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Pilot’s GuideRDR-1600

Color Weather and

Search and Rescue Radar

TM106101 August 2001

Command Systems Division

TM106101(8/01) RDR-1600 Pilot’s Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PARAGRAPH TITLE

PAGE

1.0 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

2.0 SYSTEM CONFIGURATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

2.1 ANTENNA AND RECEIVER-TRANSMITTER . . . . . . .3

2.2 RADAR DISPLAY INDICATOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

3.0 OPERATIONAL CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

3.1 FUNCTION SELECTOR – CP-113K

CONTROL PANEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

3.2 ANTENNA CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

3.3 DISPLAY CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

3.4 PRIMARY MODE SELECTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

3.5 SECONDARY MODE SELECTOR AND GAIN

CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

3.6 ALPHANUMERICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

4.0 PREFLIGHT (PFT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

4.1 PREFLIGHT WARNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

5.0 THEORY OF OPERATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

5.1 GENERAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

5.2 RADAR PRINCIPLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

5.3 WEATHER RADAR PRINCIPLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

5.4 RADAR REFLECTIVITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

5.5 WEATHER DISPLAY CALIBRATION . . . . . . . . . . . .15

5.6 WEATHER ATTENUATION COMPENSATION . . . . .16

6.0 WEATHER OPERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

6.1 WEATHER MODE – WX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

6.2 WEATHER ALERT MODE – WXA . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

6.3 TARGET ALERT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

6.4 WEATHER MAPPING AND INTERPRETATION . . . .20

6.5 OBSERVING WEATHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

6.5.1 Thunderstorms and Turbulence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

6.5.2 Tornadoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

6.5.3 Hail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

6.5.4 Icing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

6.5.5 Snow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

6.5.6 Lightning and Static Discharges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

6.5.7 Range Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

6.5.8 Azimuth Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

6.5.9 Indicator Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

6.5.10 Short Range Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

6.6 PATH PLANNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

6.6.1 Path Planning Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Summary of content (34 pages)

PAGE 1
Pilot’s Guide RDR-1600 TABLE OF CONTENTS PARAGRAPH Color Weather and Search and Rescue Radar Command Systems Division PAGE 1.0 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 2.0 2.1 2.2 SYSTEM CONFIGURATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 ANTENNA AND RECEIVER-TRANSMITTER . . . . . . .3 RADAR DISPLAY INDICATOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 3.0 3.1 3.6 OPERATIONAL CONTROLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FUNCTION SELECTOR – CP-113K CONTROL PANEL . . . . . . . .
PAGE 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONT.) PARAGRAPH 7.0 7.1 7.1.1 7.1.2 7.2 7.3 TITLE PAGE FIGURE 2-1 2.1-1 2.1-2 7.4 7.4.1 7.4.2 7.4.3 SEARCH OPERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GROUND MAPPING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Looking Angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other Aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEARCH MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WEATHER AND SEARCH MODES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PAGE 3
Introduction LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (CONT.) FIGURE TITLE 1.0 INTRODUCTION PAGE 8.1-1 8.2-1 8.3-1 Adjusting the Antenna Tilt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Altitude vs. Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Weather Target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 9.1-1 Aircraft Pitching/Rolling ±30° . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 10.1-1 10.2-1 Standard Beacon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 DO-172 . . .
