Weather radar display system
First Claim
1. A weather radar system comprising:
- an antenna for radiating pulses and for receiving returned pulses;
a means for housing said antenna;
means for rotating said antenna within said housing means in a horizontal direction for a horizontal radar sweep;
means for tilting said antenna to reposition said antenna at a plurality of tilt angles;
control means for controlling said rotating means and said tilting means to rotate said antenna for a first horizontal sweep at a first tilt angle, to tilt said antenna to a second tilt angle and to subsequently rotate said antenna for a second horizontal radar sweep at the second tilt angle;
means for storing returned pulses from said first and second horizontal sweeps;
said means for storing comprising a first memory section for storing returned pulses from said first horizontal sweep and a separate second memory section for storing returned pulses from said second horizontal sweep;
display means for displaying said returned pulses stored in said first and second memory sections and whereinsaid display means comprises means for displaying a first portion representing said returned pulses stored in said first memory section and a second portion representing said returned pulses stored in said second memory section.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A weather radar display system and method for obtaining and storing radar return data for a plurality of horizontal and vertical sweeps, each horizontal sweep occurring at a different tilt angle and each vertical sweep occurring at a different azimuth angle. The radar return data is displayed as plan views in a plurality of separate display sections, each corresponding to a plurality of separate horizontal sweeps in one embodiment and to a plurality of separate vertical sweeps in a second embodiment. Radar return data in one display section (horizontal or vertical) is displayed with a variety of colors to represent precipitation intensity. Radar return data in remaining display section (horizontal or vertical) is displayed as a first color with edge returns displayed in second color to differentiate the remaining sections. Display sections partially overlap such that each subsequently displayed plan view is at least partially superimposed on the preceding view to give a three-dimensional image of the weather system.
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Citations
53 Claims
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1. A weather radar system comprising:
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an antenna for radiating pulses and for receiving returned pulses; a means for housing said antenna; means for rotating said antenna within said housing means in a horizontal direction for a horizontal radar sweep; means for tilting said antenna to reposition said antenna at a plurality of tilt angles; control means for controlling said rotating means and said tilting means to rotate said antenna for a first horizontal sweep at a first tilt angle, to tilt said antenna to a second tilt angle and to subsequently rotate said antenna for a second horizontal radar sweep at the second tilt angle; means for storing returned pulses from said first and second horizontal sweeps; said means for storing comprising a first memory section for storing returned pulses from said first horizontal sweep and a separate second memory section for storing returned pulses from said second horizontal sweep; display means for displaying said returned pulses stored in said first and second memory sections and wherein said display means comprises means for displaying a first portion representing said returned pulses stored in said first memory section and a second portion representing said returned pulses stored in said second memory section. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A weather radar display system comprising:
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an antenna for radiating pulses and for receiving returned pulses; means for housing said antenna; means for rotating said antenna within said housing means in a vertical direction for a vertical radar sweep; means for angularly displacing said antenna to reposition said antenna at a plurality of azimuth angles; control means for controlling said rotating means and said displacing means to rotate said antenna for a first vertical sweep at a first azimuth angle, to displace said antenna to a second azimuth angle and to subsequently rotate said antenna for a second vertical radar sweep at the second azimuth angle; means for storing returned pulses from said first and second vertical sweeps; said means for storing comprising a first memory section for storing returned pulses from said first vertical sweep and a separate second memory section for storing returned pulses from said second vertical sweep; and display means for displaying said return pulses stored in said first and second memory sections and wherein said display means comprises means for displaying a first portion representing said returned pulses stored in said first memory section and a second portion representing said returned pulses stored in said second memory section. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A weather radar display method comprising:
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radiating pulses from an antenna and receiving returned pulses; rotating said antenna in a horizontal direction for a horizontal radar sweep; tilting said antenna to reposition said antenna at a plurality of tilt angles; controlling said antenna to rotate for a first horizontal sweep at a first tilt angle, to tilt said antenna to a second tilt angle and to subsequently rotate said antenna for a second horizontal radar sweep at said second tilt angle; storing returned pulses from said first and second horizontal sweeps; said storing step comprising storing returned pulses from said first horizontal sweep in a first memory section and storing returned pulses from said second horizontal sweep in a separate second memory section; and displaying said returned pulses stored in said first and second memory sections and wherein said displaying step includes displaying said returned pulses stored in said first memory section in a first display section and displaying said returned pulses stored in said second memory section in a second display section. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A weather radar display method comprising:
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radiating pulses from an antenna and receiving returned pulses; housing said antenna in a housing means; rotating said antenna within said housing means in a vertical direction for a vertical radar sweep; shifting said antenna to reposition said antenna at a plurality of azimuth angles; controlling said antenna to rotate for a first vertical sweep at a first azimuth angle, to shift said antenna to a second azimuth angle and to subsequently rotate said antenna for a second vertical radar sweep at the second azimuth angle; storing returned pulses from said first and second vertical sweeps; said storing step comprising storing returned pulses from said first vertical sweep in a first memory section and storing returned pulses from said second vertical sweep in a separate second memory section; and
displaying said returned pulses stored in said first and second memory section andwherein said displaying step includes displaying said returned pulses stored in said first memory section in a first display section and displaying said returned pulses stored in said second memory section in a second display section. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A weather radar network system comprising:
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an airborne radar system mounted in an aircraft; at least one remote radar system; said airborne radar system being operable to scan short range weather conditions ahead of the aircraft; said remote radar system being operable to scan weather conditions at a geographic locale beyond the scanning range of said airborne radar system; means for transmitting data obtained by said remote radar system to said aircraft; and means for displaying data from said airborne radar system and from said remote radar system on said aircraft. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53)
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Specification