RadarCal

RadarCal analyzes radar calibration data.

Overview

RadarCal analyzes radar calibration data.

Prerequesites

The following items are required:

• Radar data (any Radx supported format, e.g., cfradial)

Parameter file

RadarCal uses one parameter file that includes the basic parameters related to data location and field names, which is similar to the parameter files for the other Radx applications.

Ensure file is up to date

To obtain the default parameter file, use the following command:

/path/to/lrose/install/bin/RadarCal -print_params > param_file_name

If you already have a parameter file and simply want to check for (and add) updated parameters while retaining current parameters, use the following command:

/path/to/lrose/install/bin/RadarCal -params orig_param_file_name -print_params > new_param_file_name

Important parameters

Cal circuit parameters

• circuit_gain_h: gain through H circuit, dBm
• circuit_gain_v: gain through V circuit, dBm
• coupling_factor_h: coupling factor H pipe, dBm
• coupling_factor_v: coupling factor V pipe, dBm

Analysis parameters

• linear_region_min_dbm: dBm value at low end of linear region
• linear_region_max_dbm: dBm value at upper end of linear region
• noise_region_max_db: dBm value at upper end of noise region

Output results

• output_dir: files will be written to this directory
• global_file_name: name for global output file

Running RadarCal

To check all command line options for RadarCal, including debugging options and file paths, type the following command into a terminal.

/path/to/lrose/install/bin/RadarCal -h

Once your parameter file is complete, use a command similar to the following to run the application:

/path/to/lrose/install/bin/RadarCal -params param_file_name

The user can also specify the location of cfradial files in the following manner:

/path/to/lrose/install/bin/RadarCal -f /path/to/cfradial/files/ -params param_file_name