"Wind in altitude measurement"
Range

PCL 1300
	The UHF PCL 1300 wind profiler measures the vertical profile of the wind..
PST 50
	The VHF PST 50 wind profiler uses backscattering properties.

Wind in altitude measurement

The main principles
The DEGREANE HORIZON wind profilers take full advantage of state-of-the-art microwave radar technology for the measurement of vertical profile of the wind. The result is an autonomous system that functions 24 hours a day with minimal supervisory requirements.

The DEGREANE HORIZON wind profiler is a pulsed Doppler RADAR, which can include an acoustic sounding sub-system (RASS) used to provide temperature measurements. It uses as a tracer the refractive index fluctuations of the air created by turbulence.

The Doppler velocity measurement associated to the advected turbulence provides the radial component of the wind speed in the direction of the main RADAR beam. A set of measurements in three independent directions is necessary to reconstitute the three wind components (calculation of projections U, V, W).

The wind profiler generates high powered pulses (vertically from the site and in four oblique directions determined by each RADAR beam) and receives echoes backscattered by clear air inhomogeneities. After amplification, appropriate signal processing is used to determine the vertical wind profile.

Our advantages
DEGREANE HORIZON is the only supplier of wind profiling radars which manufactures all of the major system elements (hardware and software) in-house.  This has resulted in radar systems of unmatched power, reliability and flexibility, and ensures that support for our many clients around the world is fully optimized.

Our wind profilers incorporate a broad spectrum of hardware and software refinements which are the result of an ongoing Research and Development collaboration with major French and European atmospheric research entities.  This collaboration is ongoing and will ensure that the system benefits from a continuing process of refinement, especially in the areas of advanced signal process and data processing. 

DEGREANE’s scientists and engineers are in a continuous process of improvement and enhancement of the wind profiler’s hardware and software, with the aim of achieving regular improvements in system range and resolution, with a particular emphasis on refining low altitude measurements
Multiple peak processing provides improved range and resolution. Combined with Statistical Quality Control, it reliably removes residual clutter.
PCL1300 Wind Profiler is not affected by rain or snow thanks to its multi-panel based tough antenna system.
The PCL1300 Wind Profiler is available in fixed or mobile version

Some advice
Depending on the antenna configuration, the space requirement for the wind profiler installation can be up to :

• 6.5 m x 6.5m for the PCL 1300
• 3,500 m2 for the PST 50

Clutter interference will be caused by all moving objects in the radar’s line of view. Typically, electrical power lines, rotating radar antennas, wind anemometers, vehicles, vegetation moving in the wind are the most common sources of clutter. Sea waves can cause similar issues with radars suffering from large side lobes.

Non-moving clutter will automatically be rejected by radar processing. To have the highest quality of wind measurements, it is best to choose a site with as few clutter targets as possible. The wind profiler can also be sighted near buildings to mask clutter from forest or hill slopes near the radar.