Kennedy Space Center 50-MHz Launch Support Radar Wind Profiler

In 1990, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration/Kennedy Space Center (NASA/KSC) installed a 50-MHz (actual frequency is 49.25 MHz) Doppler radar wind profiler (DRWP) to evaluate the applicability for measuring upper-level winds in support of space launch operations. The profiler has operated continuously since that time; and has been used operationally to monitor upper level winds from 2 km to 18 km for launch and other operations. NASA has contracted to replace the radar starting in the late spring of 2014, with the intention of certifying the new system as a primary instrument for launch support. The new system will replace the Coaxial Collinear antenna with an antenna consisting of 640 Yagi elements fed by a modular transmitter. Each antenna element will be paired with a phase shifter, enabling full beam steering. In order to ensure data quality for Day of Launch (DOL) engineering applications the current median filter/first-guess (MFFG) algorithm will be implemented with a modern Graphical User Interface allowing the operator to quickly adjust processing parameters and identify any questionable data. Details of the hardware and the signal processing are presented.