3,509 research outputs found

    Hazard alerting and situational awareness in advanced air transport cockpits

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    Advances in avionics and display technology have significantly changed the cockpit environment in current 'glass cockpit' aircraft. Recent developments in display technology, on-board processing, data storage, and datalinked communications are likely to further alter the environment in second and third generation 'glass cockpit' aircraft. The interaction of advanced cockpit technology with human cognitive performance has been a major area of activity within the MIT Aeronautical Systems Laboratory. This paper presents an overview of the MIT Advanced Cockpit Simulation Facility. Several recent research projects are briefly reviewed and the most important results are summarized

    Automated Pilot Advisory System

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    An Automated Pilot Advisory System (APAS) was developed and operationally tested to demonstrate the concept that low cost automated systems can provide air traffic and aviation weather advisory information at high density uncontrolled airports. The system was designed to enhance the see and be seen rule of flight, and pilots who used the system preferred it over the self announcement system presently used at uncontrolled airports

    Improved spectral processing for a multi-mode pulse compression Ka–Ku-band cloud radar system

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    Cloud radars are widely used in observing clouds and precipitation. However, the raw data products of cloud radars are usually affected by multiple factors, which may lead to misinterpretation of cloud and precipitation processes. In this study, we present a Doppler-spectra-based data processing framework to improve the data quality of a multi-mode pulse-compressed Ka–Ku radar system. Firstly, non-meteorological signal close to the ground was identified with enhanced Doppler spectral ratios between different observing modes. Then, for the Doppler spectrum affected by the range sidelobe due to the implementation of the pulse compression technique, the characteristics of the probability density distribution of the spectral power were used to identify the sidelobe artifacts. Finally, the Doppler spectra observations from different modes were merged via the shift-then-average approach. The new radar moment products were generated based on the merged Doppler spectrum data. The presented spectral processing framework was applied to radar observations of a stratiform precipitation event, and the quantitative evaluation shows good performance of clutter or sidelobe suppression and spectral merging.</p

    Experimental analysis of multistatic multiband radar signatures of wind turbines

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    This study presents the analysis of recent experimental data acquired using two radar systems at S-band and X-band to measure simultaneous monostatic and bistatic signatures of operational wind turbines near Shrivenham, UK. Bistatic and multistatic radars are a potential approach to mitigate the adverse effects of wind farm clutter on the performance of radar systems, which is a well-known problem for air traffic control and air defence radar. This analysis compares the simultaneous monostatic and bistatic micro-Doppler signatures of two operational turbines and investigates the key differences at bistatic angles up to 23°. The variations of the signature with different polarisations, namely vertical transmitted and vertical received and horizontal transmitted and horizontal received, are also discussed

    Radar, Insect Population Ecology, and Pest Management

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    Discussions included: (1) the potential role of radar in insect ecology studies and pest management; (2) the potential role of radar in correlating atmospheric phenomena with insect movement; (3) the present and future radar systems; (4) program objectives required to adapt radar to insect ecology studies and pest management; and (5) the specific action items to achieve the objectives

    Subsurface sounders

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    Airborne or spaceborne electromagnetic systems used to detect subsurface features are discussed. Data are given as a function of resistivity of ground material, magnetic permeability of free space, and angular frequency. It was noted that resistivities vary with the water content and temperature

    Performance of the NASA Airborne Radar with the Windshear Database for Forward-Looking Systems

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    This document describes the simulation approach used to test the performance of the NASA airborne windshear radar. An explanation of the actual radar hardware and processing algorithms provides an understanding of the parameters used in the simulation program. This report also contains a brief overview of the NASA airborne windshear radar experimental flight test results. A description of the radar simulation program shows the capabilities of the program and the techniques used for certification evaluation. Simulation of the NASA radar is comprised of three steps. First, the choice of the ground clutter data must be made. The ground clutter is the return from objects in or nearby an airport facility. The choice of the ground clutter also dictates the aircraft flight path since ground clutter is gathered while in flight. The second step is the choice of the radar parameters and the running of the simulation program which properly combines the ground clutter data with simulated windshear weather data. The simulated windshear weather data is comprised of a number of Terminal Area Simulation System (TASS) model results. The final step is the comparison of the radar simulation results to the known windshear data base. The final evaluation of the radar simulation is based on the ability to detect hazardous windshear with the aircraft at a safe distance while at the same time not displaying false alerts
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