초록 ▼

A system for wind profiling comprises sondes for being borne through the atmosphere by balloons and transmitting signals enabling identifying the sondes, and received by receivers capable of determining the angle of arrival (AOA) of the signals from the sondes, so that they can be tracked. In the pr

A system for wind profiling comprises sondes for being borne through the atmosphere by balloons and transmitting signals enabling identifying the sondes, and received by receivers capable of determining the angle of arrival (AOA) of the signals from the sondes, so that they can be tracked. In the preferred embodiment, the signal transmitted by each sonde is a phase-shift-keyed (PSK) signal. The carrier phase difference as measured at two spaced antennas is measured to provide an accurate but ambiguous measure of the difference in distance of the path length between the sonde and receivers, and the symbol phase difference is employed to remove the ambiguity. The difference in path length is then used to determine AOA. Atmospheric data and the sonde identification are encoded using a psuedo-random sequence (PRS) of the PSK symbols.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A method for determining wind profile information, comprising the steps of:providing a plurality of sondes, each comprising a transmitter capable of transmitting a signal modulated according to a predetermined pattern that (1) allows signals received from different ones of said sondes to be diffe

1. A method for determining wind profile information, comprising the steps of:providing a plurality of sondes, each comprising a transmitter capable of transmitting a signal modulated according to a predetermined pattern that (1) allows signals received from different ones of said sondes to be differentiated from one another and (2) allows precise measurement of the difference in path length between the sonde and three or more antennas spaced from one another at one or more receiving locations; releasing said sondes into the atmosphere, for movement with the wind; operating said sondes to transmit said signals; receiving said signals at said three or more antennas; demodulating the signals transmitted thereby at one or more receiving locations to separate the atmospheric data from the modulation pattern; analyzing the modulation pattern to determine the difference in path length between each sonde and the three or more antennas; employing said difference in path length to determine an angle of arrival (AOA) of said signal at said receiving location; determining the location of each said sonde as a function of said AOA, and tracking the positions of said sondes over time to determine the wind profile.