PAGE 4
System Configuration (Cont.) System Configuration 2.1 ANTENNA AND RECEIVER-TRANSMITTER 2.0 SYSTEM CONFIGURATION The RT-1601 Receiver-Transmitter generates 10 KW pulses of X-band energy. Reflected signals of weather, search and beacon modes received by the antenna are amplified and sent to the radar display indicator. The flat-panel antenna, which is available in diameters of 10, 12 or 18 inches scans 60 or 120 degrees.
PAGE 5
Operational Controls System Configuration (Cont.) 2.2 RADAR DISPLAY INDICATOR 3.0 OPERATIONAL CONTROLS 3.1 FUNCTION SELECTOR – CP-113K CONTROL PANEL OFF Removes system power. STBY System is operationally ready; no display. TEST Displays a test pattern without transmitting, identified by TEST and RT FAULT. ON System transmits in normal operation. 60° Directs the antenna to sector scan 60° about the boresight of the aircraft. This position will work in weather, search (map), and beacon modes.
PAGE 6
Operational Controls (Cont.) Operational Controls (Cont.) BCN 3.2 ANTENNA CONTROLS PULL STAB OFF TILT This switch is connected to the Tilt Control Knob. When the Tilt Control Knob is pressed in, the stabilization function is active. When this knob is pulled out, the stabilization function is turned off. Pressing this button will select the two Beacon type formats to be selected.
PAGE 7
Operational Controls (Cont.) Operational Controls (Cont.) 3.5 SECONDARY MODE SELECTOR AND GAIN CONTROLS BCN GAIN The Beacon Gain is a rotary potentiometer that controls the gain of the Beacon receiver. SRCH GAIN The Search Gain is a rotary potentiometer that controls the gain of the Search receiver. CODE Pressing this switch selects Beacon Codes in a sequential cyclic fashion (i.e., Code 0, Code 1, Code 2, . . . Code 15 or Code 0, Code 1, Code 2, . . . Code 9) depending on Beacon Mode selected.
PAGE 8
Theory of Operation Preflight 4.0 PREFLIGHT (PFT) 5.0 THEORY OF OPERATION 4.1 PREFLIGHT WARNING 5.1 GENERAL Test the system to verify proper operation before each flight. Rotate the function selector from OFF to STBY. Allow system to warm up for about 100 seconds, then move the function selector to TEST. No display appears in the STBY position and the radar does not transmit in either STBY or TEST. The test pattern scans 120° and automatically selects the 80 mile range.
PAGE 9
Theory of Operation (Cont.) Theory of Operation (Cont.) 5.2 RADAR PRINCIPLES 5.3 WEATHER RADAR PRINCIPLES Radar is fundamentally a distance measuring system using the principle of radio echoing. The term RADAR is an acronym for Radio Detecting And Ranging. It is a method for locating targets by using radio waves. The transmitter generates microwave energy in the form of pulses. These pulses are then transferred to the antenna where they are focused into a beam by the antenna.
PAGE 10
Theory of Operation (Cont.) Theory of Operation (Cont.) 5.4 RADAR REFLECTIVITY 5.5 WEATHER DISPLAY CALIBRATION What target will reflect the radar’s pulses and thus be displayed on the indicator? The MFD Radar display should be calibrated to show four levels of target intensity: Black (level 0), Green (level one), Yellow (level two) and Red (level three).
PAGE 11
Theory of Operation (Cont.) Theory of Operation (Cont.) 5.6 WEATHER ATTENUATION COMPENSATION Attenuation is an extremely important phenomenon for the weather radar operator to understand. When a radar pulse is transmitted into the atmosphere, it is progressively absorbed and scattered so that it loses its ability to return to the antenna. This attenuation or weakening of the radar pulse is caused by two primary sources, distance and precipitation.
PAGE 12
Weather Operations (Cont.) Weather Operations 6.2 WEATHER ALERT MODE – WXA 6.0 WEATHER OPERATIONS 6.1 WEATHER MODE – WX The RDR-1600 will provide you with target information to a greater degree than ever possible on previous generation weather radars.
PAGE 13
Weather Operations (Cont.) Weather Operations (Cont.) 6.4 WEATHER MAPPING AND INTERPRETATION 6.5.1 Thunderstorms and Turbulence This section contains general information on use of the radar for weather interpretation. Review of this information will assist the pilot. The RDR-1600 weather radar can give you a clue to the presence of turbulence.
PAGE 14
Weather Operations (Cont.) Weather Operations (Cont.) 6.5.2 Tornadoes 6.5.3 Hail It is possible that conclusive methods of detecting tornadoes with airborne radar may eventually be developed. However, evidence collected to date indicates tornadoes may be detected if the following echoes are observed: Hail usually has a film of water on its surface; consequently, a hailstone is often reflected as a very large water particle.
