Mid-scale RI-2: Airborne Phased Array Radar (APAR)

中型 RI-2：机载相控阵雷达 (APAR)

• 批准号: 2153337
• 负责人: Everette Joseph
• 金额: $ 9183.3万
• 依托单位: University Corporation For Atmospheric Res
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-06-01 至 2028-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2153337&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Mid; scale; RI; Airborne; Phased

This award supports the final development, testing, and implementation of the Airborne Phased Array Radar (APAR), which will provide a generational leap in severe storm and climate research. Operated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), APAR will make measurements of clouds and severe storms all over the world, including over oceans, rough land, and forested regions, which are mostly unreachable by conventional radar systems thereby eliminating a data gap in atmospheric science research. As the next-generation operational weather observing capability for the United States, APAR meets a critical need for new weather observations. With new capabilities to see deep into the three-dimensional structure of intense storms and cloud systems, crucial new insights are gained into the distribution of water vapor, precipitation, and associated radiative processes that govern Earth's energy balance. APAR measurements will be used to test predictions about severe weather, including tropical cyclones, tornadoes, damaging straight-line winds, hail, and flash flooding, and allow researchers to record the complex and changing lifecycle of severe systems. APAR will be a requestable community facility in the GEO /AGS Lower Atmosphere Observing Facilities pool. The implementation and subsequent operation of APAR will offer the research community access to high-resolution radar data for engineering and scientific analyses, and help mitigate threats and risks to transportation, forestry, agriculture, economy, and health. Other innovations include mapping out characteristics of insect/bird migrations over thousands of kilometers and the development of innovative software solutions. Funding for APAR will enable significant opportunities for training a diverse workforce by incorporating educational and training opportunities that will draw from underrepresented and minority student, educator, and researcher populations. Multi-faceted and -lingual outreach and education events and products are planned to reach a broad and diverse audience through the NCAR Explorer Series.APAR will be the world’s first phased array C-band (5 cm wavelength), dual-Doppler, dual-polarization radar with fast-scan agility to be carried on an aircraft. It will consist of four removable active electronically scanned array antennas that will be mounted on the fuselage of the NSF/NCAR C-130. The engineering breakthroughs required to implement APAR push the boundaries of current phased-array-radar technology, including antenna performance never previously achieved and tools and techniques (including signal processing to derive a multitude of storm characteristics) to harvest the copious volumes of data to be collected. Compared to ground-based platforms which must alternate between data collection and transit modes, APAR will be able to obtain continuous three dimensional, very high spatiotemporal resolution observations of storm kinematics and microphysical cloud properties.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项支持机载相控阵雷达（APAR）的最终开发，测试和实施，这将在严重风暴和气候研究方面实现一代人的飞跃。APAR由美国国家大气研究中心（NCAR）运营，将测量世界各地的云和严重风暴，包括海洋，粗糙的土地和森林地区，这些地区大多是传统雷达系统无法到达的，从而消除了大气科学研究中的数据缺口。作为美国下一代业务天气观测能力，APAR满足了新天气观测的迫切需求。凭借深入观察强烈风暴和云系的三维结构的新能力，我们对水蒸气、降水和相关辐射过程的分布有了至关重要的新见解，这些过程控制着地球的能量平衡。APAR测量将用于测试对恶劣天气的预测，包括热带气旋、龙卷风、破坏性直线风、冰雹和山洪暴发，并允许研究人员记录恶劣系统的复杂和不断变化的生命周期。APAR将是GEO /AGS低层大气观测设施池中的一个可申请的社区设施。APAR的实施和随后的运行将为研究界提供高分辨率雷达数据，用于工程和科学分析，并有助于减轻对交通、林业、农业、经济和健康的威胁和风险。其他创新包括绘制数千公里的昆虫/鸟类迁徙特征，以及开发创新的软件解决方案。为APAR提供资金将通过纳入教育和培训机会，为培训多样化的劳动力提供重要机会，这些机会将来自代表性不足的少数民族学生，教育工作者和研究人员。计划通过NCAR探索者系列开展多方面和多语言的宣传和教育活动及产品，以达到广泛和多样化的受众。APAR将是世界上第一个相控阵C波段（5厘米波长），双多普勒，双偏振雷达，具有快速扫描敏捷性，可搭载在飞机上。它将由四个可拆卸的有源电子扫描阵列天线组成，这些天线将安装在NSF/NCAR C-130的机身上。 实现APAR所需的工程突破推动了当前相控阵雷达技术的边界，包括以前从未实现的天线性能以及工具和技术（包括用于获得大量风暴特征的信号处理），以收集大量数据。与必须在数据收集和传输模式之间交替的地面平台相比，APAR将能够获得风暴运动学和微物理云特性的连续三维、非常高的时空分辨率观测。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。