BASIC PRINCIPLES OF

WEATHER RADAR
 RADAR

• Introduction to Radar
• Basic Operating Principles
• Reflectivity Products
• Doppler Principles
• Velocity Products
• Non-Meteorological Targets
• Summary
 RADAR

• RAdio Detection And Ranging

• Developed during WWII for detecting enemy
aircraft
• Active remote sensor
– Transmits and receives pulses of E-M radiation
– Satellite is passive sensor (receives only)
• Numerous applications
– Detection/analysis of meteorological phenomena
– Defence
– Law Enforcement
 WEATHER SURVEILLANCE RADAR

• Transmits very short pulses of radiation

– Pencil beam (narrow cone) expands outward
– Pulse duration ~ 1 μs (7 seconds per hour)
– High transmitted power (~1 megawatt)
• ‘Listens’ for returned energy (‘echoes’)
– Listening time ~ 1 ms (59:53 per hour)
– Very weak returns (~10-10 watt)
• Transmitted energy is scattered by objects on
ground and in atmosphere
– Precipitation, terrain, buildings, insects, birds, etc.
– Fraction of this scattered energy goes back to radar
(http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/radar/part1/slide2.html)
BEAM RESOLUTION

(http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/radar/part1/slide3.html)
DETERMINING TARGET LOCATION

• Three pieces of information

– Azimuth angle
– Elevation angle
– Distance to target
• From these data radar can determine
exact target location
 AZIMUTH ANGLE

• Angle of ‘beam’ with respect to north

 ELEVATION ANGLE

• Angle of ‘beam’ with respect to ground

(University of Illinois WW2010 Project)

 DISTANCE TO TARGET

• D = cT/2
• T  pulse’s round trip time

(University of Illinois WW2010 Project)

 SCANNING STRATEGIES 1

• Plan Position Indicator (PPI)

– Elevation angle constant, varying azimuth angle

– Antenna rotates through 360° sweep at constant elevation

angle

– Allows detection / intensity determination of precipitation

within given radius from radar

– Most commonly seen by general public

 PLAN POSITION INDICATOR
• Constant elevation angle
• Azimuth angle varies (antenna rotates)

(University of Illinois WW2010 Project)

ELEVATION ANGLE CONSIDERATIONS

• Radar usually aimed above horizon

– minimizes ground clutter
– not perfect
• Beam gains altitude as it travels away from radar
• Radar cannot ‘see’ directly overhead
– ‘cone of silence’
– appears as ring of minimal/non-returns around radar,
esp. with widespread precipitation
• Sample volume increases as beam travels away
from radar
 (http://weather.noaa.gov/radar/radinfo/radinfo.html)

• Red numbers are elevation angles

• Note how beam (generally) expands
with increasing distance from radar
 PLAN POSITION INDICATOR (PPI)

• Plan position Indicator (PPI) display presents a plan

view of echoes received in polar coordinate (Range
(R), Azimuth (  ), Elevation ( )) system.

• PPI is intensity modulated (i.e.) intensity of the echo

depends on the strength of the signal received by the
receiver of the radar
 PLAN POSITION INDICATOR (PPI)

• PPI display will have range markers ( at concentric circles) and

topographical underlay so that a visual picture of weather
echoes around the radar site can be easily appreciated by the
user

• It helps to identify the target (both in range and direction from

the radar) precisely and hence is quite useful to locate the
weather systems, centre of the weather system

• With the modern digital radars, the intensity of the signal

(echoes) can be displayed in suitable colour schemes for a
quick interpretation of the prevailing weather
 PPI display
-Weather
echo

- Azimuth from
-Range (km)

- true north
•A typical analogue
radar PPI display will
look like this, except
that the colour of the
echo is usually white.
• But in digital radars,
PPI, in addition to the
above, displays detailed
-R
an - Ra information about the
- Ra ge ng scan, colours as well.
ng m em
em ar ark
ark ke er
er r
 PLAN POSITION INDICATOR (PPI)
• Due to the earth’s curvature effect, the height of the
scanning beam increases with the range.
• Even for a small elevation such as 0.2o, the height of the radar
beam will be at a height of about 3.0 km at 200 km range and
10.8 km at 400 km (after applying corrections for earth’s
curvature) whereas it is hardly 0.3 km at 50 km and 0.9 km at
100 km