PAGE 15
Weather Operations (Cont.) Weather Operations (Cont.) 6.5.4 Icing 6.5.7 Range Resolution There is reason to believe that the radar will be of assistance in locating areas of heavy icing conditions. However, weather radar has not yet proved its ability to distinguish between super-cooled water droplets and ice crystals, since both are usually quite small. Needless to say, the operational problem in each case would be different.
PAGE 16
Weather Operations (Cont.) Weather Operations (Cont.) 6.5.9 Indicator Resolution 6.5.10 Short Range Displays The resolution of the indicator depends on the number of display bits on the screen. A typical screen matrix is composed of 256 bits horizontally by 256 bits vertically. The display resolution is equal to 1/256 times the display range as shown in Table 6.5.9-1. The lower the range, the better the resolution. The RDR-1600 allows the selection of full-scale ranges of 1.0 nm and 0.
PAGE 17
Weather Operations (Cont.) Weather Operations (Cont.) 6.6 PATH PLANNING Remember to plan a deviation path early. Simply skirting the red portion of a cell is not enough. Plan an avoidance path for all weather echoes which appear beyond 100 miles since this indicates they are quite intense. The most intense echoes are severe thunderstorms. Remember that hail may fall several miles from the cloud, and hazardous turbulence may extend as much as 20 miles from the storm.
PAGE 18
Search Operations Weather Operations (Cont.) Above all, remember: Never regard any thunderstorm as LIGHT, even when radar observers report the echoes are of light intensity. Avoiding thunderstorms is the best policy. DON’T attempt to preflight plan a course between closely space echoes. DON’T land or take off in the face of a thunderstorm in the projected flight path. A sudden wind shift or low level turbulence could cause loss of control. 7.0 SEARCH OPERATIONS 7.
PAGE 19
Search Operations (Cont.) Search Operations (Cont.) 7.1.1 Looking Angle 7.1.2 Other Aircraft The incident angle at which the terrain is illuminated has a direct bearing on the detectable range and the area of illumination. A large incident angle gives the radar system a smaller detectable range of operation (due to a minimized reflection of direct radar energy). However, the illuminated area “A” is larger.
PAGE 20
Search Operations (Cont.) Search Operations (Cont.) 7.3 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WEATHER AND SEARCH MODES 7.4 SEARCH MODES COMPARED In weather modes, the receiver gain is preset and cannot be changed by the pilot. In the search modes, the pilot controls receiver gain with the SRCH knob on the indicator front panel for best display resolution. Additionally, in search modes on ranges below 10 miles, the transmitter pulse is changed to enhance target resolution.
PAGE 21
Tilt Management Search Operations (Cont.) 7.4.2 Search 2 8.0 TILT MANAGEMENT Short range precision mapping on ranges of 10 miles or less. 8.1 TILT CONTROL One of the most important factors in improving your expertise in using your radar is antenna tilt management. Control of the vertical movement of the antenna, and hence the radar beam, is through the antenna tilt knob. Proper antenna tilt management provides information of the storm’s approximate size and relative direction of movement.
PAGE 22
Tilt Management (Cont.) Tilt Management (Cont.) 8.2 TILT PERFORMANCE CHECK 8.3 EARLY DETECTION OF ENROUTE WEATHER A good performance check of your radar system in flight is to lower the tilt slowly and observe the maximum range of solid ground returns. As a rule of thumb, this range in miles should approximate the square root of your operational altitude. To set the Antenna Tilt to optimize the radar’s ability to quickly identify significant weather, follow these steps: 1.
PAGE 23
Antenna Stabilization (Cont.) Antenna Stabilization 9.0 ANTENNA STABILIZATION 9.3 COMPENSATION Airborne radar antennas are stabilized to preserve a normal cockpit display when the aircraft is climbing, descending or turning. When the aircraft departs from straight and level flight, the stabilization system automatically adjusts the antenna position to compensate for the change. Both limits and errors associated with antenna stabilization are important to the pilot.
PAGE 24
