NSF Facilities, Capabilities, and Plans: CSU-CHILL National

Radar Facility

Prof. Steven Rutledge

Department of Atmospheric Science

Colorado State University

www.chill.colostate.edu

CSU-CHILL Team

• S. Rutledge, Scientific Director and PI

• V. N. Bringi, Co-PI

• V. Chandra, Co-PI

• Pat Kennedy, Facility Manager

• Dave Brunkow, Senior Engineer

• Bob Bowie, Master Technician

• Jim George, M.S. student/engineer

Overview of the CSU-CHILL Radar Facility

Supported by the NSF and CSU since 1990

CSU-CHILL Technical Characteristics

• 11 cm wavelength (S-Band)• Dual polarization 1o beamwidth antenna with

interactive scan control• Separate H and V Klystron transmitters• Each transmitter has individual digital controller,

drive pulse coding, etc.• Separate H and V digital receivers• Flexible signal processor programming

40 km to north of CHILL

Formerly the HOT at ISWS

Dual-Doppler

Conventional,Doppler radar

300 kW, 1.5 degreebeamwidth

Data available inreal time at CHILLand on network

CSU PAWNEE

CHILL-Pawnee Project Support

• NSF funded projects at Greeley or remote deployments (STEPS 2000), reviewed by NSF and OFAP process (1-2 per year)

• 20-hour projects, support provided by Facility, projects at home base (4-5 per year)

• Requests forms available at www.chill.colostate.edu• Significant in-house research, radar meteorology and

radar engineering activities• Questions: Pat Kennedy 970 491 6248 (pat@lab.chill.colostate.edu)

CSU-CHILL Radar Subsystems

DualReceivers

Dual IndependentTransmitters

AntennaController

Dig

itize

rs

Time-seriesServer

ProgrammableTransmitController

SystemController

Signal Processor

Firewall

Local Display/Monitoring

Remote Display

Existing Hardware

Updated Hardware

Legend:

Disk Storage

CHILL Network

The VCHILL Concept

ReceiverFront End

Digital Transmitter

Control

Digital Receiver

Signal Processor

Archiver

Radar Controller

Gateway

Displays

TheInternet

Home Users

Schools

Classrooms

Presentations

KlystronPower

Amplifiers

VCHILL UsersCSU-CHILL Radar Site

VCHILL Technology• In-class tours of the radar site

– Polycom H.323 video-conferencing– VCHILL realtime streaming data from the radar,

viewed through Java VCHILL client– Browsing offline data through Java VCHILL

TheInternet

Radar Servers

Video Conference Java VCHILL

Google Earth

Greeley, CO

Video

VCHILL End Users

Student Visits and Projects

• NSF-sponsored student visits from Junior High students

• Research Experience for Undergraduates– 10 week projects for undergraduates, using the CHILL facilities and

data

NSF-sponsored visits REU Students visit CHILL

Student Project Activities

• Student Projects are actively encouraged• Once completed, they become part of the facility

– Digital Transmitter/Receiver (J. George)– Pulse Compression (A. Mudukutore)– Radar Calibration (K. Gojara, D. Khanjonrat)– Phase Coding (N. Bharadwaj)– Multiple Radar Realtime Analysis (B. Dolan)– Hydrometeor Classification (S. Lim)– Power Transfer System (Undergraduate Project)– Hail Detection (T. Depue)

CASA Radar System Validation• The CASA Prototype

radar was validated against the CHILL radar

CASA Prototype Radarat the CSU-CHILL Site

CASA ObservationCHILL Observation

Example data:

Pulse-type severe thunderstorm: 29 June 2007

Data Collected in 20 December 2006 Blizzard

KDEN closed around 2137 UTC

New CSU-CHILL antenna, offset feed

-35 db x-pol isolation demonstrated

Development of a dual-wavelengthsystem, S- and X-band, 0.25 degreebeamwidth at X-band.High resolution rainfallmapping, microphysics

Pouring new radome foundation:

6 July 2007

New foundation elements:

Antenna pedestal base and radome attachment ring

CSU-NCAR Multi-function Observational Research

Facility…….early in the process

NSF-funded S-band radar facilities

CSU-CHILL; supports NSF funded projects, strong role in education; develops advanced polarimetric measurement techniques and other algorithms; routinely collects data at home base

NCAR S-pol, supports national/international projects, supports NEXRAD program

NSF has encouraged a new vision for these facilities

Better serve the needs of the community for the future—10 year vision

Highlights

• Create a multifunctional radar observatory along the Front Range supporting scientific data collection, education and technology advancement---a community asset!

• Location favorable for a variety of weather phenomena• Observatory would initially consist of CSU-CHILL, CSU-PAWNEE and NCAR S-pol

radars (S-pol operational in the network when not remotely deployed)• S-pol would continue to be deployed for remote operations; maintain CHILL in a

transportable configuration• Supplemented by KCYS and KFTG NEXRAD systems• Technological advancement: Phase 1 would focus on MORF development and dual-

wavelength development and applications• Technological advancement: Phase 2 would include other sensors such as network

lidars, radiometers, profilers, shorter wavelength radars (e.g. CAPRIS, HIAPER CR)• Provide for target of opportunity data collection in a wide variety of weather situations

following the CSU-CHILL philosophy • Network to support high resolution numerical model simulations and data assimilation

studies

Aspects of the MORF• Integrate engineering, technical and scientific oversight

activities, foster full exchange of engineering developments (e.g., current CHILL antenna on S-pol)

• Move towards common engineering systems, display systems, signal processing systems, data stream/format/archival/analysis activities, cross-training of staff

• MORF would serve as a magnet for various observational and modeling (data assimilation) projects

• Broad student opportunities, including graduate and undergraduate, engineering and science

Possibleexperimental design

Supplement with other instruments and networks,for example,a 3-D LightningMapping Array

Would be a “magnet”for a wide varietyof field projects

Intelligent networkingfollowing CASA ideas

S-pol operated “remotely”