Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Aviation and electronics: a symbiotic relationship

Aviation must rank among the most important technological developments of
the twentieth century. Like electronics, which is another pervasive discipline
of science and technology that has had its birth and explosive growth during
this century, aviation has had a radical effect on our lives, the profundity of
which is of civilisational dimensions. Indeed, aviation has done to transporta-
tion what electronics has done to communication: shrink distances and time,
and reduce the wide world to a 'global village'.
Aviation and electronics have not been mutually exclusive developments.
Except for a few initial years during which aeroplane makers struggled to
understand the mechanical principles of flight and make flying machines
using these principles, the two disciplines have grown hand in hand, with
electronics aiding aviation in achieving higher levels of complexity and
quality, and in turn benefiting from the impetus provided by aviation
applications. The use of electronic devices and systems in aeroplanes and
their associated operations is obvious to anyone having anything to do with
aviation, including the common passenger, though it can safely be said that
the actual role of electronics in modern aviation is far more pervasive and
profound than meets the layman's eye. The reverse path of this symbiotic
relationship, i.e. the beneficial effects of the developments in aviation on
electronics is, however, generally not so well known.
The main reason that aviation and its allied activities have spurred
developments in their related and supportive areas is the highly investment-
intensive nature of aerospace operations. Designing and developing new
aircraft, both civil and military, as well as spacecraft, entails high costs, and the
unit costs of these vehicles are also very high. Consequently, elaborate systems
support is used to prevent loss or damage to aerospace vehicles and to
enhance the efficiency of their usage. This fact provides the justification for
relatively large investments in developing these supporting systems, especially
because the magnitude of such investments is usually a fraction of the overall
aerospace system costs. It is no surprise that a large part of the systems
designed in support of modern aviation relies heavily on electronics.
In the aviation domain, the most demanding performance requirements
are usually associated with military aircraft, and large investments are made by
many countries in this sector in the interest of national security and
superiority. The diversity and performance demands placed on military
aircraft have caused the development of numerous new sciences and
technologies which have subsequently been passed on to benefit the civilian
aviation sector, and even the nonaviation industrial sector. A simple example
is the technology of electroluminescence, which was first devised to illuminate
the instrument dials of military aircraft for night flying, but is now used in
wrist-watches to provide uniform and clear visibility in the dark with low
power consumption. Similarly, in the domain of theoretical and system
sciences, Kalman filtering, which is now a very well founded discipline with
diverse applications, received its first impetus from the requirements of
aerospace navigation.
The performance requirements of civilian aircraft are generally far less
stringent than those of many types of military aircraft such as fighter planes,
but their design and operation pose challenges of a different class. Civilian
aircraft, especially commercial airliners, usually fly over long distances and
must ensure a very high degree of passenger safety and comfort. Further, the
global nature of civil aviation operations necessitates the use of support
systems that are standardised and open (in terms of known technologies and
system characteristics). A large number of electronic systems have been built
to satisfy these requirements. Among these are a number of modern
instruments designed to sense weather and other atmospheric phenomena of
importance to aviation. These instruments and their associated computing,
display and communication hardware and software make up a range of
systems with a strong potential to facilitate every segment of aviation activity.
The design and development of multiple sophisticated and dedicated aviation
weather surveillance systems form a recent field of activity, and the equipment
resulting from such activity is gaining widespread acceptance. This book
attempts to cover this emerging and interesting area of scientific and
technological activity from a systems perspective, with appropriate reference
to its scientific, technological and operational aspects.

