General Description Our weather radars are designed for precipitation monitoring at both regional and urban scales. They can be advantageously used as gap fillers of existing radar networks particularly in areas with complex topography. The radar can be installed alone or in a cluster, in both fixed and mobile configurations. Cluster networking allows the system coverage to be extended practically without limit. The resulting image products are mosaics integrating the data collected by all the sensors composing the network. Thanks to the use of the latest technology the installation and operating costs of WR-10X radars networks are very attractive alternatives to the traditional high-power big-size weather radar approach. The control and display software has a very intuitive graphic user interface, which allows good skills in radar operation and data interpretation to be achieved after only a short training period, even for a user without specific knowledge in radar meteorology. Once a scanning schedule has been programmed, the system will begin acquiring data and generating "products", which are images of the weather events detected, with color levels proportional to weather intensity, superimposed on a local map, with adjustable distance and time scales. A comprehensive set of the most common weather products is provided with the system, and thanks to the open software architecture, additional or customized products can be easily added later. Reliability, maintainability, and ease of installation were fundamental design objectives for the systems. The systems can be remotely controlled, operated, and tested, so there is no need for easy access to the radar site. Two models are available WR-10X and WR-10X-CE which are described in detail in the following specifications. Page 1 of 5
WR-10X Technical description The WR-10X weather radar system operates in X band (9400-9500MHz), allowing the use of a very compact antenna while still preserving good angular resolution. The radar electronics are integrated into the antenna pedestal and all components with the exception of the server PC is housed inside a small radome. The integrated configuration reduces the installation time and the cost of the infrastructure drastically. The power consumption (approx. 200W) is tiny compared to a traditional high power weather radar. The coverage range is up to 108 km depending on precipitation rate. Any communication port supporting the TCP/IP protocol can be used to access the WR-10X networked radar sites including standard wireless or telephone networks. Despite its low cost, the WR-10X provides all the features necessary for accurate and complete radar observations and the assessment of weather phenomena: a "pencil-beam" antenna with equal beam widths in both, elevation and azimuth, with full control of the antenna elevation to allow acquisition of three-dimensional sets (volumes) of polar data for generating meteorological products. The radar products listed below consist of maps representing various weather parameters such as reflectivity, instantaneous and accumulated surface rainfall. The radar software can be used to display both real-time and archived products with "movie-loop" functionality. Each radar can be individually programmed with a particular scanning schedule to acquire and record data in a synchronous way. Several single radar sites can be combined to a sensor network (mosaic). Page 2 of 5
Typical applications Available Radar Products Monitoring of hydrological impact for areas not covered by the main radar network, critical weather events for civil protection purposes, local weather in urban areas to support administrative authorities and citizens, weather conditions for recreational activities, sports, concerts, festivals, etc., urban or regional weather conditions for local TV stations, hydroelectric basin conditions, roads, airports, harbors, severe weather events potentially harmful for agriculture. PPI-Z: RHI: SRI: SRT CAPPI VMI ECHO VMI: HVMI: VCUT: VPR: LBM: ECHO LBM: Nowcasting: Mosaic: Reflectivity PPI Range Height Indicator Surface Rainfall Intensity (instantaneous) Surface Rainfall Total (accumulated) Constant Altitude PPI Vertical Maximum Intensity Height of Maximum Reflectivity Maximum Reflectivity on Horizontal and Vertical Axis Atmosphere Vertical Cross Section Reflectivity Vertical Profile Low Base Map Height of Low Base Map Storm Cell Evolution Forecast at: 15, 30, 1h Combination of Maps in networks Page 3 of 5
WR-10X Specification Transceiver Operating Frequency Peak Power Pulse Width 9410 MHz ±30 MHz 10 KW (magnetron) 0.6 µs (typical) Pulse Repetition Frequency 800 Hz (+- 10%) Range/Resolution Receiver Dynamic Range Intermediate Frequency IF Bandwidth Noise Figure Antenna 108km/450m, 72km/300m, 36km/150m, 21.6km/90m logarithmic >90 db 60 MHz 4 MHz < 4 db Horizontal polarization, pencil beam protected by radome Diameter 70 cm Horizontal lobe width <3,2 Signal processor Type Output Sensitivity Statistical Clutter Correction Visualization and Control digital processing on PC horizontal reflectivity (Z) in dbz with 14 bit 10 dbz @ 25 km (standard) Programmable movie loop PPI and RHI display for products and moments visualization. PPI and RHI display for moments visualization. User friendly GUI for Radar programming and control. Dimension and Weight Dimension Cylindrical radome with diameter of 1235 mm and height of 1430 mm Vertical lobe width <3,2 Weight < 150 kg excluding mast or trailer Sidelobes within ±10 Gain <-25 db >35 db Power Consumption Movement Approx. 200 Watt without antenna heating. Continuous azimuth scan with elevation steps of 0,5 in the 0 to 90 range. Page 4 of 5
WR-10X-CE The WR-10-CE is a low cost version of the WR-10X with only azimuth scanning capability. The elevation can be set to a fixed value manually. It uses the same transceiver and antenna type as the WR-10X. WR-10X-CE Specifications Transceiver Signal processor Operating Frequency 9410 MHz ±30 MHz Type digital processing on PC Peak Power Range/Resolution Receiver Dynamic Range Intermediate Frequency IF Bandwidth Noise Figure Antenna 10 KW (magnetron) 108km/450m, 72km/300m, 36km/150m, 21.6km/90m logarithmic >90 db 60 MHz 4 MHz < 4 db Output horizontal reflectivity (Z) in dbz with 14 bit Sensitivity 10 dbz @ 25 km (standard) Statistical clutter correction. Visualization and Control Display Z versus range and azimuth. Scheduler and radar supervision. User friendly GUI for Radar programming and control. Horizontal polarization, pencil beam protected by radome Diameter 70 cm Horizontal lobe width <3,2 Vertical lobe width <3,2 Dimensions and Weight Dimension cylindrical radome with diameter of 1235 mm and height of 1430 mm Weight < 150 kg excluding mast or trailer Sidelobes within ±10 Gain <-25 db > 35 db Power Consumption Approx. 200 Watt without antenna heating. Movement Continuous azimuth scan at prefixed elevation Page 5 of 5 METEK GmbH, Fritz-Strassmann-Str. 4, 25337 Elmshorn, Germany Phone: +49 4121 43590, Fax: +49 4121 4359 20 E-mail: info@metek.de, Internet: http://www.metek.de 150911