Method and apparatus for implementing automatic tilt control of a radar antenna on an aircraft
US6236351A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 6, 1999 |
| Grant date | May 22, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 6, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02A90/10
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A method and apparatus for automatically controlling the tilt of a radar antenna to avoid ground clutter returns while scanning the weather formations of most interest. In one embodiment a terrain database is utilized to determine tilt angles for different terrain cells. The tilt angle is determined starting at the aircraft position and working out to the radar range. If a tilt angle for a more distant cell is less than for a nearer cell it is ignored taking shadowing into account. In another embodiment the weighted tilt angle frequencies are entered into a histogram and the histogram is scanned to obtain a tilt angle resulting in an acceptable amount of ground clutter.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.