1.2 Phases in evolution of aircraft navigation

The Wright brothers etched their names in history on 17 December 1903
when the aeroplane they designed took off from the ground and stayed in the
air for a few seconds under its own power. That aeroplane and its flight were,
of course, primitive by today's standards and did little more than prove (the
very important fact) that the flight of self-propelled heavier-than-air machines
is possible. Aviation has not looked back since, and the size, speed,
sophistication and diversity of aircraft have steadily and rapidly increased
during the relatively short history of aviation. This has been accompanied by
an equally steady growth in the reach, complexity and versatility of the
aviation operations themselves. In support of such growth, aircraft navigation
equipment and procedures have also undergone progressive development
and sophistication during this period.
 In the very early years after the first flight by the Wright brothers, the main
attention of aircraft designers was devoted to ensuring the integrity and
stability of the aircraft as a structural and aerodynamic entity. This resulted in
the design and construction of aircraft which were sufficiently reliable to
perform economically important tasks including the transport of passengers
and cargo. Simultaneously the aircraft were also adapted to the role of
machines of war.
Growing economic and military use of aircraft led to increasing emphasis
on the operational and mission-related aspects of flight. As long as flights
were relatively few and far between, the main concern in ensuring the success
of aircraft missions was to navigate individual aircraft so as to make them
reach their destinations reliably. Through relentless research and develop-
ment, design improvements and progress in instrumentation and the
procedural framework, the range of ambient conditions under which safe
flight was possible was progressively widened. These included night flying,
transoceanic flying and flying under increasingly adverse conditions of
weather and wind patterns.
The next major phase of aircraft navigation system evolution was in
response to the growing number and diversity of aircraft populating the skies.
As the air traffic density increased globally, and reached particularly high
levels within certain aviation corridors, the most important focus of
navigation shifted to the avoidance of collisions and conflicts between aircraft
sharing a common air space. With ever-growing aviation activity, ensuring
adequate separation between aircraft during all phases of flight remains the
prime focus of air traffic control. A complex procedural framework,
supported by appropriate instrumentation and communication networks, has
been built up and co-ordinated globally to ensure the smooth flow of air
traffic (e.g. Litchford, 1975; Perry and Wallich, 1986; US Department of
Transportation, 1989). The effectiveness of modern air traffic control systems
is proven by the fact that commercial aviation is now among the safest forms
of transportation in a statistical sense (Fischetti and Perry, 1986).
Yet the spectre of aviation disasters has not gone away. Vivid visuals of
horrifying airliner crashes flash across the world's television screens at
periodic intervals, inspiring a feeling of awe and jolting our sense of
complacency. The reasons that air disasters make bold headlines are many,
ranging from economic to social and psychological, and even political. First,
the size, cost and capacity of individual airliners have increased dramatically,
with the largest aircraft costing well over a hundred million dollars apiece,
and carrying up to 400 passengers. Individual airliner crashes therefore cost
heavily in terms of men, material and money. Then, in many societies it is only
the upper crust of the population that gets the 'privilege' of air travel, and air
disasters often result in the death of the rich and the powerful from all
sections of society, including government and business. Many heads of states
and governments have lost their lives in aeroplane accidents, with profound
effects on the polity and economy of their countries. Thus the consequential
effects of air crashes may be many times more than the direct losses resulting
from them. Finally, psychologically speaking, humans have a sense of in-built
insecurity about leaving the terrafirma,and each air crash reinforces a popular
perception of the unsafe nature of air travel.
Then there are other segments of aviation covered within the navigation
framework. Although accidents involving civilian airliners attract the most
media attention, airliners numerically constitute only a small fraction of the
total air traffic. Military and general aviation aircraft constitute the other
important segments of aviation. Accidents in these sectors of aviation are less
reported, but are far more numerous than airliner accidents. Some of these
aeroplanes, especially advanced military aircraft, can be as or even more
expensive than commercial airliners. From the point of view of navigation and
air traffic control, each aircraft, irrespective of its size or type, is a navigational
entity and contributes to the load on the air traffic control system.
There is thus a clearly felt need and mandate to minimise damage to
aviation from all sources, and not merely collisions between aircraft. This
enhanced and broadened role is the main characteristic of the latest phase in
air navigation, and has led to the term 'air traffic management' (ATM) being
increasingly used in preference to the original term, 'air traffic control'
(ATC). Fortunately, parallel developments in science and technology, notably
in the fields of electronics and informatics, have made available vastly more
potent tools to the aviation sector to cope with its enhanced role of
comprehensive air traffic management.
This book focuses on one pervasive factor that influences aviation of all
types in all its phases, and impinges on air traffic management as a weighty
factor. It discusses the effects of atmospheric phenomena and processes on
aviation, and presents a comprehensive study of modern electronic systems
designed in the service of aviation from the weather point of view.

1.3 Modern aviation weather surveillance

Weather information for aviation within given air spaces has traditionally
been provided by meteorological agencies of the governments in charge of
the respective air spaces. Meteorology is now a highly developed science that
utilises a variety of instruments for data acquisition, and sophisticated weather
models and supercomputers for prediction of meteorological conditions. The
instruments include in situ sensors on or near the surface of the earth, and
remote observing devices such as weather radars and satellites. Vividly
colourful and detailed radar-derived weather fields routinely shown by
television channels, high-resolution satellite imagery of global and regional
scale cloud patterns, animated visuals showing the evolution and propagation
of weather features, and increasingly accurate weather forecasts have
enhanced popular awareness and confidence with regard to the science of
meteorology. In quantitative terms meteorological instrumentation has been
able to provide accurate data for use in many fields of activity such as
hydrology, dam design and construction, irrigation, agriculture, outdoor
sports and adventure, and military operations.
While the growth and reach of general meteorological facilities and
information have been impressive, general meteorological data products
cannot be used directly to satisfy all the weather needs of aviation. This is
because the requirements of weather information from the aviation point of
view differ in many significant ways from those for other areas of human
activities. The differences pertain to the nature of the parameters of interest,
the spatial and temporal scales of observation, and the mode of dissemination
and utilisation of information. These aspects will be covered in detail in the
later chapters. Such special requirements have made aviation weather a
distinct discipline of study.
Weather has always been of important concern for aviation, but the
scientific and engineering disciplines relating to aviation weather studies and
instrumentation have received a major boost in the past two or three decades.
During this period there has been rapid progress in the finer understanding
of the nature of different types of atmospheric processes that are significant
from the aviation point of view. As a result of focused and directed research,
fairly clear insight has been gained into the interaction of atmospheric
processes with aircraft in flight, the process of detection of severe weather
phenomena, and the estimation of their hazard potential. This insight has not
only helped reinforce the motivation, but also provided the knowledge input
necessary for the design and development of advanced surveillance systems
for the mitigation of the deleterious effects of weather on aviation.
Aviation weather surveillance is a multidisciplinary field of activity, drawing
from at least three major disciplines in science and technology. First, it relates
to the aeronautical sciences for us to be able to understand and quantify the
hazard potential of different types of meteorological phenomena with regard
to different types and phases of flight. Second, it naturally relates to the
broader science of meteorology. Finally, because of the stringent demands
imposed by aviation applications, aviation weather surveillance depends
heavily on electronics for sensing, processing, communication and display of
weather information. The purpose of this book is to give a flavour of this
interdisciplinary nature of the subject while emphasising and detailing the
system aspects of such surveillance.

