초록 ▼

A method of detecting weather on an aircraft uses a weather radar system. The method includes determining a location of a reflective radar target, accessing a database having stored information relating to ground clutter of a reflective radar target, retrieving weather radar information associated w

A method of detecting weather on an aircraft uses a weather radar system. The method includes determining a location of a reflective radar target, accessing a database having stored information relating to ground clutter of a reflective radar target, retrieving weather radar information associated with the location, and automatically adjusting the weather radar return threshold in response to the information. The method can adjust a threshold for a weather radar display, adjust a weather radar signal gain, adjust a tilt angle of the weather radar, or adjust a ground clutter suppression threshold. The method can be implemented by hardware and/or software.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A method of detecting weather on an aircraft using a weather radar system, the method comprising: determining a location of a reflective radar target; accessing a database having stored information relating to ground clutter associated with the location of the reflective rada

What is claimed is: 1. A method of detecting weather on an aircraft using a weather radar system, the method comprising: determining a location of a reflective radar target; accessing a database having stored information relating to ground clutter associated with the location of the reflective radar target; retrieving weather radar information associated with the location; and automatically adjusting the weather radar return threshold in response to the information. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a location further comprises: receiving global positioning system (GPS) signals. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored information is stored in a ground clutter database. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored information is stored in a database comprising at least one of ground clutter rejection thresholds or ground clutter reflectivity information. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored information includes at least one of location-based information, time-of-day based information, or seasonal information. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically adjusting includes: at least one of applying a threshold control law to adjust a threshold for a weather radar display associated with the weather radar system, adjusting a weather radar signal gain, adjusting a tilt angle of a weather radar antenna, or adjusting a ground clutter suppression threshold in order to suppress ground clutter. 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a type for the reflective radar target. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the type comprises any geographical terrain. 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating a weighting factor based on the location, time of day, time of year, the weighting factor being representative of the reflectivity of the target. 10. A method of adapting an aircraft weather radar system, the method comprising: determining at least one of a time-of-year parameter, a time-of-day parameter, or a location parameter; and automatically adjusting the weather radar system radar return display thresholds to display weather in response to at least one of the time-of-year parameter, time-of-day parameter, or location parameter in order to at least one of suppress ground clutter or to more accurately depict weather hazards. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the location parameter is derived from global positioning system (GPS) signals. 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the location parameter comprises information relating to known ground clutter targets. 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the adjusting occurs in response to the location parameter and the time-of-year parameter or the location parameter and the time-of-day parameter or the time-of-year parameter and the time-of-day parameter. 14. The method of claim 10, further comprising: adjusting a tilt angle, or a gain. 15. The method of claim 10, further comprising: applying a threshold control law to adjust the weather radar system. 16. An airborne weather radar system carried on an aircraft, comprising: a radar antenna system; and a processing means for automatically adjusting display thresholds of the weather radar system based on at least a location of known ground clutter targets to display weather and aid suppressing ground clutter. 17. The airborne weather radar of claim 16, wherein the processing system changes a display threshold for a weather radar display using a threshold control law. 18. The airborne weather radar of claim 16, wherein the processing means adjusts the performance in response to at least one of the location, the time-of-day or the time-of-year. 19. The airborne weather radar of claim 16, wherein the system further comprises a display coupled to the processor. 20. A method of creating a weather radar display threshold database, comprising: receiving by a ground based weather radar system weather radar returns from a location; receiving by an airborne based radar system weather radar returns over the location; determining a display threshold for the airborne based weather radar system which provides a substantial match of the ground based weather radar returns and the airborne based weather radar returns.