ATRAD Pty Ltd. products

The ATRAD Atmospheric Boundary Layer Radar Systems BLR12/27 has been specifically designed for wind profiling a localised area at heights between 300 metres and 8 kilometres above ground level. Typical system configurations include a 12kW solid-state transmitter and 27 three-element Yagi antenna array. System frequency is set at factory within the range of 30 – 64 MHz.

The ATRAD ST wind profiler uses Doppler Beam Swinging (DBS) techniques to provide real-time vertical profiles of horizontal wind speed and direction at heights of up to 20km above ground level. It operates in the low VHF frequency range, providing significant cost benefits and eliminating data contamination arising from tropical conditions, precipitation and bird or insect migrations. The ST wind profiler provides a low-cost alternative to meteorological balloon stations for wind profiling applications. Alternatively, it may be used in conjunction with a meteorological balloon station to reduce the number of costly balloon flights per day. It also has applications in rocket and space launch operations and scientific research.

The Enhanced Meteor Detection Radar System (EMDR) is designed specifically for wind profiling in the Mesosphere Lower Thermosphere (MLT) region (70-110 km) by tracking the drift of ionisation trails left by meteoroids as they fall through the atmosphere. The system is designed to support both attended and unattended operation. It can be operated and monitored remotely and data can be automatically analysed and posted to an web site. It may be readily expanded to accommodate higher power operation and to include Boundary Layer Spaced Antenna operation.

ATRAD’s Steerable Ionospheric Analyser (SIA) has been designed specifically to observe ionospheric irregularities and their east-west drift in the E and F regions. The radar operates as a coherent Doppler back-scatter radar, with the radar beam directed perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field at E or F region heights. The beam elevation will vary according to the location where the observations will be made. The typical configuration for this system uses a 24kW solid-state transmitter and a 24 five-element Yagi antenna array (SIA 24/6). The SIA 24/6 is designed to support fixed elevation systems with a steered azimuthal beam. Contact ATRAD for alternative configurations where fixed beam or a variable elevation angle is required.

The ATRAD MF/HF Partial Reflection Radar has been specifically designed for profiling at heights between 50 and 110 kilometers and addresses the widest possible range of research applications providing high performance, flexible and cost-effective solutions. The flexibility of the MF-SRS architecture allows a wide range of systems to be built from a suite of standard modules. Radar power outputs from 8kW-256kW (peak), Antenna array sizes from 4-128 antennas and up to 24 complex receiver channels are supported within the standard architecture. A number of standard configurations are available to suit common applications or the configuration may be readily customised to suit customer-specific requirements.

The ATRAD Remote Receiver is a complete standalone receiving system with six channels for use with remote transmitters or radars operating in the MF, HF, and VHF frequency bands. This allows for the design of complex multi-station applications. Typical applications are ionospheric or meteor forward scatter in the upper atmosphere, and wind profiler forward scatter in the lower atmosphere. The ATRAD remote transceiver has been designed to operate in with any 3rd party MF/HF/VHF radar systems, including ATRAD’s own Enhanced Meteor Detection Radar, Steerable Ionospheric Analyser and MF/HF Partial Reflection Radar.

Transmitters are available as individual transmitter modules for general use or as transmitter sub-systems suitable for incorporation into a radar system. Solid State: MF, HF, VHF power levels from 500W to 80kW or higher depending on requirement.

The ATRAD transceiver is a scalable receiving system for use as a building block for MF, HF , VHF and UHF radar systems. The system is expandable in groups of three receivers, with up to 12 in a single 4U rack, and 24 receivers in a single 8U rack. The transceiver is based on ATRAD’s scalable modular approach to system design. It offers operation in the MF/HF/VHF/UHF bands, and being GPS time and frequency locked, it enables monostatic, bistatic and multi- static radar operation.

ATRAD data acquisition systems consist of a Linux-based computer fitted with a 16-bit data acquisition software plus separate digital receivers. Data acquisition sub-systems are available for incorporation into a new radar system or to upgrade an existing radar system.

Complete antenna subsystems can be designed, modelled and supplied for MF, HF, and VHF operation. A complete antenna sub-system can include antennas, cabling, splitters/combiners, guying and mounting hardware.