Puerto Rico deployable radar network design; site survey

The Microwave Remote Sensing Laboratory (MIRSL) at the University of Massachusetts and the Cloud Microwave Measurements of Atmospheric Events (CLiMMATE) Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez are collaborating to modify a MK2 marine radar donated by Raytheon for use as meteorological radar nodes in a proposed weather radar network. This will be the first network to measure lower atmospheric phenomena in Puerto Rico. The radar consists of an antenna, a rotator, and a transceiver that will be placed at top of a tower or building, along with a data processing system. This paper derives two important equations describing the curved earth effect on beam propagation for radar range calculation. It also describes the method used to survey the MIRSL Tilson Farm field site, and the eleven campuses of the University of Puerto Rico backbone and justifies their fixed offset antennas´ elevation angle and location.