Metek MRR-2 User Manual
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Metek MRR-2 User Manual

Micro rain radar
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MRR-2
Micro Rain RADAR
User Manual
2012-03-01 Valid for MRR Service Version 6.0.0.4 / Firmware 6.00

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  • Page 1 MRR-2 Micro Rain RADAR User Manual 2012-03-01 Valid for MRR Service Version 6.0.0.4 / Firmware 6.00...
  • Page 2 2012-03-01 Valid for MRR Service Version 6.0.0.4 / Firmware 6.00...
  • Page 3 Copyright: © 2012 METEK GmbH All Rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced, transmitted, stored in a retrieval system, nor translated into any human or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, optical, chemical, manual, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  • Page 4: Table Of Contents

    Page 4 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK Table of Contents Safety Precautions ................6 How to use this manual ............... 7 Measuring Principle ................8 System Description ................9 Overview ....................9 Description of the Components ............10 4.2.1 Parabolic Dish ................... 10 4.2.2...
  • Page 5 Raw Spectra ..................42 6.5.1 Format Description ................42 6.5.2 Raw Spectra Example ............... 43 Removing of the Software ..............44 Detailed description of the MRR-2 control program ....... 45 MRR-Service ..................46 7.1.1 Communication ................. 46 7.1.2 Data Recording ................. 46 7.1.3...

  • Page 6: Safety Precautions

    METEK 1 Safety Precautions To operate the MRR-2 a mains voltage of 210-240 VAC is needed for the power supply. An improper handling can be dangerous to you. Only competent and instructed persons should work with this system or with parts of it.

  • Page 7: How To Use This Manual

    METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 7 2 How to use this manual The delivered hardware items are described in chapter 4. Make sure that the delivery is complete and free of damage. Consult chapter 5 for setting up the hardware.

  • Page 8: Measuring Principle

    Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK 3 Measuring Principle The Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 retrieves quantitative rain rates, drop size distributions, radar reflectivity, fall velocity of hydro meteors and other rain parameters simultaneously on vertical profiles up to several kilometers above the radar.

  • Page 9: System Description

    METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 9 4 System Description 4.1 Overview 1- Parabolic Dish 2- Transceiver 3- Antenna Arm 4- Bubble Level 5- RCPD 6- Pivot 7- Tube Socket 8- Junction Box 9- Control Cable 10- Serial Cable 11- Power Cable...

  • Page 10: Description Of The Components

    Page 10 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK 4.2 Description of the Components 4.2.1 Parabolic Dish The antenna is used for the transmission of the RADAR signals and the receiving of backscattered signals. It is designed as an offset parabolic dish (see Figure 1).

  • Page 11: Radar Control And Processing Device And Transceiver

    METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 11 The back side of the reflector is optionally equipped with a heater coil. It is covered and sealed with a molded lid which provides also extra stability for the reflector. The energy consumption increases with decreasing temperatures and amounts to maximum 500 W.

  • Page 12: Junction Box / Power Supply

    Page 12 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK 4.2.4 Junction Box / Power Supply Figure 4: Junction Box The junction box is used to pass through the communication between the PC and the RCPD. For this purpose it has a 9-pin D-sub-miniature socket for the serial cable (see Figure 5) to the MRR-PC and a flanged socket for the control cable (see Figure 5) to the RCPD.

  • Page 13: Control Cable And Serial Cable

    METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 13 4.2.5 Control Cable and Serial Cable Figure 5: Control Cable (left) and Serial Cable (right) The control cable connects the RCPD with the junction box. The control cable has a length of 25 m, on both ends are screwed plugs (male and female respectively).
  • Page 14 Page 14 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK The control program which is needed to operate the MRR-2 is part of delivery. Its installation and operation is described in section 6 Control Program page 19. Figure 6: MRR block diagram 2012-02-29 Valid for MRR Service Version 6.0.0.3 / Firmware 6.00...

  • Page 15: Hardware Installation

    If measurements at very low heights are planned, (with appropriate settings the MRR-2 allows measurements from a minimum height of 20 m above ground) take care that the wind field in this level is not disturbed by nearby buildings, trees, masts etc.

  • Page 16: Installation Procedure

    A fixed vertical pole (Ø max. 49 mm, length min. 30 cm) is required for attaching the antenna. Operating of the MRR-2 requires a 230 VAC mains supply, with a fuse protection of 8 A (slow) minimum. To prevent disturbance of the device by variations or breaks of the power supply we recommend the use of a no-break power supply (UPS).
  • Page 17 Connect serial cable (Figure 5) to the serial interface of the MRR-PC which was selected in the operating system for the connection of the MRR-2. If this serial port is unknown, it can be looked up in the administration of the "services" in the operating system of the computer and it can be changed accordingly there.
  • Page 18 Check the power supply of the Transceiver: If the cabling is Ok a green LED in the Transceiver indicates the correct supply. Figure 10: Transceiver with LED Establish the communication between the control program „MRR-2 Control” and the RCPD-firmware. 10. Check the correct data transmission and recording.

