Facilities

From CSU-CHILL

Revision as of 23:57, 13 January 2024 by Jgeorge (talk | contribs) (Expanded to include info on all our radars)

CSU-CHILL is spread across multiple sites, and comprises a number of weather radar systems, laboratory and workshop space.

Weather Radars

CSU-CHILL

CSU-CHILL S- and X-band is a dual-wavelength S- and X-band, dual polarization scanning radar system located at the CSU-CHILL main site. The S-band transmitter can be selected between dual 1 MW Klystron transmitters or solid-state 24 kW transmitters. The X-band transmitter is a 25 kW magnetron. The antenna is an 8.5m dual-offset (1° at S-band, 0.3° at X-band).

CSU Sea-Pol

Sea-Pol is a ship-deployable C-band radar system, with a 250 kW magnetron transmitter and a 4.3m (1° beamwidth) antenna. It features a motion stabilized positioner system that stabilizes the antenna motion moving ships in the open ocean. When not deployed, it is based at the CSU-CHILL main site.

CSU CHIVO

CHIVO is a tower-mounted C-band radar system located at the ARDEC South radar site with a 250 kW magnetron transmitter and a 4.3m (1° beamwidth) antenna. It is packaged in a containerized format for ease of transportation.

SPLASH/SAIL

This is a pair of X-band containerized radars designed for rapid deployment to remote locations. They feature 25 kW magnetron transmitters, with 1.6m antennas (1.3° beamwidth).

Miami W-band

The Miami W-band radar is a vertically-pointing, containerized W-band cloud radar system, operated along with the NOAA Physical Science Laboratory. It has a 1.2 kW Extended Interaction Klystron (EIK) transmitter. It has a number of antenna options, including 0.9m (0.25° beamwidth).

PSL W-band

The PSL W-band radar is a vertically-pointing, containerized W-band cloud radar system, operated along with the NOAA Physical Science Laboratory. It has a 1.2 kW Extended Interaction Klystron (EIK) transmitter. It has a 0.3m (1° beamwidth), and is designed for deployment on NOAA P3 research aircraft.

CSU/NASA D3R

CSU/NASA D3R is a dual-wavelength Ku- and Ka-band radar featuring solid-state transmitters and pulse compression receivers. It is trailer-mounted for ease of transportation. It is based at the Wallops Flight Facility.

FrontX

FrontX is an X-band phased array radar system developed in partnership with FirstRF corp. It features a single-axis electronic scan antenna mounted to a mechanical positioner system, and is trailer-mounted. The combined transmitter power from the 64 T/R modules is 70W, and has a 2° beamwidth.

CSU Pawnee

CSU Pawnee S-band was a single-polarization S-band radar, and was decommissioned in 2015.

Locations

CSU-CHILL currently administers two permanent sites in Colorado

Lab Facilities

In addition to the radar and remote sensing equipment, the CSU-CHILL facility also hosts an RF Instrument Lab, which is used by both CHILL staff as well as CSU students during construction and maintenance of the radar equipment.

Electronic Design and CAD Software

CSU-CHILL has licenses for several electronic design automation (EDA) and computer aided design (CAD) packages, including:

  • Keysight Advanced Design System (ADS)
  • Keysight Genesys
  • Keysight SystemVue
  • Altium Designer
  • Solidworks
  • Xilinx Vivado and ISE

In addition, students at CSU-CHILL have access to software offered by the CSU Electrical and Computer Engineering department.

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