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US 12,724,119 B2Granted
Urban clutter in weather radar returns
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorPatrick Glaze
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In some examples, a system includes a memory configured to store a weather buffer and processing circuitry configured to determine, based on radar returns, a total reflectivity value for a first voxel of the weather buffer. The processing circuitry is also configured to determine that a potential for urban clutter exists in the first voxel. The processing circuitry is further configured to assign a first portion of the total reflectivity value to the first voxel of the weather buffer in response to determining that the potential for urban clutter exists in the first voxel, where the first portion of the total reflectivity value is less than the total reflectivity value.
Claims16
A system comprising:
- a memory configured to store a weather buffer and an assignment factor database that associates assignment factors with locations;
- and
- processing circuitry configured to:
- determine, based on radar returns, a total reflectivity value for a first voxel of the weather buffer;
- determine a location of the system;
- determine a location corresponding to the first voxel based on the location of the system;
- retrieve, from the assignment factor database, a center position of an urban area and a radius representing an extent of the urban area around the center position, wherein the extent of the urban area at least partially overlaps with the first voxel;
- determine, based on a distribution model associated with the urban area and a distance between the center position and the location corresponding to the first voxel, an assignment factor for the first voxel;
- determine, based on the assignment factor for the first voxel, a first portion of the total reflectivity value that is attributable to the weather, wherein the first portion of the total reflectivity value is more than zero and less than the total reflectivity value;
- assign the first portion of the total reflectivity value to the first voxel of the weather buffer;
- determine a weather formation based on the first portion of the total reflectivity value for the first voxel;
- and
- cause a display device to display a graphical representation of the weather formation.
10 more elements
A method comprising:
- determining, based on radar returns, a total reflectivity value for a first voxel of a weather buffer;
- determining a location of an aircraft;
- determining a location corresponding to the first voxel based on the location of the aircraft;
- retrieving, from an assignment factor database, a center position of an urban area and a radius representing an extent of the urban area around the center position, wherein the extent of the urban area at least partially overlaps with the first voxel;
- determining, based on a distribution model associated with the urban area and a distance between the center position and the location corresponding to the first voxel, an urban clutter factor based on the location corresponding to the first voxel;
- determining, based on the urban clutter factor for the first voxel, a first portion of the total reflectivity value that is attributable to the weather, wherein the first portion of the total reflectivity value is more than zero and less than the total reflectivity value;
- assigning the first portion of the total reflectivity value to the first voxel of the weather buffer;
- determining a weather formation based on the first portion of the total reflectivity value for the first voxel;
- and
- causing a display device to display a graphical representation of the weather formation.
7 more elements
A system comprising:
- a memory configured to:
- store an assignment factor database including a representation of an urban area;
- store a weather buffer;
- and
- store a non-weather buffer;
- an antenna configured to:
- transmit radar signals towards a location represented by a first voxel of the weather buffer;
- and
- receive reflections of the radar signals from the location;
- and
- processing circuitry configured to:
- determine a total reflectivity value for the first voxel based on the reflections of the radar signals;
- retrieve, from the assignment factor database, a center position of an urban area and a radius representing an extent of the urban area around the center position, wherein the extent of the urban area at least partially overlaps with the first voxel;
- determine, based on a distribution model associated with the urban area and a distance between the center position and the location corresponding to the first voxel, an assignment factor for the first voxel in response to determining that the extent of the urban area at least partially overlaps with the first voxel;
- determine, based on the assignment factor for the first voxel, a first portion of the total reflectivity value that is attributable to weather, wherein the first portion of the total reflectivity value is more than zero and less than the total reflectivity value;
- assign the first portion of the total reflectivity value to the first voxel of the weather buffer;
- determine a second portion of the total reflectivity value that is attributable to urban clutter based on the assignment factor;
- and
- assign the second portion of the total reflectivity value to a corresponding voxel of the non-weather buffer, wherein the corresponding voxel at least partially overlaps with the first voxel;
- determine a weather formation based on the first portion of the total reflectivity value for the first voxel;
- and
- cause a display device to display a graphical representation of the weather formation.
19 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.