1.4 Scope and organisation of the book

This book is designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to the
science, sensors and systems that go into making the modern aviation weather
surveillance systems. It is expected to provide the reader with an insight into
the fundamentals of the various disciplines involved, and their complex
interplay. The difficult task of presenting an interdisciplinary subject has been
attempted by arranging the material in a logical and stepwise manner.
Aviation weather surveillance and information systems must fit into, and be
compatible with, the broader system structure intended to facilitate aircraft
navigation. Keeping this in mind, the basic background of aviation systems
and operations is presented in Chapter 2, with particular emphasis on air
traffic control, air traffic services, and such important system elements as
radars and communication subsystems.
The susceptibility of aircraft to different types of adverse atmospheric
effects is presented next. It is emphasised in Chapter 3 that weather impacts
nearly all aspects of aviation operation: safety, passenger comfort, schedule-
keeping and operating efficiency and economy. The types of atmospheric
hazard that hamper flight operations are listed, and their specific effects on
aviation are discussed at a level of depth and detail necessary for proper
appreciation of the developments of the subsequent chapters.
The atmospheric processes that adversely impact aviation owe their origins
to certain weather phenomena, and these are discussed in Chapter 4 with a
view to familiarising the reader with the details of the weather environments
encountered in aviation operations and their relative hazard potential for
flight. This knowledge also helps in appreciating the detection aspects of
aviation-hazardous weather phenomena. In particular, the thunderstorm
environment, which is the origin of diverse phenomena affecting aviation
adversely, is analysed in detail. Insight is provided into the nature of the
precipitation and wind fields associated with various types of hazardous
features, which would help in understanding the radar signatures of these
phenomena discussed in later chapters.
Following the discussion of the basic aspects concerning aviation and
weather, the generic requirements of systems intended for aviation weather
surveillance are highlighted in Chapter 5. The relative merits of in situ and
remote sensing are presented, and the need for the latter mode of
observation as the primary data source for modern aviation weather
surveillance systems is established. The important attributes of such systems
are their spatial coverage and resolution, data processing speeds and
refreshment rates, information content and user-friendliness of displays, and
facility of automated operation. The chapter discusses the possible primary
sensors for modern aviation weather surveillance systems with regard to these
attributes.
The cornerstone of modern aviation weather surveillance systems is the
Doppler weather radar, and the characteristics and capabilities of this device
are discussed in Chapter 6. Radars meant for atmospheric observation differ
significantly from those used to observe 'point targets' such as aircraft, and
the special features of weather radars are discussed in detail in this chapter. In
particular, the echo processes from air laden with precipitation particles and
air without them (the so-called 'clear air') receive considerable attention. The
relationship between the various significant parameters of the radar and its
ability to detect atmospheric phenomena is brought out to help the reader in
making a proper choice of the type of radar appropriate for a given aviation
weather surveillance application. The distinguishing feature of the modern
generation of weather radars compared to the earlier generation, which are
still in service in large parts of the world, is their ability to sense wind fields
in addition to precipitation intensity. These radars are also characterised by
the high accuracy of weather parameter estimation. The principles involved
in Doppler radar measurement of precipitation, wind speeds and turbulence
are introduced in the chapter.
Chapter 7 deals with some of the actual Doppler radar systems developed
in recent years for weather observation, especially for aviation support. Three
representative radars are discussed in detail: the WSR-88D, the Terminal
Doppler Weather Radar, and the ASR-9 with a dedicated weather channel.
Each of these represents a particular type of application: the first is ideal for
long-range weather surveillance as necessary for en route air navigation, the
second for focused weather surveillance of terminal areas, and the third
offers a combination of air traffic control and weather functions. Specific
issues such as ambiguity problems, coverage and siting issues, and scanning
strategies are discussed relative to these radars.
A number of sensors other than radars are also very useful in the case of
modern aviation weather surveillance. Such sensors can provide useful
aviation weather information by themselves, and very usefully supplement
and augment radar data. Chapter 8 covers a few such sensors and sensor
systems. Among them are wind profilers which yield the vertical distribution
