The scope of this paper is the development and recent field deployments of the High-Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (HIWRAP), which was funded under the NASA Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) [1]. HIWRAP is a dual-frequency (Ka- and Ku-band), dual-beam (300 and 400 incidence angles), conical scanning, Doppler radar system designed for operation on the NASA high-altitude (65,000 ft) Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). It utilizes solid state transmitters along with a novel pulse compression scheme that results in a system with compact size, light weight, less power consumption, and low cost compared to radars currently in use for precipitation and Doppler wind measurements. By combining measurements at Ku- and Ka-band, HIWRAP is able to image winds through measuring volume backscattering from clouds and precipitation. In addition, HIWRAP is also capable of measuring surface winds in an approach similar to SeaWinds on QuikScat. To this end, HIWRAP hardware and software development has been completed. It was installed on the NASA WB57 for instrument test flights in March, 2010 and then deployed on the NASA Global Hawk for supporting the Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) field campaign in August-September, 2010. This paper describes the scientific motivations of the development of HIWRAP as well as system hardware, aircraft integration and flight missions. Preliminary data from GRIP science flights is also presented.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Development of the NASA High-Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    2011 IEEF Aerospace Conference ; 2011 ; Big Sky, MT, United States


    Publication date :

    2011-03-05


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    High Altitude Airborne Wind Energy

    Nam, Taewoo / Vahid, Orang / Gupta, Rikin et al. | AIAA | 2021


    HIGH ALTITUDE AIRBORNE WIND ENERGY

    Nam, Taewoo / Vahid, Orang / Gupta, Rikin et al. | TIBKAT | 2021



    A High Altitude Airborne Wind Mapping Radar

    Carswell, James R / Heymsfield, Gerald / Li, Lihua et al. | IEEE | 2008


    High temporal resolution velocity estimates from the NASA 50 MHz wind profiler

    WILFONG, TIMOTHY / CREASEY, ROBERT / SMITH, STEVE | AIAA | 1992