Precipitation sensing experiment with a prototype dual-polarization weather radar for civil aircraft

The European Commission initiative CleanSky launched several project activities aimed at improving flight route planning in the presence of unforeseen events, such as rapidly evolving thunderstorms occurring along the route, both to increase the safety and comfort of flight and to keep emissions as low as possible. Improving meteorological instrumentation onboard and supporting the pilot in interpreting such goals are important to achieve this goal. Potential improvements to aircraft weather radar related to the use of dual opalization technology were investigated along several CleanSky projects. Two experimental campaigns, were carried out in 2016 within the X-WALD project with a prototypal radar using a low-power X-band dual-polarization radar mounted in the nose of two different aircrafts in the Netherlands and in Italy. Results from these campaigns and comparison of data collected on board with ground-based instrumentation are presented.