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，这将为强风暴和气候研究带来代际飞跃。 APAR 由国家大气研究中心 (NCAR) 运营，将对世界各地的云层和严重风暴进行测量，包括传统雷达系统无法到达的海洋、崎岖陆地和森林地区，从而消除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 满足了对新天气观测的迫切需求。凭借深入了解强烈风暴和云系统三维结构的新能力，我们可以对水蒸气、降水的分布以及控制地球能量平衡的相关辐射过程获得重要的新见解。 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、冰雹和山洪爆发，并使研究人员能够记录恶劣系统复杂且不断变化的生命周期。 APAR 将成为 GEO/AGS 低层大气观测设施池中的一个可申请的社区设施。 APAR 的实施和后续运行将为研究界提供用于工程和科学分析的高分辨率雷达数据，并帮助减轻对交通、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昆虫/鸟类迁徙的特征以及开发创新软件解决方案。 APAR 的资金将通过纳入来自代表性不足和少数族裔学生、教育工作者和研究人员的教育和培训机会，为培训多元化劳动力提供重要机会。计划通过 NCAR Explorer 系列举办多方面、多语言的推广和教育活动及产品，以吸引广泛和多样化的受众。APAR 将是世界上第一个可在飞机上携带的具有快速扫描敏捷性的相控阵 C 波段（5 厘米波长）、双多普勒、双偏振雷达。它将由四个可拆卸有源电子扫描阵列天线组成，安装在 NSF/NCAR C-130 机身上。 实施 APAR 所需的工程突破突破了当前相控阵雷达技术的界限，包括以前从未达到的天线性能以及用于收集大量数据的工具和技术（包括用于导出多种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、极高时空分辨率观测。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。