E.V. Bogatyrev1, R.G. Galeev2, V.E. Ivanov3, S.I. Kudinov4, I.V. Malygin5, V.Ya. Noskov6, O.A. Chernykh7

1,2 JSC «SPE «Radiosvyaz» (Krasnoyarsk, Russia)

3–7 Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin (Ekaterinburg, Russia)

1,2 info@krtz.su, 3 v.e.ivanovekt@gmail.com, 4 kudinoffs@mail.ru, 5 pit_pit2@mail.ru, 6 v.y.noskov@urfu.ru, 7 o.a.chernyh@urfu.ru

Radar systems (radars) for sensing the atmosphere to altitudes of about 40 kilometers by means of aerological radiosondes (ARS) are widely used at weather stations of the Roshydromet network, airports and cosmodromes to make accurate weather forecasts and determine the state of the atmosphere. Specialized radar stations with pulsed radiation are used as ground stations for receiving and processing meteorological data, which, according to the inclined range and angular coordinates of the ARZ, also determine the direction and speed of the wind.

Super-regenerative transceivers (SRT) have been used on board the ARS for more than 60 years as a radar transponder and a transmitter of telemetry data on temperature, humidity, pressure and other environmental parameters. SRTs are highly sensitive to the RADAR's request radio pulse with the utmost simplicity of its design and small weight and size indicators. Currently, the range of ARS tracking with simultaneous transmission of telemetric information about the state of the atmosphere at an average power of the radar's request radio pulse, not exceeding the power of a cell phone, is 250... 300 km, depending on the terrain.

However, the use of SRT is associated with a number of disadvantages. First of all, these include the limited sensitivity of the SRT in the receiving mode of the RADAR's request radio pulses by the level of shock vibrations in the resonant system of the superregenerator, which are observed during the formation of the leading edge of the superization radio pulses. At the same time, the level of interference from shock vibrations usually exceeds the level of the SRT's own noise. Another fundamental disadvantage of the SRT is the asynchrony of the processes of forming the receiving window of the SRT and sending the RADAR request radio pulses, which causes additional fluctuations in the time position, depth, duration of the response pause and, accordingly, a fundamentally unavoidable component of the additional measurement error of the inclined range. Another disadvantage of the SPP is the wide range of radiation (6...8 MHz) and its noise character, which creates problems of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) in modern operating conditions of radiosonde systems, for example, the operation of GLONASS/GPS systems.

The recent transition to coherent radar radiation and the use of ARZ as telemetric transponders instead of SRT autodyne transceivers (ADT) makes it possible to eliminate these disadvantages. The ADT, as well as the SRT, are economical, small overall dimensions and low cost of the microwave module. A particularly attractive advantage of the ADT is the narrow frequency band of radiation, which makes it possible to use them in the conditions of modern stringent requirements for the EMC of radio equipment. It is convenient to use narrowband frequency modulation to transmit weather data via the ADT.

The purpose of this work is to show another possibility of significantly improving the tactical and technical characteristics of the radiosonding system in which the ADT is used, namely, improving the accuracy of measuring wind parameters (range, speed, law and direction of movement). This goal is achieved by implementing the Doppler method proposed by us for determining the parameters of the ARS motion.

The essence of the proposed method lies in the fact that, first of all, not energy, but phase characteristics of radar signals are used to determine the parameters of the ARS movement. Phase changes, as is known, due to the movement of the location object in coherent systems, make it possible to register the Doppler effect.

At the same time, the solution to the problem of obtaining a Doppler signal, as shown in the article, is accompanied by a series of processes related to the phase of radio signals. So, first, as a result of the interaction of the primary oscillations of the radar's request radio pulse with the oscillations of the autodyne generator on the ARS, the processes of phase synchronization of the oscillations of this generator and memorization of the phase of the request radio pulse occur. Further, during the return of the radio signal from the ARS to the radar, due to the invariance of the propagation medium, the process of transferring and preserving the oscillation phase of the autodyne generator occurs. Finally, comparing the phase of the returned oscillations with the phase of the primary oscillations of the radar reference generator is the final process in which changes in the phase difference are detected and, accordingly, the presence of a Doppler frequency shift in the signal due to the movement of the ARS. Since the movement is recorded by a Doppler signal with an accuracy of fractions of the wavelength of radiation (less than 18 cm at a frequency of 1680 MHz), taking into account the Doppler effect when processing data on the current position of the ARS helps to increase the accuracy of determining its speed of movement and, accordingly, wind parameters. At the same time, it should be noted that the accuracy of determining the position of the ARS by known pulse radar methods is determined by the extent of the radar resolution volume of the target in range. At the same time, the RMS value of the range measurement error in the auto-tracking mode for the Vector-M radar is 30 meters.

To implement the proposed method into existing radiosonding systems, only minor design changes in the radar will be required, associated with the introduction of a frequency detector into the receiver of the range channel and the development of a special request radio pulse generator consisting of two adjacent parts: with an unmodulated and frequency-modulated carrier, respectively.

Богатырев Е.В., Галеев Р.Г., Иванов В.Э., Кудинов С.И., Малыгин И.В., Носков В.Я., Черных О.А. Метод доплеровского определения параметров движения аэрологического зонда радиолокационной системы // Успехи современной радиоэлектроники. 2025. T. 79. № 2. С. 39–51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18127/j20700784-202502-05

Bogatyrev E.V., Galeev R.G., Ivanov V.E., Kudinov S.I., Malygin I.V., Noskov V.Ya., Chernykh O.A. Method of Doppler determination of motion parameters of an aerological probe of a radar system. Achievements of modern radioelectronics. 2025. V. 79. № 2. P. 39–51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18127/j20700784-202502-05 [in Russian]