Rockwell Collins unveils new MultiScan ThreatTrack™ weather radar

• Uses Predictive Overflight™ to identify significant turbulence threats above rapidly growing thunderstorms

• First radar in industry to feature two levels of turbulence detection

• American Airlines to take first delivery on new Next-Generation Boeing 737

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (Feb. 4. 2014) – Rockwell Collins today unveiled its new MultiScan ThreatTrack™ weather radar, which provides unprecedented atmospheric threat assessment capabilities for air transport aircraft. The company will be showcasing the new system at next week’s Singapore Airshow.

MultiScan ThreatTrack builds upon Rockwell Collins’ market-leading MultiScan weather radar to deliver additional features and to further increase safety and efficiency. For example, the system’s advanced capabilities go beyond hail and lightning prediction within a thunderstorm cell and alerts pilots to these significant threats adjacent to the cell. If these thunderstorms are growing ahead and below the aircraft, ThreatTrack’s Predictive Overflight™ protection warns the flight crew if the cells will be in the aircraft’s flight path.

 

In addition, MultiScan ThreatTrack is the first in the industry to feature two levels of turbulence detection — severe and ride-quality—which more accurately informs flight crews of the type of turbulence in their path.

American Airlines is debuting the new radar, which was developed with extensive meteorological research and rigorous flight testing around the world, on its new Next-Generation Boeing 737 fleet.

“Working with American and Boeing, we certified a more comprehensive radar system that improves flight operations efficiency by helping pilots better navigate disruptive weather threats,” said Steve Timm, vice president and general manager, Air Transport Systems for Rockwell Collins. “With MultiScan ThreatTrack, passenger satisfaction will increase with smoother flights and more on-time arrivals.”

“American Airlines is pleased to collaborate with Rockwell Collins on the successful certification and entry into service of MultiScan ThreatTrack,” said Capt. Brian Will, director of Airspace Modernization and Advanced Technologies at American Airlines. “The system’s capabilities, including its advanced environmental threat detection logic, will help American continue to provide the safest and most efficient operation possible.”

In a research project sponsored by the NASA Weather Accident Prevention Project, data examined over the past two decades indicates that turbulence resulting in minor or major injury has cost airlines anywhere from $28,000 to $167,000 per incident. With an average of 750 turbulence encounters per year, the resulting cost to the industry can be $30 to $60 million per year. Lightning and hail damage to aircraft can increase the related costs exponentially.

MultiScan ThreatTrack weather radar is the first fully certified airborne weather radar with the following capabilities for new Next-Generation Boeing 737s:

• Patented Track-While-Scan Technology prioritizes weather threats out to 320 nm by performing dedicated horizontal and vertical scans on developed or fast-growing convective cells that pose an actual threat.

• Core Threat Assessment examines thunderstorm cells and increases the displayed colors to better represent the actual thunderstorm threat.

• Associated Threat Assessment infers lightning, hail and convective threat potential within and external to a thunderstorm core.

• Predictive OverFlight™ Protection tracks thunderstorm cells ahead and below the aircraft, measures growth rate, predicts bow-wave turbulence and indicates potential threats in aircraft’s flight path.

• Two-level Enhanced Turbulence Detection detects severe and ride-quality turbulence up to 40 nm ahead of the aircraft.

• Predictive Windshear Detection with windshear event data recording and retrieval.

• Geographic Weather Correlation utilizes a database of geographic and seasonal weather variations that enhance MultiScan ThreatTrack’s algorithms to provide accurate worldwide hazard information.

MultiScan ThreatTrack is expected to be certified for Boeing 777 aircraft next month.

Rockwell Collins press release – Source

Thales Active Phased Array Radar excels in ESSM firings from new Danish Frigate

The trial, executed on 21 November 2013, consisted of four Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM) being directed by APAR to four targets. The trial was successful: all launched missiles performed a successful intercept. In the first part of the trial, a Banshee drone was eliminated by a missile launched by the new Royal Danish Navy Frigate HDMS Peter Willemoes (Iver Huitfeldt-class).

The new Royal Danish Navy Frigate HDMS Peter Willemoes (Iver Huitfeldt-class)
Picture: Berg2

With pinpoint accuracy APAR guided the missile to the target, resulting in a successful threat elimination. Subsequently, three Banshee drones were launched simultaneously, necessitating the launch and guidance of three missiles. Thanks to APAR’s unique Interrupted Continuous Wave Illumination technology, enabling the simultaneous guidance of multiple missiles to various targets; this part of the trial was also successful.
The trials were performed at the Missile Test Range off the Scottish coast in the Atlantic Ocean. HDMS Peter Willemoes was escorted by HDMS Niels Juel.

Gerben Edelijn, Thales Nederland’s CEO says: “This excellent result proves that Thales’ APAR and the unique technology are the standard in missile guidance.”

HDMS Peter Willemoes is one of the three Iver Huitfeldt class air defence frigates of the Royal Danish Navy. The other two ships are HDMS Iver Huitfeldt and HDMS Niels Juel. These ships share their Anti-Warfare suite with the Royal Netherlands Navy’s De Zeven Provincien-class frigates and the German Navy’s Sachsen-class frigates. The Thales sensors of this suite include the long range surveillance radar SMART-L and the multi-function radar APAR.

 

Video: Royal Danish Navy

Source

Ancient Stone Bridge Surveying by Ground-Penetrating Radar and Numerical Modeling Methods

Solla, M., Riveiro, B., Lorenzo, H., and Armesto, J. (2014). ”Ancient Stone Bridge Surveying by Ground-Penetrating Radar and Numerical Modeling Methods.” J. Bridge Eng., 19(1), 110–119.

Bridges are considered necessary engineering structures because they connect separated lands to improve economic and social development. In Spain, many of the bridges in service within the network of transport are masonry arch bridges built in ancient times. In addition to their age, the stability of these remaining bridges is questionable because of the changing loading conditions; therefore, they require periodic assessment of the condition state. Moreover, some of these bridges are considered a part of the cultural heritage of a region, so nondestructive evaluation is required to preserve their historical character. In this work, a medieval stone bridge in the Galician territory of Spain was evaluated using ground-penetrating radar, supported by a detailed geometric survey performed through a terrestrial laser scanner. The results revealed unknown geometrical data and hidden characteristics, including the thickness of ring stones in the interior of the vault, as well as the presence of ancient arches and restorations. To assist in the interpretation, finite-difference time-domain modeling was used, where realistic models were built from the accurate geometry provided. The synthetic data obtained were compared with the field data, which allowed for the identification of unknown structural details.

Source

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CloudSat satellite

 
Figure 1: Artist's rendition of the CloudSat spacecraft (image credit: NASA)

Detail description of satellite, instruments and mission’s status

SCR-270 radar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

SCR-270: Similar to the model that detected the attacking Pearl Harbor planes (the actual Opana antenna was nine dipoles high by four wide, instead of the eight-by-four configuration shown here). The scale for reading the direction the antenna is pointing to can be seen at the base.

The SCR-270 (Signal Corps Radio model 270) was one of the first operational early warning radars. It was the U.S. Army's primary long-distance radar throughout World War II and was deployed around the world. It is also known as the Pearl Harbor Radar, since it was a SCR-270 set that detected the incoming raid about half an hour before the attack commenced.