Wave Propagation Laboratory is developing a ground-based remote sensing system called PROFILER to measure troposphere parameters currently measured in operational meteorology by radiosondes. The prototype PROFILER uses two radars for wind sounding: a 6-m radar located at Platteville, Colorado, and a 33-cm radar located at Denver's Stapleton International Airport. In addition, a network of three 6-m wind-profiling radars is being installed in Colorado, and a fourth site is planned. The location of the five radars, their characteristics, and their limitations are described.

Strauch, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Data processing techniques used with MST radars: A review

The data processing methods used in high power radar probing of the middle atmosphere are examined. The radar acts as a spatial filter on the small scale refractivity fluctuations in the medium. The characteristics of the received signals are related to the statistical properties of these fluctuations. A functional outline of the components of a radar system is given. Most computation intensive tasks are carried out by the processor. The processor computes a statistical function of the received signals, simultaneously for a large number of ranges. The slow fading of atmospheric signals is used to reduce the data input rate to the processor by coherent integration. The inherent range resolution of the radar experiments can be improved significant with the use of pseudonoise phase codes to modulate the transmitted pulses and a corresponding decoding operation on the received signals. Commutability of the decoding and coherent integration operations is used to obtain a significant reduction in computations. The limitations of the processors are outlined. At the next level of data reduction, the measured function is parameterized by a few spectral moments that can be related to physical processes in the medium. The problems encountered in estimating the spectral moments in the presence of strong ground clutter, external interference, and noise are discussed. The graphical and statistical analysis of the inferred parameters are outlined. The requirements for special purpose processors for MST radars are discussed.

Rastogi, P. K.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Development and characterization analysis of a radar polarimeter

The interaction of electromagnetic waves with natural earth surface was of interest for many years. A particular area of interest in controlled remote sensing experiments is the phenomena of depolarization. The development stages of the radar system are documented. Also included are the laboratory procedures which provides some information about the specifications of the system. The radar system developed is termed the Radar Polarimeter System. A better insight of the operation of the RPS in terms of the newly developed technique--synthetic aperture radar system is provided. System performance in tems of radar cross section, in terms of power, and in terms of signal to noise ratio are also provided. In summary, an overview of the RPS in terms of its operation and design as well as how it will perform in the field is provided.

Bong, S.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Radar analyses of mesoscale meteorological phenomena during the AVE/VAS correlation field experiment

Radar data were collected during the selected critical times of the field experiment and subsequently analyzed for specific items. The analyses of the radar data for the AVE/VAS experiment provided statistically significant values for each of the 10 Km by 10 Km grids within radar range. The resulting information for correlation with satellite data included the following derived items that were averaged for each grid area: (1) rainfall rate in mm/hr; (2) dBZ (reflectivity) values; (3) accumulated rainfall values per hour; (4) accumulated rainfall values for a 6-hour period; (5) vertically integrated liquid water content per square meter; and (6) vertical height of the radar axis at the midpoint of each grid. Additional products derived from radar data are being investigated. An example of one such product is the derivation of the errors in integrated rainfall with different sampling periods. This is of significance for correlation with satellite data in that normally a step-function type of rainfall rate is used to derive the total rainfall over a period.

Huebner, G. L.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Shuttle Imaging Radar - Geologic applications

The Space Shuttle, on its second flight (November 12, 1981), carried the first science and applications payload which provided an early demonstration of Shuttle's research capabilities. One of the experiments, the Shuttle Imaging Radar-A (SIR-A), had as a prime objective to evaluate the capability of spaceborne imaging radars as a tool for geologic exploration. The results of the experiment will help determine the value of using the combination of space radar and Landsat imagery for improved geologic analysis and mapping. Preliminary analysis of the Shuttle radar imagery with Seasat and Landsat imagery from similar areas provides evidence that spaceborne radars can significantly complement Landsat interpretation, and vastly improve geologic reconnaissance mapping in those areas of the world that are relatively unmapped because of perpetual cloud cover.

Macdonald, H.↗

NASA NTRS1984

A generalized analysis of dual-polarization radar measurements of rain

In the study of meteorological phenomena by radar, it has been shown that dual-polarization radar measurements can yield useful data about precipitation structures within the radar beam. The techniques available for dual-polarized radar measurement are differential reflectivity, or Z(DR), linear depolarization ratio (LDR), and circular depolarization ratio (CDR). This paper presents a theoretical analysis of backscattering from a volume filled with raindrops using Rayleigh scattering theory. A generalized radar equation is given in matrix form, and the dependence of backscatter measurements in terms of a rainstorm model including raindrop shape, size, and canting angle is examined. Calculated results which show the dependence of Z(DR) on beam elevation angle and polarization angle are presented. Some results for LDR and CDR are presented, showing how these quantities depend on raindrop parameters.

