The Method to Determine the Noise Power of Wind Profile Radar

The main intention of designing wind profile radar is to obtain wind information of the atmosphere. However, it does not take full account of the function of intensity measurement. The applications of the wind profile radar will be greatly expanded, if the function of intensity measurement is implemented. A very important extension is to measure the process of precipitation and to get raindrop size distribution which can fundamentally improve the quality of quantitative measurement of precipitation. To achieve the intensity quantitative measurement, the key technical issue that must be solved is how to calculate the noise power accurately from power spectral density. Based on the power spectral density estimation method of wind profile radar adopted and the noise frequency domain statistical characteristics, a method to calculate noise power of wind profile radar is proposed and the validation of the method is done by using of wind profile radar measured power spectral density data. Results show that the method performs well. The power spectral density of noise can be separated accurately even in complex echo situation such as precipitation or strong surface clutter. The method is established on solid theory foundation. The calculation of noise power is accurately, quickly and efficiently, which looks forward to becoming a practical technology of wind profile radar.