  • Page 19: Control Program

    Page 19 6 Control Program If you use your own PC for controlling the MRR-2 the MRR program is delivered on a CD-ROM and must be installed according chapter 6.1. If the PC was configured and delivered by METEK (optional) chapter 6.1 may be skipped.
  • Page 20 Page 20 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK Figure 12: Destination Folder The next screen is the selection of the data folder (Figure 13), the default value for the data folder is “D:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\MRR Data” The default value depends on the windows version, please change this value according to your preferences and confirm with “Next”.
  • Page 21 METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 21 Figure 14: Communication Port In the next step all selected values are shown (Figure 15) in a list and you can start the installation by pressing “Install”. If you want to make changes before your installation you can go back and change the settings.

  • Page 22: Limitations Using Windows 7

    Note: The data flow rate from the MRR to the PC requires that the PC response time does not exceed certain limits. If the PC was configured and delivered by METEK (optional), meeting of this request is warranted. Any modern PC with medium performance is basically sufficient to run the MRR Control Program if there are not too many other tasks running simultaneously.

  • Page 23: Using The Control Program

    If the MRR-PC you are sitting at is the PC which is directly connected to the MRR-2 leave the entry at Name of the Remote PC empty (or type a period or the name of the local PC). If you are sitting at another PC, enter the name of that PC to which the MRR-2 is connected directly and where the com- munication service (MrrCtrl.exe) was started.

  • Page 24: Main Menu

    (the password will not be checked). If the connection to the communication service could be built up, the entire status of the MRR-2 is read out first. This can take some seconds, on RAS connections even some minutes. 6.3.1 Main Menu...

  • Page 25: Control Commands Menu

    Reset Pressing this button will perform a reset of the RCPD firmware. There is no influence on the MRR-2 parameters. It has the same effect as an interruption of the power supply. 2012-03-01 Valid for MRR Service Version 6.0.0.4 / Firmware 6.00...

  • Page 26: Output Parameters Menu

    Page 26 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK 6.3.3 Output Parameters Menu Figure 21: Output Parameters The two upper panels shown in Figure 21 contain check boxes for configuring selections averaged data processed data (instantaneous data) separately for recording. Processed data are calculated on the basis of one raw spectrum .
  • Page 27 METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 27 Recording Options Raw Spectra By checking “Record raw spectra” the raw spectra including metadata are written in addition to other selected data to a separate log-file. The path name of these files is defined by the parameters “RawSpectraFile” and “RawSpectraPath”.

  • Page 28: Device Parameters Menu

    10 s time intervals within each averaging interval. Device Location ASL Enter the height of the MRR-2 location above sea level. The adjustable range is 0 ... 9999 m. This parameter is used for the density correction of the fall speed versus drop size relation.
  • Page 29 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 29 Sampling Frequency Number of samples per second of the analogue input signal of the MRR-2. This parameter can‟t be changed by the user. Calibration Constant This constant is needed for converting the engineering units of the receiver signal (raw spectra) into physical units (processed and averaged data).

  • Page 30: Parameter Storage

    METEK 6.3.5 Parameter Storage Figure 23: Parameter Storage Parameter Sets The parameter memory of the MRR-2 is used for convenient saving and loading of complete parameter settings. A parameter set consists of - the device parameters (except calibration constant) and...
  • Page 31 METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 31 Deleting a parameter set:  Type a name of the Parameter Sets list in the field right of the Save- button or select a name of the Parameter Sets list.  Click the Delete-button.

  • Page 32: Status Messages

    Page 32 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK 6.3.6 Status messages Figure 24: System Status Sub-Panel: “State of the MRR Service Program” The version number of the MRR-Service is shown. The operation state is shown:  normal operation No problems occurred.
  • Page 33 METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 33 Sub-Panel: “Data Recording”  Disk capacity exhausted in The remaining time for data recording is shown. The calculation is based on the average sizes of the last received measuring protocol and the actual free disk space (Initially ??? appears until the first data set is stored).

  • Page 34: Processed And Averaged Data

    Page 34 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK 6.4 Processed and averaged data 6.4.1 Format description Processed and averaged data are archived in two separate directory structures (see chapter 7.1.2 Data Recording on page 46). Optional recording of so called raw spectra which represent the unprocessed measuring data of the MRR-2, is possible.
  • Page 35 METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 35 The measured data are displayed in lines following the header. For each measured variable there is one line starting with a 3-character identifier of the variable. Each line represents a profile of this variable, i.e. a function versus height.
  • Page 36 Page 36 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK Example ( Each entry of the header line is shown in a separate line of the table) The header line dates from January 24th, 2011, 4:02 ␣ ␣ 110124040200 AM, timezone „UTC‟. ␣␣␣␣...
  • Page 37 METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 37 Nnn with nn from min(h) to max(h) - Spectral Drop Densities With the knowledge of the frequency of the Doppler-shift the calculation of the corresponding drop fall velocity is possible (equation 1.4.3.2 in MRR Physical Basics).
  • Page 38 Page 38 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK W - Fall Velocity W is the characteristic falling velocity. (First Moment of the Doppler spectrum, see chapter 3.4 MRR-Physical Basics). The width of velocity-bins can be derived from the maximum number of height steps, the sampling rate (as shown in the header line) and the wave length of the RADAR signal.