Stapor, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Radar image registration and rectification

Two techniques for radar image registration and rectification are presented. In the registration method, a general 2-D polynomial transform is defined to accomplish the geometric mapping from one image into the other. The degree and coefficients of the polynomial are obtained using an a priori found tiepoint data set. In the second part of the paper, a rectification procedure is developed that models the distortion present in the radar image in terms of the radar sensor's platform parameters and the topographic variations of the imaged scene. This model, the ephemeris data and the digital topographic data are then used in rectifying the radar image. The two techniques are then used in registering and rectifying two examples of radar imagery. Each method is discussed as to its benefits, shortcomings and registration accuracy.

Naraghi, M.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Incoherent Scatter Radar Studies of the Mesosphere

All current incoherent backscatter radars can make mesospheric or D region measurements under at least some conditions. The conditions under which measurements are possible are derived and shown for each radar. Conditions examined include overall system sensitivity, electron and ion spectral line widths and power distributions, and time/height averaging effects. The radar equations is derived and calibrations of the radar system is discussed. Total power only and combined total power and ion line spectral measurements are described in terms of ease of use, applicability to various radars, and parameters of aerodynamic interest derivable from the measurements.

Mathews, J. D.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Earth resources research using the Shuttle Imaging Radar system

The Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR) is an L-band synthetic radar that transmits and receives horizontally polarized microwave radiation. It was originally launched on the second Shuttle test flight (STS-2) in November 1981 with the antenna depression angle fixed at 43 deg. In this configuration, the radar system was referred to as SIR-A, and it collected more than then a million square kilometers of Earth imagery in a variety of areas situated between 38 deg north and south latitude. SIR-A data was optically recorded onboard the Shuttle, and it was subsequently correlated on the ground to produce imagery with a 50 kilometer swath width and a surface resolution of approximately 40 meters. The SIR is presently being upgraded into a new configuration termed SIR-B, in which the radar's antenna can be mechanically rotated in the Shuttle's payload bay during an orbital mission. SIR-B is currently scheduled for flight on the seventeenth Shuttle mission (STS-17) that is tentatively planned for August 1984. In its new configuration, the SIR-B can be used to image selected regions at different angles of incidence ranging from 15 deg to 60 deg (as measured from the local vertical). In principle, multiple incidence angle radar imagery of selected areas can be coregistered and used to differentiate surficial materials on the basis of their roughness characteristics. This procedure is conceptually similar to the use of multispectral imagery acquired at shorter wavelengths to discriminate surficial materials on the basis of their pigmentation.

Monson, R.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Mapping and Geological Analysis of Mercury and Venus Radar Ranging Data

Although many radar profiles and images of the areas within 20 deg of Mercury's equator had been obtained from 1971, at both Goldstone and Arecibo radar facilities, surprisingly little geological analysis had been done with these data until recently. Topographic profiles and radar roughness reflectivity images which can be derived from these data will be crucial in completing the geological mapping of Mercury now underway at the U.S. Geological Survey. Earth based radar observations of Mercury and the other terrestrial planets as well are a potentially very valuable tool in the determination of the physical nature of their surfaces. Processing of available radar data must be completed to establish any systematic relationship between raar reflectivities and roughness, density, dielectric constant, and other related geological parameters.

Clark, P. E.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Correction and Geological Analysis of Lunar 3.8 Cm Radar Data

Earth based radar observations of the Moon have been taken at many wavelengths during the last ten years -- at 3.8, 70 cm, and most recently, 7.5 cm. Radar returns have been collected in both polarized and depolarized form so that is possible to derive both topographic and local surface roughness from the data. Until recently, work with 3.8 cm radar data had consisted of qualitative correlation of photographic and thermal IR data with individual depolarized radar data frames (local surface roughness) at different wavelengths. These studies provided results which demonstrated that the relationships between surface roughness (measured by either thermal emission or radar reflectivity) at different wavelengths can be used as an index of a crater's state of degradation (age). However, systematic studies of craters, or other local terrain features, as well as regional or global studies of major terrains (involving a number of data frames), cannot be done until individual frames are calibrated, geometric distortion is removed, and corrected frames are mosaicked.

Clark, P. E.↗