A radar apparatus with a transmission antenna array that outputs a high aspect ratio frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW) transmission beam that illuminates a large field of regard in elevation and may be both electronically and mechanically scanned in azimuth. The weather radar apparatus includes a receive array and receive electronics that may receive the reflected return radar signals and digitally form a plurality of receive beams that may be used to determine characteristics of the area in the field of regard. The receive beams may be used to determine reflectivity of weather systems and provide a coherent weather picture. The weather radar apparatus may simultaneously process the receive signals into monopulse beams that may be used for accurate navigation as well as collision avoidance.

A ground weather center may transmit information requests that carry at least one meteorological specific triggering command. An airborne system may translate the triggering command into detectable meteorological conditions and may arm the trigger(s) for specific weather sensors accordingly and downlink information upon the airborne system detects the triggering conditions. By using such a triggering command, the airborne system may be able transmit the same amount of valuable information with less bandwidth by reducing the number of redundant downlinked packets.

The antenna uses X Band frequencies for long-distance weather monitoring and W Band frequencies for imaging of terrain and obstacles, for use in a radar system in aircraft nose radome to operate effectively in a degraded visual environment. The antenna's feed structure includes concentrically positioned first and second horns. First and second rectangular waveguides are positioned on a cylindrical portion of the first horn, and at a first and second radial positions spaced 90 degrees apart. First and second coaxial cables respectively couple the first and second rectangular waveguides to a polarization converter, which launches linearly polarized waves received from each of the first and second coaxial cables to form a W-hand circularly polarized wave. The feed structure collects and disseminates W Band and X Band electromagnetic energy.

A system may include a display and a processor. The processor may be configured to: break down two-dimensional weather radar reflectivity data into cells, each cell of the cells having a maximum rainfall rate location and a geometric area; prioritize the cells based at least on each cell's proximity to the aircraft, each cell's intensity, each cell's growth rate, each cell's storm top altitude relative to the aircraft altitude, and/or a threat convective level of the cell to select a highest priority cell; and output, to the display, a highest priority azimuth slice vertical radar image of the two-dimensional weather radar reflectivity data as graphical data, the highest priority azimuth slice vertical radar image corresponding to an azimuth slice of the two-dimensional weather radar reflectivity data for the highest priority cell. The display may be configured to display the highest priority azimuth slice vertical radar image.

Improvements to airborne weather radar systems onboard an aircraft that apply forecasting modeling techniques to output a forecast of future 3-dimensional (3D) radar reflectivity returns, forecasted composite radar image data, forecasted changes to potentially hazardous weather cells, including forecasts of future expected hail size and forecast which regions of airspace may be associated with future convective storms. The range of the forecast may be limited to approximately the range of the weather radar, which may be a few hundred nautical miles. Depending on the type and speed of the aircraft, the forecast duration may be approximately thirty minutes or less, e.g., the amount of time to reach the limits of the radar range.

A system that may receive and compile data in-flight from an onboard weather radar device, as well as other information from other sources while an aircraft travels along a flight path. The system may compare the received information to the observed flight path for an aircraft and generate a suggested improved flight path based on the received information. The system may also consider historical information from previous flights, including historical weather information associated with the previous flight paths, amount of fuel used, time enroute, and similar factors. The system may present actual historical flights along with a comparison to a suggested improved flight path for each of the historical flights. The comparison may provide training for flight operations planning, and the flight crew, that showcase the benefits of following the suggested improved flight paths.

Disclosed is an aircraft having motors operable to actuate an aircraft windshield wiper and an aircraft control surface. The aircraft includes a distributed control system having digital storage and integrated with redundant processors. The aircraft includes controller instructions stored on the digital storage operable upon execution to operate a control surface motor of the motors to actuate the control surface to impact an orientation of the aircraft and operate a windshield wiper motor of the motors to actuate the windshield wipers.

A radar system receives threat relevant data with pulses sufficiently separated to provide sufficient long-range imaging, analyzes the return data to identify features of the threat, and generate a second set of pulses to acquire more detailed, higher granularity data specific to the threat. The system may include an ESA that is configured for pulses in a higher frequency to acquire higher resolution data specific to the threat.

A radar system and method for sharing threat data is configured to communicate with other radar systems in surrounding aircraft and share threat specific data. Each radar system may be configured to a specific task according to the priorities of the aircraft and the capabilities of the surrounding aircraft; the gathered data is then shared with the surrounding aircraft such that each aircraft may commit longer dwell time to individual tasks while still receiving data for all of the potential tasks. The radar system may identify a fault and send a request for radar threat data to nearby aircraft. The radar system may receive such data within the operating band of the radar and allow continued operation.

Systems and methods are described herein for determining an optimized flight route for an aerial vehicle. In some examples, weather conditions for the aerial vehicle during a flight can be predicted based on weather data. At least two flight route segments based on the predicted weather data can be determined. The at least two flight route segments can include one of a solar flight route segment and a thermal flight route segment. A respective flight route segment of the at least two flight route segments can be discarded that can cause the aerial vehicle to violate a flight constraint. A replacement flight route segment for the respective discarded flight route segment can be determined. An optimized flight route for the aerial vehicle can be generated based on the replacement flight route segment and at least one remaining flight route segment of the at least two flight route segments.