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.

该奖项支持空降阶段雷达（APAR）的最终发展，测试和实施，该奖项将在严重的风暴和气候研究中提供代际飞跃。由国家大气研究中心（NCAR）运营，Apar将对世界各地的云和严重风暴进行测量，包括在海洋，土地和森林地区，这些地区大多是通过传统的雷达系统无法实现的，从而消除了大气科学研究中的数据差距。作为美国的下一代运营天气观察能力，Apar满足了对新天气观察的迫切需求。有了新的能力，可以深入了解激烈的风暴和云系统的三维结构，因此获得了至关重要的新见解，从而在控制地球能量平衡的水蒸气，降水和相关辐射过程的分布中获得了重要的新见解。 APAR测量将用于测试有关恶劣天气的预测，包括热带气旋，龙卷风，有害的直线风，冰雹和山洪泛滥，并允许研究人员记录严重系统的复杂和变化的生命周期。 APAR将是地理 /AGS较低气氛的可要求社区设施，观察设施池。 APAR的实施和后续操作将为研究社区提供用于工程和科学分析的高分辨率雷达数据，并帮助减轻运输，林业，同意，经济和健康的威胁和风险。其他创新包括绘制数千公里以上昆虫/鸟类迁移的特征以及创新软件解决方案的开发。 APAR的资金将为培训潜水员劳动力的大量机会通过融入教育和培训机会，这些机会将带来不足和少数族裔学生，教育工作者和研究人员人口的机会。计划通过NCAR Explorer系列来吸引多方面和语法的外展和教育活动和产品。它将由四个可移动的电子扫描阵列天线组成，该天线将安装在NSF/NCAR C-130的机身上。实施APAR所需的工程突破会突破当前阶梯式阵列雷达技术的界限，包括从未有过的天线性能以及工具和技术（包括信号处理以得出多种风暴特征）来收集要收集的大量数据。与必须在数据收集和公交模式之间进行选择的基于地面的平台相比，Apar将能够获得连续的三个维度，非常高的空间时间分辨率观察风暴运动学和微物理云属性。这奖反映了NSF的法规任务，并认为通过基金会的知识优点和广泛的critia criter criter critia crietia crietia criter criter critia criter critia criter critia criter critia criter critia criter critia criter critia cripia cripia cripia criter crite cr cr又是宝贵的。