-0.9 km
-0.3 km

-3.0 km

-10.8 km
-50 km

-100 km
-200 km
-400 km
 EARTH’S CURVATURE EFFECT

-0.2o beam do not intercept Cb

of 12km height at 500km range

• Assuming that Cb clouds of 12 km vertical extent are present at 100,

200, 300, 400, 500 km range from a radar, the bottom and middle
portion of the Cb clouds upto a range of 300 km and only the top
portion at 400 km are intercepted by the radar beam of 0.2o elevation.
Cb cloud of 12 km height at 500 km range can NOT be probed at 0.2 o
elevation due to the earth’s curvature effect.
 PLAN POSITION INDICATOR (PPI)

• Interpretation of PPI may have to be done taking

care that the height of the echo is NOT constant
for all ranges for a particular elevation; instead the
height of the target is higher at farther ranges and
smaller at shorter ranges for the same elevation
angle.
 PLAN POSITION INDICATOR (PPI)
• If the elevations are in steps of the beam width of
the radar, then the PPI displays at different
elevation angles give a total picture of the three
dimensional overview of the weather system that
has been probed by the radar

• However, if there is wide gap between two

adjacent elevation angles, then there could be
wide gap in data between those two elevations and
information on the exact weather system can not
be clearly known.
 PPI(Z).. 0.2o elevation
- -
-P
pt
n
Ec
ho

File header indicating year,

month, date, time (in UTC)
and Product type, scan range
-Precipitation
echo
 PPI(Z).. 0.2o elevation
-Colour bar code
to indicate the
intensity of the
echoes

oHigher the
intensity (dBZ),
higher rate at which
it is precipitating.
o dBZ > 20
ordinarily
precipitates
provided such an
echo is from
-AZ : Azimuth weather clouds.
-EL : Elevation : 0.2 deg
 PPI(Z).. 0.2o elevation
-Scan Range : 250 km
-Scan resolution :0.5 km
-Display Range : 250 km
-Display resolution :1.25 km

-Sea clutters (identified from

the smudge shaped & wave
pattern echoes)
-Hardware parameters
-CC : Clutter
-PW : Pulse width, Short = 1 s Filter
-PRF : Pulse Repetition Frequency
-(Single PRF 600 Hz is used here) -SQI : Signal Quality
-AS : Antenna Scan rate, 9 deg/s - Index
-CSR : Clutter to
Signal Ratio
-Log : Log threshold
PPI(Z).. 1.0O ELEVATION
-Sea clutters appearing
at 0.2 and 1.0o
elevations.

-Note : Sea clutters

could not be filtered by
the clutter filter chosen
in this scan
PPI(Z).. 2.0O ELEVATION
-Note that the weather
echoes over land are still
seen while the sea clutters
vanished at 2.0 elevation
 anomalous propagation
(AP) is confined to the low
level and that too only over
ocean.
RADIAL VELOCITY
 DOPPLER EFFECT

• Based on frequency changes associated

with moving objects
• E-M energy scattered by hydrometeors
moving toward/away from radar cause
frequency change
• Frequency of return signal compared to
transmitted signal frequency  radial
velocity
(http://www.howstuffworks.com/radar1.htm)
(Williams 1992)
(http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/radar/part1/slide13.html)
 RADIAL VELOCITY

• Hydrometeors moving toward/away from radar

– Positive values  targets moving away from radar
– Negative values  targets moving toward radar
• Can be used to ascertain large-scale and small-
scale flows/phenomena
– fronts and other boundaries
– mesoscale circulations
– microbursts
 PLAN POSITION INDICATOR (RADIAL VELOCITY)

• PPI (V) : IT GIVES THE RADIAL VELOCITY ON A PPI SCOPE. THE

RADIAL VELOCITY TOWARDS RADAR SITE IS TAKEN AS –VE AND
AWAY FROM RADAR SITE IS TAKEN AS +VE.
 PPI(V).. 0.2O ELEVATION
-Warm colours (Red & Yellow) indicate that the
hydrometeors are moving away from the radar

