After the IFDR unit has digitized the received echo signal into samples (I and Q data), RVP
processes the data in the radar server computer using computations such as:
• Converting the received signal amplitude into calibrated radar reflectivity values.
• Doppler processing to filter out ground clutter and compute radial velocities.
• Polarimetric processing to classify the measured hydrometers and to apply attenuation
correction.
The end product of the RVP process is a radar ray, where selected radar data from a certain
short time interval is stored as a function of range.
The following
figure shows a block diagram of moment processing.
Figure 12 I/Q Processing for Weather Moment Extraction
Using the R2 lag improves the estimation of signal-to-noise ratio and spectrum width.
Processors that do not use R2 cannot eectively measure the SNR and spectrum width.
Parameters configure signal processing, such as pulse repetition frequency, range resolution,
and Doppler
filter parameters. You can select these either directly when running RVP as a
standalone or through the IRIS software when IRIS controls the RVP process during
automatic weather radar measurements.
Applications
The resulting intensity, radial velocity, spectrum width, and polarization measurements are
sent to a separate host computer to serve as input for applications such as:
• Quantitative rainfall measurement
• Vertical wind profiling
• Z
dr
hail detection
• Tornado and microburst detection
• Gust front detection
Chapter 3 – Functional Description
41
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