Weather radar system and method for detecting a high altitude crystal cloud condition

• US 9,864,055 B1
• Filed: 03/12/2014
• Issued: 01/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Sishtla, Venkata A., Robertson, Roy E., Dana, Roger A., Kronfeld, Kevin M., Koenigs, Gregory J., Finley, Jeffery A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Windrich, Marcus E
• Application Number:
  US14/206,239
• Time in Patent Office: 1,399 Days
• Field of Search: 342 26 R- 26 D
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 15/20 Means for detecting icing or initiating de-icing
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/953 mounted on aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

The hazard warning system that included processing system for detecting a high altitude ice crystal (HAIC) or HAIC cloud (HAIC²) condition. The aircraft warning system can use an inferred detected process or a non-inferred detection process. Warnings of high altitude ice crystal conditions can allow an aircraft to avoid threats posed by HAIC or HAIC² conditions including damage to aircraft equipment and engines.

Claims

1. An aircraft hazard warning system, comprising:

a processing system for detecting a presence of at least one of a high altitude ice crystal (HAIC) or HAIC cloud (HAIC²) condition, the processing system being configured to cause a radar antenna to produce radar beams and receive radar returns associated with a region at high altitude, the processing system being configured to process radar return data associated with the radar returns and to detect the presence of the at least one of the HAIC or HAIC² condition, wherein the processing system further comprises a first coherent integrator, a second coherent integrator, an amplitude detector, and a non-coherent integrator, wherein the processing system performs;

a coherent and non-coherent integration process to detect the presence, wherein the coherent and non-coherent integration process coherently integrates I return values associated with the radar return data in the first coherent integrator and Q return values associated with the radar return data in the second coherent integrator to produce integrated I values and integrated Q values, wherein combined amplitude values for a combination of the integrated I values and the integrated Q values are provided by the amplitude detector, wherein the combined amplitude values are non-coherently integrated by the non-coherent integrator to provide non-coherent integration values that are compared to a threshold, wherein if the non-coherent integration values are below the threshold, an HAIC or HAIC² condition is not detected and if the non-coherent integration values are above the threshold, further processing is performed to detect the HAIC or HAIC² condition.

2. The aircraft hazard warning system of claim 1, wherein the processing system is configured to receive sensor data from at least one sensor and the processing system uses inferred detection of the at least one of the HAIC or HAIC² condition using the radar return data and the sensor data.

3. The aircraft hazard warning system of claim 2, wherein the inferred detection of the at least one of the HAIC or HAIC² condition comprises detecting temperature anomalies and large areas of weaker convection in a vicinity of a convective core.

4. The aircraft hazard warning system of claim 3, wherein the inferred detection comprises additional scans of the radar beams in the large areas to sense areas of high water content beneath areas of lower reflectivity.

5. The aircraft hazard warning system of claim 1, wherein the processing system receives information from sensors on board an aircraft associated with the aircraft hazard warning system or from a source remote from the aircraft, the information indicating an area of the HAIC or HAIC² condition or a potential HAIC or HAIC² condition, wherein the processing system directs a weather radar system on board the aircraft to scan the area.

6. The aircraft hazard warning system of claim 1, wherein the processing system determines the at least one of the HAIC or HAIC² condition using a pulse detection process and the pulse detection process uses the coherent and non-coherent integration process.

7. The aircraft hazard warning system of claim 5, wherein the processing system comprises an IQ demodulator.

8. The aircraft hazard warning system of claim 1, wherein the processing system is configured to cause the HAIC or HAIC² condition to be displayed on a weather radar display.

9. The aircraft hazard warning system of claim 8, wherein the processing system is configured to cause a warning of the HAIC or HAIC² condition to be provided corresponding to its size and location correlated on the weather radar display.

10. The aircraft hazard warning system of claim 9, wherein the warning of the HAIC or HAIC2 condition is provided as a speckled region.

11. A method of providing at least one of a high altitude ice crystal (HAIC) or HAIC cloud (HAIC²) information on an aircraft using an electronic processor, the method comprising:

receiving radar reflectivity data;

processing the radar reflectivity data to detect a presence of the at least one of the HAIC or HAIC² condition by using a coherent and non-coherent integration process, wherein the coherent and non-coherent integration process coherently integrates I return values associated with the radar reflectivity data in a first coherent integrator and Q return values associated with the radar reflectivity data in a second coherent integrator to produce integrated I values and integrated Q values, wherein combined amplitude values for a combination of the integrated I values and the integrated Q values are provided by an amplitude detector, wherein the combined amplitude values are non-coherently integrated by a non-coherent integrator to provide non-coherent integration values that are compared to a threshold, wherein if the non-coherent integration values are below the threshold, an HAIC or HAIC² condition is not detected and if the non-coherent integration values are above the threshold, further processing is performed to detect the HAIC or HAIC² condition; and

providing at least one of the HAIC or HAIC² information to a pilot.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the information of the HAIC condition is provided on a weather radar display.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the electronic processor is part of an avionic weather radar system and the HAIC² information is provided on the weather radar display.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein an update rate for the non-coherent integrator is a pulse repetition frequency divided by a number of pulses over which coherent integration is performed by the first and second coherent integrators multiplied by the number of dwells over which non-coherent integration is performed by the non-coherent integrator.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the radar reflectivity data is processed to identify a region of high water content beneath a region of low radar reflectivity in a vicinity of a core cell to detect the presence of at least one of the HAIC or HAIC² condition.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the information of the at least one of the HAIC or HAIC² condition is provided as a speckled region on a plan view display or a vertical situation display.

17. An aircraft weather radar system, comprising:

a radar antenna for receiving radar returns; and

means for determining a high altitude ice crystal (HAIC) or HAIC cloud (HAIC²) condition in response to the radar returns by a coherent and non-coherent integration process, wherein the coherent and non-coherent integration process coherently integrates I return values associated with the radar returns in a first coherent integrator and Q return values associated with the radar returns in a second coherent integrator to produce integrated I values and integrated Q values, wherein combined amplitude values for a combination of the integrated I values and the integrated Q values are provided by an amplitude detector, wherein the combined amplitude values are non-coherently integrated by a non-coherent integrator to provide non-coherent integration values that are compared to a threshold, wherein if the non-coherent integration values are below the threshold, an HAIC or HAIC² condition is not detected and if the non-coherent integration values are above the threshold, further processing is performed to detect the HAIC or HAIC² condition.

18. The aircraft weather radar system of claim 17, further comprising:

a display for providing weather images, the display providing a warning of the HAIC or HAIC² condition.

19. The aircraft weather radar system of claim 17, wherein a high altitude associated threat (HAAT) is sensed and a warning of the HAAT condition is displayed.

20. The aircraft weather radar system of claim 19, wherein the warning of the HAIC or HAIC² condition is provided in response to an inferred process using temperature anomalies or a non-inferred process using non-coherent integration.