Aircraft Weather Radar Urban Clutter Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current radar systems onboard aircraft have difficulty distinguishing between radar returns caused by weather formations and those caused by urban clutter, leading to inaccurate weather displays that can result in increased travel time and fuel consumption as pilots may avoid non-threatening urban areas.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an urban clutter database that allows the radar system to differentiate between weather-caused and urban-clutter-caused reflectivity values by using information about urban areas, such as location, reflectivity, and distribution models, to assign appropriate values to weather and non-weather buffers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the radar system assigns all reflectivity values to the weather buffer, then the weather display shows all detected radar returns, but urban clutter is misidentified as weather formations leading to inaccurate displays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the total reflectivity value into two distinct portions: a first portion attributable to weather and a second portion attributable to urban clutter. This segmentation is achieved by querying an urban clutter database to determine the clutter contribution and subtracting it from the total reflectivity. The separated portions are then assigned to different buffers (weather buffer and non-weather buffer), allowing the display to show only genuine weather formations without urban clutter interference.
Solution Approach 2:
The urban clutter database serves as an intermediary component that provides pre-stored reflectivity information about known urban areas. The radar system queries this database to obtain clutter reflectivity values, which are then used to adjust the total reflectivity measurements. This intermediary database enables the system to distinguish between weather and urban clutter by comparing real-time radar returns against known clutter patterns.
2Measurement precision
If the radar system uses an urban clutter database to filter out urban clutter, then the accuracy of weather depiction improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-storing urban clutter information in a database before actual weather detection occurs. The urban clutter database contains pre-characterized reflectivity data for known urban areas, allowing the radar system to quickly query and compare against real-time measurements without performing complex analysis during operation. This preliminary preparation reduces the computational burden during active weather monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses copying by creating a digital representation of urban clutter patterns in the urban clutter database. Instead of analyzing raw radar returns in real-time to identify urban areas, the system copies pre-existing knowledge about urban clutter characteristics into the database and uses these copied patterns to automatically filter and identify clutter in real-time radar returns, simplifying the detection process.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution provides a more accurate depiction of weather conditions by correctly identifying urban clutter, reducing the likelihood of misinterpreting manmade structures as storm cells and enhancing the reliability of weather data presented to pilots.
Implementation Method 1
A radar mounted onboard an aircraft can detect weather formations (e.g., clouds, raindrops, etc.) around the aircraft based on reflections of radar signals
Implementation Method 2
The antenna is also configured to receive reflections of the radar signals from the location
Data Source
AI summary
In some examples, a system includes a memory configured to store a weather buffer and processing circuitry configured to determine, based on radar returns, a total reflectivity value for a first voxel of the weather buffer. The processing circuitry is also configured to determine that a potential for urban clutter exists in the first voxel. The processing circuitry is further configured to assign a first portion of the total reflectivity value to the first voxel of the weather buffer in response to determining that the potential for urban clutter exists in the first voxel, where the first portion of the total reflectivity value is less than the total reflectivity value.