• Radial velocity
over land are due to
hydrometeors
within the clouds
• Over the east and
southern parts of
Bay of Bengal,
radial velocity of 1
to 5 mps (as high as
9-11 mps are also
seen in the east) are
-Cool colours (blue and green)
due to sea clutters.
indicate that the hydrometeors
are moving towards the radar
PPI(V).. 1.0O ELEVATION
• Weather echoes over
the land (west to
south) appear to move
away from the radar.
•However, over Bay
of Bengal, the radial
velocity of 1 to 5 mps
are due to the sea
clutters.

•Note that the sea

clutters seen at 200 –
250 km range at 0.2o
elevation in the east
has just diminished /
vanished at this (1o )
elevation.
PPI(V).. 2.0O ELEVATION

 Radial velocity
due to medium /
high clouds ( < 10
dBZ) in the
northeast around
150 km range.

Radial velocity
over land are due to
weather echoes
while the sea
clutters in Bay of
Bengal has just
ceased.
 SPECTRUM WIDTH
-
-THE SIGNAL WHICH IS BACK-SCATTERED BY AN ASSEMBLAGE
OF MOVING TARGETS CONTAINS INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR
RADAR CROSS-SECTION AND RADIAL VELOCITIES.

- BY MEANS OF A SUITABLE DATA-PROCESSING SCHEME, IT IS

POSSIBLE TO EXTRACT THE BACK-SCATTERED POWER AS A
FUNCTION OF DOPPLER SHIFT FREQUENCY. SUCH A FUNCTION
IS CALLED DOPPLER SPECTRUM.
PLAN POSITION INDICATOR
(SPECTRUM WIDTH)

• PPI (W) : IT IS A MEASURE OF TURBULENCE AND IT IS OF

IMMENSE USE IN NOWCASTING THE OCCURRENCE OF
MICROBURST, WIND SHEER

• LOW VALUE OF SPECTRUM WIDTH SHOWS UNIFORM

WIND FLOW AND HIGH VALUE OF SPECTRUM WIDTH
SHOWS TURBULENCE.

• A TYPICAL PPI (W) IS SHOWN.

 PPI(W).. 0.2O ELEVATION
Spectrum width is a
Higher spectrum width over
measure of
land is due to the precipitating
turbulence and gives
clouds.
an indication about
the movement of
hydrometeors within
the sample volume.
 W > 4.8 mps is
indicative of moderate
to severe turbulence.
 Very minimum
spectrum width
(<0.8mps) over Bay of
-Large W > 3 mps from Bengal are indicative
the sea clutters of large of sea clutters.
radial velocity.
 PPI(W).. 1.0O ELEVATION
o However, W in
the sea clutters are
very small in the
range 0.1-0.8mps.

-Sea clutters have

typical shape..
orientation towards
radar .. Smudgy …
stretched lengthwise
bit with minimum
width

-W in the precipitating and non-precipitating clouds

are more over land
 SCANNING STRATEGIES 2
RANGE HEIGHT INDICTOR (RHI)
• When the antenna of a weather radar scans in a
particular azimuth with varying elevations (i.e) known
as elevation scan, RHI display is used

• This display gives information about the height vis-à-

vis range of the echoes, keeping the radar as the
origin

• Like PPI, this scope is also intensity modulated

 RHI

• Range Height Indicator (RHI)

– Azimuth angle constant
– Elevation angle varies (horizon to near zenith)
– Cross-sectional view of structure of specific storm

(University of Illinois WW2010 Project)

 RANGE HEIGHT INDICTOR (RHI)

• Continuity between two adjacent elevations has to be

maintained so that the weather system can be probed
without any data gap in between

• Here again the curvature effect of the earth plays a

significant role in interpretation of the echoes

• For a given elevation, the lowest height of the echo at

farther ranges will be at a higher height from the
ground than that at the nearby range
 RHI DISPLAY

