Ground collision instrument for aircraft and marine vehicles

A radar system, comprising:

• a radar system that is operable to detect weather that is located relatively far away from an installation vehicle;
• a processing system communicatively coupled to the radar system and operable to process radar returns detected by the radar system, the radar returns corresponding to reflections from objects in the vicinity of the installation vehicle;
• a memory communicatively coupled to the processing system and operable to store a map database defining a plurality of surface areas of interest;
• a radar gain module residing in the memory and operable to cause the radar system to reduce energy of a plurality of output pulses emitted from the radar system;
• at least one of a global positioning system (GPS) and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) communicatively coupled to the processing system and operable to provide location information and heading information to the processing system;
• and
• a display system with a display communicatively coupled to the processing system and operable to information corresponding to the received radar returns,
• wherein the processing system is further operable to:
• determine a current location and a current heading of the installation vehicle;
• select a surface area of interest corresponding to a projected path of travel of the installation vehicle that is based upon the determined current location and the current heading of the installation vehicle;
• identify, for each of the plurality of radar returns, a geographic location of each radar return based upon the determined location of the installation vehicle;
• and
• filter the radar returns generated by objects that are located outside of the surface area of interest.

A system that processes radar information when an installation vehicle is operating in proximity to a surface area of interest, the method comprising:

• means for reducing energy of an output pulse emitted from a radar system;
• means for receiving a plurality of radar returns from a plurality of objects that reflect the reduced energy output pulses emitted from the radar system;
• means for determining the surface area of interest;
• and
• means for filtering the radar returns generated by objects that are located outside of the surface area of interest.