Collaborative experiment to improve radar performance modeling: Overview

In September 2014, researchers at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Pacific (SSC Pacific), Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), the Netherlands Defense Materiel Organisation (DMO), and the Netherlands Defense Academy (NLDA), conducted a field experiment in the Netherlands, collecting both one-way and two-way RF propagation data as well as meteorological measurements along the path. This field campaign was conducted over the North Sea from Den Helder, NL, as part of a collaborative effort to a) improve the accuracy of the phased-array radar performance model within the Advanced Refractive Effects Prediction System (AREPS), and b) to determine metrics of the quality of radar performance predictions based on numerical weather prediction (NWP) forecasts, in-situ meteorological observations, and the assimilation of both. The currently-fielded AREPS contains a radar threshold model (RTM) that is not optimized for modern phased-array radars. This collaborative effort is the first step in addressing these shortcomings to the AREPS RTM.