•A typical analogue radar

RHI display will look like
this, except that the echo
will be in different shades of
white / brightness.
•But in digital radars, in
addition to the above, RHI
-Precipitating will have scan details, colour
echoes bar code as well.
 RHI (Z)

-At farther range, the lowest

height of the echo intercepted by
the radar beam is higher than
that at the nearer ranges.
-EL :Elevation 0 to 25 deg

-AZ : Azimuth of the elevation scan

 RHI(V)
-+ve radial velocity indicating updrafts
(i.e) hydro-meteors moving away from
the radar (ground)

-- ve radial velocity
indicating hydro-meteors
moving towards
ground(radar)
 RHI(W)

-Spectrum width is quite low indicating

-weak turbulence or mixing within the clouds
RADAR PRODUCTS
 DISPLAY OF MAXIMUM (Z)
• A typical plot of MAX(Z) will be looking like the one shown below

- North-Height
–
- South

-Maximum value
-of each pixel on
-top projection
- East –
- West
-Maximum value
-of each pixel on
-top projection
DISPLAY OF MAXIMUM (Z)

- North – -Height
-South

-East –
-West
 SURFACE RAINFALL INTENSITY

• IT IS AN IMAGE OF THE
RAINFALL INTENSITY IN A
USER SELECTABLE
SURFACE LAYER. IT IS
CALCULATED BASED ON
MARSHALL-PALMER
EQUATION Z=ARb WERE R
IS THE RAINFALL
INTENSITY AND A AND B
ARE CONSTANT. THE
VALUE OF A & B VARIES
FROM SEASON TO SEASON
AND PLACE TO PLACE
 PRECIPITATION ACCUMULATION
• THE PAC PRODUCT IS A
SECOND LEVEL PRODUCT. IT
TAKES SRI PRODUCTS OF THE
SAME TYPE AS INPUT. THE
DISPLAY SHOWS THE COLOUR
CODED RAINFALL AMOUNT IN
(MM) FOR THE DEFINED TIME
PERIOD. PRECIPITATION
ACCUMULATION ESTIMATION
BY THE RADAR CAN BE
USEFUL TO WORK OUT WATER
INFLOW IN CATCHMENTS,
FLOOD FORECASTING IN
ALMOST REAL TIME BASIS IN
THE ABSENCE OF
CONVENTIONAL RAIN GAUGE
NETWORK.
 POINT RAINFALL TOTAL

• THE PRT PRODUCT ALLOWS THE COMPARISON OF RAIN

GAUGE DATA WITH CORRESPONDING RADAR DATA. THE
RAIN GAUGE MEASURED RAIN INTENSITY VALUES (IN
MM/H) ARE DISPLAYED IN HISTOGRAMS. RADAR DATA
FROM SRI PRODUCTS ALSO CONTAIN RAIN INTENSITY
VALUES AND ARE SHOWN IN SEPARATE HISTOGRAMS.
 VERTICAL INTEGRATED LIQUIDS

• THE AIM OF THE VIL PRODUCT IS

TO GIVE AN INSTANTANEOUS
ESTIMATE OF THE WATER
CONTENT RESIDING IN AN USER-
DEFINED ATMOSPHERIC LAYER IN
THE ATMOSPHERE.

• THIS PRODUCT IS AN EXCELLENT

TOOL TO INDICATE THE RAINFALL
POTENTIAL OF A SEVERE STORM.
THE PRODUCT DATA OUTPUT AND
DISPLAY GIVES A SHORT-TERM
FORECAST OF PRECIPITATION TO
BE EXPECTED SOON, ESPECIALLY
IF THE LOWER LAYER BOUNDARY
IS CHOSEN ALOFT (1000 M).
 HAIL WARNING PRODUCT
• THE HAIL WARNING PRODUCT
(HHW) ANALYSES
REFLECTIVITY DATA FOR
AREAS OF PROBABLE OR
VERY PROBABLE HAIL
OCCURRENCE. SUCH AREAS
ARE INDICATED BY
(WARNING) COLOURED
AREAS, WHICH CAN BE
UNDERLAYED BY
REFLECTIVITY DATA. IN CASE
OF PROBABLE HAIL
OCCURRENCE THE USER IS
ALERTED BY THE MESSAGE
BOX INDICATOR. THE HHW
PRODUCT NEEDS RADAR
DATA FROM A VOLUME SCAN
(I.E. AT LEAST TWO
ELEVATIONS) WITH Z DATA.
 GUST FRONTS
• Gust Fronts are small lengthy
objects with a significant change in
radial speed along their short axis.
 CONSTANT ALTITUDE PPI (CAPPI)
PSEUDO CAPPI (PCAPPI)
• CAPPI layer display are in the form of
Cartesian type rather than polar
coordinate

