Record Details
The meteorological usefulness of a maser RF amplifier on a highly sensitive X-band weather radar receiver
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | The meteorological usefulness of a maser RF amplifier on a highly sensitive X-band weather radar receiver |
| Names |
Rinehart, Ronald E.
(creator) Decker, Fred W. (advisor) |
| Date Issued | 1968-05-06 (iso8601) |
| Note | Graduation date: 1968 |
| Abstract | An evaluation of the meteorological usefulness of a maser RF amplifier on an AN/MPS-34 X-band weather radar indicates that there are both advantages and disadvantages to its use. The problems associated with the maser used in this study included tuning problems, loss of gain through loss of liquid helium and from tilting too high, and instability of the gain of the maser with time. The problems encountered which are potentially common to all masers included logistics problems, loss of gain because of saturation of the maser, and sufficient additional sensitivity to the radar receiver system to allow the detection of thermal noise. The detection of thermal noise, predicted by theory for the system used, is the most significant result of the study. Objects at a temperature of 300 K radiate thermal noise which is easily detected by the maser-equipped AN/MPS-34 while on short pulse (MDS ≤ -100 dbm while the noise power for the MPS-34 on short pulse from objects at 300 K exceeds -108 dbm). The advantages of the maser for the detection of clouds, precipitation, fog, clear air turbulence, insects, and birds are investigated. Little advantage is gained by using the maser on sensitive radars for most forms of precipitation except light snow. For sensitive radars, there are definite advantages to using the maser for clouds and bird detection and to some extent for insect detection. An additional 12 db of gain doubles the maximum range of detection for point targets and increases the maximum range of detection for distributed targets four times. Fog and clear air turbulence both have such small reflectivities that the maser did not provide enough additional gain to make detection of these feasible. Several uses of a maser for weather radar are suggested including the study of first echoes and clouds. The addition of a maser to other wavelength radars and to radars of relatively low sensitivity are also considered. |
| Genre | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Topic | Masers |
| Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/1957/47110 |
