MULTIFREQUENCY MILLIMETER-WAVE RADAR SYSTEM FOR ATMOSPHERIC SONDING: CALIBRATION, CONSISTENCY, AND DATA MERGE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18372/2310-5461.71.21436Keywords:
multi-frequency millimeter-wave radar, atmospheric remote sensing, inter-instrument consistency, interband consistency, data fusion, Mie scattering, disdrometer, rain attenuation, K/Ka/W bandsAbstract
The growing use of K-, Ka-, and W-band millimeter-wave radars requires physically consistent multi-frequency calibration and inter-instrument agreement. This paper presents the principles of designing a multi-frequency radar system for atmospheric remote sensing that integrates K-, Ka-, and W-band channels within a unified and physically consistent measurement architecture. A methodology for inter-instrument and interband consistency is proposed based on multi-sensor data fusion. The approach employs rain events as natural distributed reference targets, with disdrometer-based reflectivity estimates computed from measured drop size distributions using Mie theory and T-matrix methods, together with attenuation correction for rain and atmospheric gases.
Algorithms for compensating fall-time delay, drop evaporation, and two-way path-integrated attenuation are implemented. The results demonstrate that after applying these corrections, physically consistent interband agreement is achieved, systematic inter-instrument reflectivity offsets are reduced, and correlation between radar and disdrometer observations improves across all three frequency bands. The long-term stability of interband relationships and consistency coefficients is also analyzed. The obtained results are relevant for aviation meteorology, climate research, and millimeter-wave propagation modeling in 5G/6G communication systems. The proposed integrated framework of “consistency – physical coherence – data fusion” provides a foundation for the development of next-generation multi-frequency atmospheric sensing platforms.
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