• From the data obtained in polar coordinate

system, data over the Cartesian
coordinates (Xi,Yj) are generated for a
given height (constant altitude)
CONSTANT ALTITUDE PPI (CAPPI)
PSEUDO CAPPI (PCAPPI)
• CAPPI products are quite useful in cloud
physics and precipitation/ hydrometeor
studies such as identification of hail stones
etc
• Only those data that are intercepted for
the chosen height from the adjacent
elevations are considered for this product.
More number of elevations are needed to
cover the planetary boundary layer at
shorter ranges from the radar.
RADAR EQUATION
 TYPES OF RADAR

Two main radar types:-

– Conventional Radar

– Doppler Radar
 TYPES OF RADAR

Mono-static. Same antenna is used for both

transmission and reception.
Bi-static. Transmitter and its antenna at one
location and receiver and its antenna are
located at another location separated by a
reasonable distance.
 TYPES OF RADAR
Continuous Wave (CW). Transmits
electromagnetic (EM) radiation continuously
and hence signal is received back continuously.
Pulsed Radar. Short pulse of EM radiation
is transmitted and waits for reasonable duration
to receive returned signal. All weather radars
are of this type
 TYPES OF RADAR

Doppler Radar. Based on well known

Doppler effect
 WAVELENGTH AND APPLICATION

Wavelength
Frequency (MHz) Wavelength Main purpose / application area
band
Wind profilers, clear air returns, turbulence
and refractive index structure
30-300 VHF 10-1 m

Tropical cyclone, severe weather detection,

2,000 – 4,000 S 15.0-7.5 cm precipitation estimation

(severe) Weather phenomenon detection,

4,000 – 8,000 C 7.5-3.75 cm precipitation measurements

Thunderstorm and associated weather

9,000-11,000 X 3.3-2.7 cm phenomenon detection

Cloud micro physics, tornado detection,

precipitation estimation from attenuation.
12,000-40,000 K 2.5-0.75 cm

Cloud microphysics, ceilometer, tornado

40,000-220,000 Millimeter 7.5-1.30 mm detection
TYPES OF RADAR OUTPUTS
• Plan Position Indicator (PPI)
• Range height indicator (RHI)
• Constant altitude plan position indicator (CAPPI): A
horizontal cross-section display of a variable at a specified
altitude, produced by interpolation from the volume data. It
is used for surveillance and for identification of severe
storms. It is also useful for monitoring the weather at
specific flight levels for air traffic applications.
• Vertically-integrated liquid (VIL) can be displayed, in plan,
for any specified layer of the atmosphere. It is an indicator
of the intensity of severe storms.
TYPES OF RADAR OUTPUTS
• Vertical cross-section: This is a display of a
variable above a user-defined surface vector
(not necessarily through the radar). It is
produced by interpolation from the volume data.
• Column maximum: A display, in plan, of the
maximum value of a variable above each point
of the area being observed;
• Echo tops: A display, in plan, of the height of the
highest occurrence of a selectable reflectivity
contour, obtained by searching in the volume
data. It is an indicator of severe weather and
hail;
RADAR TO RAINFALL
 RADAR TO RAINFALL
C1C 2 ZK
Pr  2
r

Z = ΣD 6

 Radar reflectivity factor

 Signal varies with 6th power of raindrop

diameter
 RADAR TO RAINFALL

Z   D  aR 6 B

 R = rainfall rate
 a and B are empirical constants
 Complicated relationship between Z and R
 Adjust Z to R conversions using rain gauge
readings
 RAINDROP SIZES

