What is claimed to be the first weather radar with multiple-tilt scan capabilities has been unveiled by Rockwell Collins.
The WXR-2100 "MultiScan" radar is set for certification in late 2001 and is expected to reduce pilot workload and increase safety. Current systems have to be manually tilted and the radar image interpreted subjectively, but this system does these tasks automatically. Collins says the system will optimise short and long-range weather detection "without requiring pilot adjustment of the radar tilt, and it alerts flightcrews during take-off and approach of potentially dangerous windshear."
Collins says the MultiScan "eliminates the disadvantages associated with terrain-based autotilt by sampling the complete radar environment with multiple antenna beams and then processing data from all beams to extract the maximum information available."
Source: Flight International