Beacon Mode (Cont.) Beacon Mode 10.0 BEACON MODES 10.1 BEACON FORMAT SELECTION In the Beacon (BCN) mode, the RDR-1600 can interrogate, receive and display signals from fixed transponder beacons on all ranges. The beacon itself is displayed as curved “slashes”, with the position of the beacon located approximately in the center of the closest slash. The RDR-1600 will always display all beacon signals on the screen as they respond to the radar interrogation, regardless of the format selection.
PAGE 25
Multiple Indicators Course Bearing Cursor (Cont.) 11.0 AC 90-80 12.0 MULTIPLE INDICATORS The FAA allows lower minimums in radar approaches to clusters of rigs, when both the radar altimeter and “course bearing cursor” are operating and are used as described in AC 90-80. For details on minimum approach heights and distances, refer to FAA AC 90-80. An additional MFD unit, is required for multiple indicator installations.
PAGE 26
System Specifications (Cont.) System Specifications 13.3 CP-113K CONTROL PANEL 13.0 SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS Environmental Qualification: DO-160A Env. Cat. F1A/PKS/XXXXXXABABA Frequency: 9375 MHz Xmit/Rec; 9310 MHz BCN REC Altitude: 55,000 feet RF Power Output: 10 KW Peak Power Temperature: -20 degrees C. to +55 degrees C. (-4 degrees F. to +131 degrees F.) Cooling: May be required as determined by ambient temperature range in aircraft cockpit. Altitude: 50,000 ft. Mounting: Panel mounted, DZUS.
PAGE 27
Advisory Circulars (Cont.) Advisory Circulars AC 00-24B 1/20/83 b. Tornadoes. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Aviation Administration Washington, D.C. Subject: THUNDERSTORMS Date: 1/20/83 Initiated by: AFO-260 AC No.: 00-24B Change: 1. PURPOSE. This advisory circular describes the hazards of thunderstorms to aviation and offers guidance to help prevent accidents caused by thunderstorms. 2, CANCELLATION. Advisory Circular 00-24A, dated June 23, 1978, is canceled. 3. RELATED READING MATERIAL.
PAGE 28
Advisory Circulars (Cont.) Advisory Circulars (Cont.) AC 00-24B 1/20/83 d. Icing. (1) Updrafts in a thunderstorm support abundant liquid water with relatively large droplet sizes; and when carried above the freezing level, the water becomes supercooled. When the temperature in the upward current cools to about -15°C, much of the remaining water vapor sublimates as ice crystals; and above this level, at lower temperatures, the amount of supercooled water decreases.
PAGE 29
Advisory Circulars (Cont.) Advisory Circulars (Cont.) AC 00-24B 1/20/83 during massive water ingestion. Although the exact mechanism of these water-induced engine stalls has not bee determined, it is felt that thrust changes may have an adverse effect on engine stall margins in the presence of massive water ingestion. (3) Avoidance of severe storm systems is the only measure assured to be effective in preventing exposure to this type of multiple engine damage/flameout.
PAGE 30
Advisory Circulars (Cont.) Advisory Circulars (Cont.) AC 00-24B 1/20/83 b. If you cannot avoid penetrating a thunderstorm, following are some do's BEFORE entering the storm: (1) Tighten your safety belt, put on your shoulder harness if you have one, and secure all loose objects. (2) Plan and hold your course to take you through the storm in a minimum time. ADVISORY CIRCULAR AC 20-68B DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C.
PAGE 31
Advisory Circulars (Cont.) General • Airborne weather radar should be operated on the ground only by qualified personnel. • Installed airborne radar should not be operated while the aircraft is in a hangar or other enclosure unless the radar transmitter is not operating, or the energy is directed toward an absorption shield which dissipates the radio frequency energy. Otherwise, radiation within the enclosure can be reflected throughout the area. Body Damage.
PAGE 32
Appendix APPENDIX SAFE DISTANCE DETERMINATION The following information can be used in establishing a minimum safe distance from the antenna for personnel near an operating airborne weather radar.
PAGE 33
Appendix (Cont.) Appendix (Cont.) EXAMPLE The following is typical data for the airborne weather radar. Antenna Diameter: 18 inches = 45.6 cm Transmitter Frequency: 9375 +30 MHz Wave Length: 3.2 cm Pulse Length: 2.
PAGE 34
Appendix (Cont.) MAXIMUM PERMISSIBLE EXPOSURE LEVEL (MPEL) In order to avoid the envelope in which the radiation level exceeds the U.S. Government standard of 1 mW per square centimeter, all personnel should remain beyond the distance indicated in the illustration below. The distance to the MPEL boundary is calculated upon the basis of the largest antenna available with the RDR-1600 system, rated output power of the transmitter and in the non-rotating or boresight position of the antenna.