B
A

 Rainfall rates are deduced from drop size

 Small drops have lower rate than larger drops
 Under-estimate at A, over-estimate at B
 Z-R RELATIONSHIP
• Rainfall is never composed of all drops of same size. So,
drop-size distribution cannot be determined and may vary
largely for same rate of pptn from one event to other.
• Since it is not practical operationally to measure ∑D6 (drop-
size distribution), an empirical formula has been adopted,
which relates average values of ∑D6 with rate of rainfall R.
• This formula is called as ‘Z-R relationship’ and gives :-

Z  AR b

Where, Z is radar reflectivity factor (= ∑D6) and A & b are

two constants.
 Z-R RELATIONSHIP
• Values of constants ‘A’ & ‘b’ vary considerably for different
types of pptn, as well as, for different sizes of raindrops and
their distribution in the volume.
• Many studies have shown various values of these constants.
• Batton listed various values of these. Some of these are:-

Z  31R 1.71
For Orographic RA/DZ
Z  200R1.60 For Stratiform Rain
Z  486R 1.37
For T’Showers
• Generally, value of ‘A’ increases and value of ‘b’ decreases
with increasing convective intensity.
 IMD RADAR NETWORK
CDR
• A network of 10 S-Band Cyclone Detection
Radars (CDR) covering the Indian Coast line.
• 06 on East Coast and 04 on West Coast.
• Recently replaced existing old generation radars
with 04 state-of-art S-Band DWRs at Chennai,
Kolkata, Machilipatnam & Visakhapatnam .
• Installed one indigenous Doppler Weather Radar
at Sriharikota (AP) .
CDR
 IMD RADAR NETWORK
SDR
• A network of 12 X - Band Storm Detection
Radars (SDR).

Dual Purpose Radar

• A network of 17 X - Band Dual Purpose
(Weather cum Wind Finding) Radar.
SDR & DUAL PURPOSE RADARS
DOPPLER WX RADAR IN IAF
-AEROSTAT/ AIRSTAR

-LOCATION

BARNALA(PUNJAB)
MOTHALA (NEAR BHUJ)
WEATHER INSTRUMENTS
-ONBOARD MET

SENSORS

-Anemomet
er
-Barometer
-Sonic
Anemometer
MST RADAR
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

• Mesospheric Stratospheric Tropospheric RADAR

• MST radar a new subject

• Came in recent two decades

• MST radar technique evolved from work of Woodman and

Guillen (1974) pioneering to explore atmospheric dynamics

up to a height of about 100 km & develop the MST Radar

Technique
 MST RADAR
• MST radar is a highly sensitive high resolution radar
operating typically around 50 MHz

• Radars operating at higher frequencies are

stratosphere-troposphere (ST) radars.

• Observations of the structure and wind fields in the

middle atmosphere with unprecedented height and time
resolutions
 INDIAN MST RADAR
• A major MST radar has been established
in India as a national faculty of Gadanki
near Tirupathi (Geo.13.5°N 79.2°E,
Geomag Lat 6.3°). This radar is highly
sensitive, pulse coded, coherent VHF
phased array radar operating at 53 MHz
with an average power aperture product of
7 X 108 Wm2.
 MST RADAR – A CONCEPT
• The gaseous envelope surrounding earth is known as
the terrestrial atmosphere.

• By virtue of its composition the atmosphere regulates the

temperature and provides shielding effect from harmful
wavelengths of the solar radiation, thus making the life
as the earth possible.

• The division of the atmosphere is in the form of spherical

shells named as the troposphere, the stratosphere, the
mesosphere and the thermosphere, and is characterized
by the way temperature varies with the height.
 MST RADAR – A CONCEPT
• Statistical description of atmospheric motions over the
earth, their role in transporting the constituents of the
atmosphere and the transformation if different forms of
energy constitute the subject of atmospheric dynamics
and is studied with sophisticated instrumentation
systems and analysed using a model of atmospheric
general circulation.
 MST RADAR – A CONCEPT
• The MST radar is a state of art instrument
capable of providing estimates of atmospheric
parameters with high resolution on a continuous
basis which is essential in the study of different
dynamical processes in the atmosphere
 MST RADAR – A CONCEPT
• An important research tool

