Comparison of different methods of end to end calibration of the UK weather radar network

This paper presents a summary of a study performed by Gematronik GmbH for T he Met. Office under contract CB/Met 1b/2335 to investigate the feasibility of various methods of end to end calibration of the UK weather radar netwo rk. Weather radar calibration is typically restricted to component level, e.g. transmitter power measurements and receiver characterisation. Waveguide sys tem losses, antenna characteristics and radome properties are generally ass umed to be known constants without any variation in time or antenna positio n. In order to achieve a complete calibration of the radar system, it is neces sary to include the complete signal path through every radar subsystem, fro m the transmitter output power to the receiver A/D converter input. This re quires external calibration activities with active or passive tools. The di fferent methods considered have been classified into Remote sources Targets (active and passive) Existing tools for other types of radar (such as ATC radars) All methods have been assessed on their feasability and accuracy. The final result is a table comparing all calibration methods. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.