Comparison of Different Methods of End to End Calibration of the UK Weather Radar Network

This paper presents a summary of a study performed by Gematronik GmbH for The Met. Office under contract CB/Met 1b/2335 to investigate the feasibility of various methods of end to end calibration of the UK weather radar network. Weather radar calibration is typically restricted to component level, e.g. transmitter power measurements and receiver characterisation. Waveguide system losses, antenna characteristics and radome properties are generally assumed to be known constants without any variation in time or antenna position. In order to achieve a complete calibration of the radar system, it is necessary to include the complete signal path through every radar subsystem, from the transmitter output power to the receiver A/D converter input. This requires external calibration activities with active or passive tools. The different methods considered have been classified into (1) Remote sources, (2) Targets (active and passive), (3) Existing tools for other types of radar (such as ATC radars). All methods have been assessed on their feasability and accuracy. The final result is a table comparing all calibration methods.