• Investigation of prevailing winds, waves including gravity

waves), turbulence, and atmosphere stability & other
mesoscale phenomena

• A reliable three dimensional model of the atmosphere

over the low latitudes improves our understanding of the
climate and weather variations
?
 SCATTERING MECHANISMS
• Scattering and reflection mechanisms responsible for the ST radar
signal return are

(a) Turbulent scatter

(b) Fresnel (Partial reflection/scatter and
(c) Thermal (incoherent or Thomson) scatter

– The first two mechanisms provide coherent scatter which results

from macroscopic fluctuations in refractive index associated with
clear air turbulence (CAT)

– The third arises from Thomson scatter by free electrons in the

ionosphere and the signal return is characterised by the statistical
fluctuations of electron density due to radon thermal motions of
electrons and ions
 SCATTERING MECHANISMS
• Turbulent Scatter. According to the theory of radio wave scattering from
turbulent fluctuations of refractive index, the radar back scattered signal
arises from the spatial Fourier component whose wavelength is equal to one
half of the radar wavelength λR.

• Fresnel (Partial) Reflection and Scattering

• Fresnel (Partial) reflection occurs from a sharp vertical gradient in

refractive index that if horizontally coherent over a scale greater than a
Fresnel zone.

• Thomson (Incoherent) Scatter

• Thomson Scatter, often referred to as incoherent scatter, is clearly the most
potent of the ground based radar techniques to prose the earth’s
ionosphere. Recent advances have extended as application to mesosphere
 MST RADAR HIGHLIGHTS
• Mapping of high resolution vector winds including the
detection of strong wind shears particularly in the zonal
components

• Detection of tropopause and its structure

• Detection of turbulent layers with scales of the order of

the range resolution of the radar (approx 150 m)
 MST RADAR HIGHLIGHTS
• Short period (5 to 10 min) fluctuations observed in the
horizontal and vertical wind components specially in the
height region of 6 to 8 kms which was also the
region of strong wind shears.

• Measurements of vertical convection

• Irregularities in E and F region

 MST Radar Technique

• Basic System. An MST radar is comprised

of a high resolution two-dimensional phased
array, high power transmitters, with appropriate
feed network, T/R switch(es), a phase coherent
receiver with quadrature channels, a signal
processor consisting of two identical channel of
A/D converter, decoder and integrator, a
computer interface and a ;mini/super micro
computer with essential peripherals and
software support.
 MST Radar Technique
• Antenna Array. An MST radar uses a two-dimensional
filled array for both transmission and reception. To effect
an improved side lobe suppression, a tapering of the
antenna array can be applied by introducing a weighting
function to the power fed to the elements or by using
unequal element spacing.
• The phased antenna array consists of two
orthogonal sets, one for each polarization of 1024 three-
element Yagi-Uda antennas arranged in a 32 X 32 matrix
over an area of 130m X 130m. The array is illuminated in
either of the polarization using 32 transmitters of varying
power, each feeding a linear sub-array of 32 antennas.
 MST Radar Technique
• Transmitting System. A total transmitter
power of 2.5 MW (peak) is provided by 32
transmitters ranging in power from 15 KW to 120
KW, each feeding a sub array of 32 Yagis. The
input to the transmitter is a low-level (1mw)
pulse-modulated (Coded/uncoded) signal at 53
MHz generated by a mixer which receives as
inputs a 5 MHz pulse-modulated signal and an
appropriately phase-shifted 48 MHz local
oscillator (LO) signal.
 MST Radar Technique
• Receiver & Signal Processor. The receiver unit
consists of a blanking switch, a low-noise amplifier
(LNA), and a mixer-pre amplifier for each of the 32
channels. The LNA is a 53-MHz turred amplifier with a
gain of 24 dB and a band-width of 4 MHz. The output of
an LNA is mixed with an appropriately phase shifted 48
MHz LO signal and amplified in a mixer preamplifier
having an effective gain of 7 dB. The IF outputs from the
32 channels are combined and amplified in a broadband
modular amplifier with a gain of about 15 dB.