  • Page 39: Processed And Averaged Data Example

    METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 39 6.4.2 Processed and averaged data example Processed and averaged data files have the same structure including the header lines. Only the data type identifier “TYP PRO” resp. “TYP AVE” at the end of the header line is different.
  • Page 40 Page 40 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK F58 -97.76-109.34 … -78.03 -79.33 -77.51 F59-101.35-109.38 … -77.11 -78.68 -78.96 F60 -97.25 -98.23-106.60 … -76.41 -77.96 -79.56 F61 -85.64 -91.97 -96.80 … -76.73 -78.26 -79.12 F62 -74.68 -83.22 -89.67 … -77.84 -79.75 -80.12 F63 -67.85 -76.90 -84.03...
  • Page 41 METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 41 N04 1.7e+7 1.3e+7 8.3e+6 … 9.3e+7 2.3e+7 1.4e+7 N05 8.9e+6 7.3e+6 4.7e+6 … 3.6e+7 3.3e+6-5.7e+6 N06 5.2e+6 3.8e+6 2.8e+6 … 1.8e+7 1.9e+6-2.7e+6 N07 3.1e+6 2.0e+6 1.9e+6 … 1.1e+7 3.1e+6 1.3e+6 N08 1.8e+6 1.2e+6 1.6e+6 …...

  • Page 42: Raw Spectra

    Page 42 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK 6.5 Raw Spectra 6.5.1 Format Description Each data block in a raw spectra file begins with a header line. Example: MRR 090612024311 UTC DVS 6.00 DSN 200708021 BW 37300 CC 2079868 MDQ 100 58 58 TYP RAW <...

  • Page 43: Raw Spectra Example

    METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 43 6.5.2 Raw Spectra Example MRR 090612024311 UTC DVS 6.00 DSN 0200708021 BW 37300 CC 2079868 MDQ 100 58 58 TYP RAW … 1015 1050 1085 0.003292 0.011523 0.041975 … 0.689026 0.640604 0.422497 4798 2205 …...

  • Page 44: Removing Of The Software

    Tools. Then activate the folder software, select the entry METEK MRR Software and press the button Add/Remove. Finally you must manually remove the empty directory (C:\METEK) and possibly some data files and directories.

  • Page 45: Detailed Description Of The Mrr-2 Control Program

    RS232 level. This port is also used for the device control. If the MRR-2 is connected to a PC, the control, the calculation of further values and the recording of the data can be done with the MRR-2-control program described below.

  • Page 46: Mrr-Service

    MRR-2 can be retrieved and any changes entered by the user are translated to the corresponding commands and transmitted to the MRR-2. (Factory setting of the serial port of the MRR-2 is 57600 baud, 8 bit, no parity, Xon/Xoff handshake protocol.) 7.1.2 Data Recording...
  • Page 47 (raw, processed and averaged) C:\METEK\ActData for averaged data C:\METEK\AveData for processed data C:\METEK\ProcessedData for raw spectra C:\METEK\RawSpectra The file C:\METEK\AveData\201201\0106.ave e.g. would contain the averaged data from January, 6 of 2012. 2012-03-01 Valid for MRR Service Version 6.0.0.4 / Firmware 6.00...

  • Page 48: Error Handling

    7.1.3 Error Handling The third function of the MRR-Service is the recording of all error messages which are caused by the operation of the MRR-2 (except messages which are generated from user input errors). The error recording is done by the event logging function of the operation system.

  • Page 49: Control Program

    RAS connection. The Control Program on PC #2 uses the network and the MRR-Service on PC #1 to communicate with the MRR-2. The data recording and the event logging is executed on PC #1 which is connected directly to the MRR-2:...
  • Page 50 Page 50 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK The software is supplied on a CD-ROM with the following file: the setup program MRRSetup.exe After installation of the MRR software the port settings may be changed with the MS registry editor regedit.exe at the key...
  • Page 51 METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 51 Figure 26: Administrative Tools / Services – Menu (Windows® 2000) 2012-03-01 Valid for MRR Service Version 6.0.0.4 / Firmware 6.00...

  • Page 52: Mrr-2 Specifications

    Page 52 Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 METEK 8 MRR-2 Specifications RCPD with Radar module Operating Frequency: 24.230 GHz Operating Mode: FMCW Modulation: 1.5 - 15 MHz Output Power: 50 mW (+17 dBm) (antenna foot point) OoB and Spurious Emission: < -80 dBm/MHz (antenna foot point)
  • Page 53 METEK Micro Rain Radar MRR-2 Page 53 2012-03-01 Valid for MRR Service Version 6.0.0.4 / Firmware 6.00...

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