1. Title: Method and Apparatus for Pivotally Mounting Instrumentation on a Line

Inventor: William Bradley

Division: ACD

Description: The invention of a Method and Apparatus for Pivotally Mounting Instrumentation on a Line began when the formerly known “Air Sampling Balloon Tethering Apparatus” was not attaching securely to larger diameter tether lines needed for the use of bigger balloons in high wind situations.  One advantage of the new mounting apparatus is that a slot and channel can be configured in a full range of settings to accommodate various tether line sizes.  A pinch bar fitted in the channel housing can accommodate various sizes of tether lines without requiring replacement of the payloads line attachment system.  This new design also allows the instrument packages to rotate freely about the line. Rotation of the payload is important so that the instruments can face the wind for clean sample acquisition.  This new design also allows for the placement of multiple samplers on a single line for capturing samples at multiple altitudes of the air column. 

2. Title: Determining Temperature of a Physical Medium Using Remote Measurement

Inventors: Jothiram Vivekanandan and Guifu Zhang

Division: RAP

Description: Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) routinely measures surface temperatures of cloud, land and ocean using infrared (IR) sensors. The Radio Acoustic Sounding System uses sound waves to obtain temperatures from clear air atmosphere.  The technique fails to measure temperature within a cloud layer. This invention uses a technique to estimate three-dimensional temperature distribution within a cloud using remote sensing instruments, such as, microwave radar or a radiometer.  Wind, moisture, pressure, and temperature distribution within a cloud are critical parameters needed to improve weather and precipitation forecasts.  One of the direct practical applications of this method is the detection of super cooled liquid water regions in a cloud, which are hazardous to aircraft.  The invention is based on the fact that microwave signal absorption in a cloud strongly depends on the microwave frequency and temperature.  Thus, by measuring absorption at pre-determined microwave frequencies, temperature can be estimated. The advantage of microwaves is that they can penetrate cloud layers to obtain three-dimensional temperature distributions.  This invention challenges engineers to develop multi-wavelength radars and radiometers that are capable of collecting highly accurate space-time matched observations from a cloud for estimating physical temperature.

The patent was issued in March 2003.

3. Title: Bistatic Radar Network Having Incoherent Transmitter Operating in a Scanning Mode to Identify Scatterers

Inventors: Joshua Michael Wurman, Mitchell Alfred Randall and Chris Dale Burghart

Division: ATD

Description: This invention includes a bistatic network using an incoherent transmitter, such as magnetron radar, that sends pulses of essentially random phase. It covers the technology that permits the bistatic network to measure and use the random phases of the pulses, send them to the remote bistatic receivers, and have the remote bistatic receivers use them in order to calculate bistatic Doppler velocities, which are then used to calculate vector windfields.  Bistatic networks using these patents, licensed through Binet Inc., have been successfully constructed in Germany, Japan, and China, providing real-time vector winds from conventional magnetron radars.

4. Title: Bistatic Radar System for Centralized, Near-Real-Time Synchronized, Processing of Data to Identify Scatterers

Inventors: Joshua Michael Wurman, Mitchell Alfred Randall and Chris Dale Burghart  

Division: ATD

Description: This invention includes a bistatic network that processes all of the remote data in real-time, sends the processed beams back to a central site, then calculates vector winds, on a beam-by-beam basis, also in real-time. The beam-by-beam method skips the computationally costly and error-inducing Cartesian interpolation steps and the real-time nature of this method permits radar "sweeps" to display vectors on a gate-by-gate basis.  This technology, licensed through Binet Inc., has been successfully deployed throughout the world.

5. Title: Hot Plate Precipitation Measuring System

Inventors: John Hallett and Roy Martin Rasmussen

Division: RAP

Description: The Hotplate Snow and Precipitation Gauge (Hotplate) technology, a snow and liquid precipitation instrument, was jointly developed between the Desert Research Institute (DRI) and UCAR and was awarded two previous patents: the first in April of 1998 and the second in April of 2003. Approximately one year ago, five additional patents were filed to focus on some specific aspects of the invention. This is the first of the additional five “continuation” patents, which was issued in January 2004.

This patent focuses on the interaction and function of the two plates that make up the Hotplate. Namely, the second plate is not exposed to the precipitation and thus the precipitation rate is determined by the difference in power consumption between the first plate and the second plate.

In September 2003, the UCAR Foundation awarded Yankee Environmental Systems, Inc. a contract to manufacture Hotplates.

6. Title : System for Measuring Characteristic of Scatterers Using Spaced Receiver Remote Sensors

Inventors: Alexander A. Praskovsky and Eleanor A. Praskovskaya

Division: RAP

Description: The STARS (STructure function Analysis of Received Signals) patent acknowledges a new method for measuring the characteristics of remotely sensed scatterers, such as, atmospheric dust, insects, and various forms of precipitation. The STARS method is based on the calculation and analysis of auto- and cross-structure functions on data from spaced receiver sensors, which have been positioned to share overlapping scan volumes. The mean speed components, turbulent intensity, shape, material, and other characteristics of scatterers can be estimated through application of the STARS analysis method.  Potential applications for STARS include the processing of data from all types of remote sensors, such as, radar, lidar, sonar, telescopes, and microscopes, and in all fields of observation where remote sensors are used, such as, atmospheric measurements, ground and ocean sounding, astronomy and medicine.

The patent was issued in January 2003.

7. Title: Frequency Stable Pulsed Laser

Inventors: Volker G. Wulfmeyer and Mitchell Alfred Randall

Division: ATD

Description:

The invention provides a method of stabilizing the frequency of a pulsed laser. It solves frequency stabilization problems in a coherent Doppler lidar system by using a phase modulation technique. An error signal is produced which crosses zero exactly at resonance of the master laser frequency in the slave cavity. The slave laser thus advantageously transmits a laser signal with stable frequency. Therefore, the motion of the active control element in the slave cavity as well as the frequency chirp is reduced to a minimum. The non-detectable chirp allows accurate velocity measurements with high signal-to-noise ratios. One example of velocity measurements is the measurement of wind.

The patent was issued in October 2003.

8. Title: Multi-Stage Processing for Efficient and Accurate Spectral Moment Estimation

Inventors: Shelly D. Dalton, Lawrence B. Cornman, Robert K. Goodrich, Nathaniel Beagley

Division: RAP

Description: The NCAR Efficient Spectral Processing Algorithm (NESPA) was developed to help pilots navigate storms without encountering air turbulence.  NESPA is a quality-control and turbulence prediction method used with airborne Doppler radars like those in operation on commercial airline aircraft.  NESPA will help pilots decide which regions of the atmosphere are safe to fly through, particularly in dryer, clear air in which the presence and location of turbulence is extremely difficult for pilots to anticipate.  NESPA has received recognition as the result of its lead scientists' placement on the 2003 Scientific American Top 50 list, as well as from NASA's awarding the "Turning Goals Into Reality" honor received by NESPA researchers earlier that year.

The patent was issued in June 2003.