A NEW RESEARCH METHOD TO EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF WET RADOMES ON DUAL-POLARIZED WEATHER RADARS AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a detailed study of the effect of water accumulated on wet radomes. To accomplish this goal, a novel method to evaluate the impact of wet radomes on dual-polarized weather radar systems in real-time is developed at the Advanced Radar Research Center (ARRC) of the University of Oklahoma. This technique consists of measuring in real-time, in the same direction as the radar is scanning, the level of attenuation introduced by the water accumulated on the radome. The proposed method is based on the measurement of the reflectance at the air-radome interface, and through post-processing the attenuation can be estimated. This technique can be used as a potential solution for future radar calibration methods.

A second approach to characterize radomes, consists of measuring the radiation pattern of an 8 x 2 phased array radar antenna considering various water formations positioned on the internal radome of the antenna. This method allows to account for sidelobe level and cross-polarization increase, and also to estimate the attenuation occurring on the mean beam.