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

该合同支持机载相控阵雷达（APAR）的最终开发、测试和实施，该雷达将在强风暴和气候研究方面实现代际飞跃。由美国国家大气研究中心（NCAR）运营的APAR将测量世界各地的云层和强风暴，包括海洋、粗糙的陆地和森林地区，这些地区通常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空白。作为美国下一代作战天气观测能力，APAR满足了对新天气观测的关键需求。有了深入观察强风暴和云系统三维结构的新能力，对水蒸气、降水和控制地球能量平衡的相关辐射过程的分布获得了至关重要的新见解。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请求的社区设施。APAR的实施和后续操作将为研究团体提供高分辨率雷达数据，用于工程和科学分析，并有助于减轻交通、林业、农业、经济和健康方面的威胁和风险。其他创新包括绘制出数千公里范围内昆虫/鸟类迁徙的特征，以及开发创新的软件解决方案。亚太地区的资金将通过整合教育和培训机会，从代表性不足和少数民族的学生、教育工作者和研究人员群体中获得培训多样化劳动力的重要机会。计划通过NCAR探索者系列向广泛和多样化的受众提供多方面和语言的外展和教育活动和产品。APAR将是世界上第一个相控阵c波段（5cm波长）、双多普勒、双极化雷达，具有快速扫描敏捷性，将搭载在飞机上。它将由四个可拆卸的有源电子扫描阵列天线组成，将安装在NSF/NCAR C-130的机身上。实现APAR所需的工程突破突破了当前相控阵雷达技术的界限，包括以前从未实现过的天线性能，以及收集大量数据所需的工具和技术（包括获得大量风暴特征的信号处理）。与必须在数据收集和传输模式之间交替进行的地面平台相比，APAR将能够获得连续的三维，非常高的时空分辨率的风暴运动学和微物理云特性观测。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

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.