A Hybrid Antenna Pattern Synthesis Method for the Polarimetric Atmospheric Imaging Radar (PAIR)

Abstract

Polarimetric Phased Array Radar (PAR) technology is a candidate radar architecture capable of providing rapid volumetric weather observations. In this paper, we present a hybrid optimization method for synthesizing phase-only PAR beam patterns using individually measured antenna element patterns to account for practical antenna performance. We investigate a phase-only pattern synthesis method for the C-Band Polarimetric Atmospheric Imaging Radar (PAIR) developed at the Advanced Radar Research Center (ARRC). Preliminary results show that the Bezier surfaces can be used to parametrize the phase excitation across the array to synthesize imaging beams. Key results indicate that the synthesis of two independent H/V transmit beams may be needed to maximize mainlobe matching and mitigate co-polar biases in polarimetric weather measurements.