of horizontal wind at a given location, radio acoustic sounding systems which
are capable of providing the temperature profiles of the atmosphere, the low-
level wind shear alert system that warns of the existence of gust fronts and
microbursts in airport areas, automated weather observing systems, and
satellites as observers of local weather phenomena.
The modern aviation weather sensors are potent by themselves, but a much
higher level of performance and utility can be derived by combining data
from these sensors in a synergistic way. Fortunately, modern data handling
hardware and software provide such capabilities, and these are being used
extensively in the service of aviation. Chapter 9 discusses a few of the
integrated aviation weather systems being developed that combine data from
multiple sources, and add further value by way of forecasting and systematic
data organisation. The Integrated Terminal Weather System is one such
system that performs high-level data integration from multiple sources and
provides finished weather products to be used directly by aviation operators
without the need for interpretation by specialist meteorologists. The Aviation
Gridded Forecast System generates and organises forecast data in a four-
dimensional space-time grid which is fine enough for aviation use. The
Aviation Weather Products Generator provides high-level weather products to
each user in an individualised form best suited for his or her use.
 Chapter 10 discusses an important aspect of modern aviation weather
surveillance systems: the automatic detection of weather phenomena hazard-
ous to aviation. Performance of intelligent functions such as detection,
recognition and hazard estimation of weather features eliminates the human
element with its attendant fallibilities, and speeds up the weather data
interpretation process to a level consistent with the needs of modern aviation.
The automatic detection process is based on the recognition of patterns or
signatures of various types of weather phenomena in specific data fields,
especially those generated by modern Doppler radars. In particular, the
detection of storm cells, rotational phenomena such as mesocyclones and
tornadoes, velocity discontinuities such as those caused by gust fronts, and
divergent wind fields of the type arising from microbursts, receive specific
attention in the chapter.
The next three chapters cover selected special topics of importance to
modern and futuristic aviation weather surveillance systems, and each has
been contributed by a leading expert in the field. Although the topics of these
three chapters have been mentioned briefly earlier in the book, the treatment
here is made in greater depth.
Chapter 11 deals with the important topic of atmospheric turbulence,
covering its associated definitions, characterisation, detection by modern
Doppler weather radars, and avoidance by aircraft. The turbulence phenome-
non is explained in statistical terms, and the effects of the radar parameters
on its detection are modelled. The concept of eddy dissipation rate is
explained, and the rate is used as a classifier of the turbulence level from the
aviation point of view. In particular, attention is devoted to eddy dissipation
rates in the thunderstorm environment, which is the most hazardous for
aviation.
Lightning, which is another important atmospheric phenomenon affecting
aviation, receives closer attention in Chapter 12. A physical understanding of
the complex electrical process of lightning and its interaction with aircraft in
flight is conveyed. Further, observational and statistical data on lightning
strikes on aircraft, obtained from extensive and careful experimentation in
recent times, are presented to generate an appreciation of the conditions
under which such strikes are more probable.
The last of the special topics covers a new generation of atmospheric
sensors: coherent radars with polarimetric capability. By radiating and/or
receiving signals with diverse polarisation characteristics, such radars can
monitor more details of atmospheric processes than ordinary (single-
polarisation) Doppler radars. Even when measuring the more 'classical'
parameters like reflectivity, polarimetric radars have the advantage of being
relatively insensitive to many corrupting effects such as rain attenuation and
the variability of drop size statistics which affect the accuracy of past and
present weather radars. A systematic use of the additional parameters sensed
by polarimetric radars can enable not only the identification of the types of
hydrometeors present in a given precipitation field, but their individual
quantification. A concise discussion of the working of polarimetric radars,
their capabilities and their potential advantages for aviation weather
surveillance are presented in Chapter 13 of the book.

1.5 References
FISCHETTI, MA., and PERRY, TS. (1986): 'Our burdened skies', IEEE Spectrum, 23,
(11), pp. 36-37
LITCHFORD, G.B. (1975): 'Avoiding mid-air collisions', ZEEE Spectrum, 12, (9),
pp. 41-48
PERRY, TS., and WALLICH, P. (1986): 'A matter of margins', 2EEE Spectrum, 23, (11),
pp. 38-49
US DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (1989): 'Air traffic control'. Federal
Aviation Administration Report 7110.65 F, 21 September 1989