Next-Gen Radars From

Collins and Honeywell

Tilt management confusion ends with these new units.

By Erik Eliel and Arcbie Tramell
ihome w d w radar h t appeared on
The problem is, pilots must invest so
much time in learning how to answer
Question 1, they never get around to
leaminghowtogetanswerstoQuestions2
and 3. Tilt management is the problem.
nating the need for tilt management skills
altogether.
Sixorsevenprsago,whenengkersat
the two companies began initial design work
on the mxt-genemionradarsfw air carriers,

A civil aircraft more than 50 years ago,

real p r o p . The reason for that is trans-
Masming that t.equiresthe mind of a math-
ematician with a graduate degree in
but since then there's been very little
geography and the touch of a brain surgeon
theyknewthatwfiatevertheydevisedhadto
be simph to use. That meant gewing rid of
the tilt management quirement and elim-

~~~~
parem To cope successfuy.with convective -rare attributesin any one pilot Yet unfor- inating the problem of pilots trying to
weather danger, pilots need to know h e tunately, they're as necessary today as they ze which echoes are weather and
things: (1) Where is it? (2) What is it? and were 6ve d d e s ago. grind Born Rockwell C o b
(3) What'sit likely to be when I get there? Fortunately, those same demands may and Ihreywellhave done that The separate
Ofthosedveequestions,radarcananswer 6nallybechangingwithintmductionofthe paths taken by & two groups of engineers
the first, be of some asktance in answering latest generation radar systems from to achieve ease and simplicity of tilt
~ i s i n b o t h c d s e s ~ ~ ~ ~ b
thesecondandisofnohelpwhweverwith RodrwellCollinsandHomywd.
7
the third. That was true in 1955, and it's just these new units meet their pmmk, they
asrmetoday. automatically answer Question 1 by elimi-
for airborne radars. With automation,
megahem of memory and massive am-
*
8
70 Burinm & thmmial Avi.rrorr W April 2008
of computer capacity, they simply brush Colors used on the display m
aside the "Where is i t ? " question. indicate the potentiafor hazard
Honeywellk RDR4MO doesn't even have a are the traditional black for no
tilt conml. Collins has put a tilt conml on echoes, green for light rain,
its WXR-2100, but mostly as a pacifier for yellow for moderate rain and
pilots who must have a knob to turn. red for all echoes exhibiting
Although both new radars are currently gnxterthanthe.standad,theo-
being delivered to airlines and the military, retical 0.5 inches of rain per
theywillshortly begin appearingin business hour. Magenta is reserved for
ahwaft, which makes them worthy of exam- turbulence. Collins engineers
ination now. In fact, the Collins WXR-2100 say duey'd very much liketo lbg
is now going into BBJs and is offered for extreme weather in some
Airbus executive airaaft as well.It5a sak bet W o n , but a maze of govern-
thatother businessaircraft will follow. mental and internal ~ c t i o n s
Accodng to Collins' announcement at in the use of color for various
the 2007 NBAA Convention, the follow-on types of information on pilot
corporate version, the RTA-4100, will be displays makes that very
availableonnewaircraftequippedwithh dil5cult.
Line 21 and Pro Line Fusion avionicsby the To fully a p p h the ease of
endofthisyear.Honeywellisalsoobviously operation, one should
preparing for the corporate market by understand how the system
offering antenna sizes on its RDR-4000 actually works. With inputs
downto l2 inches-justrightforthenoses from GPS, VORs, DMEs,
of Citationsand Learjem. radar altimeters, flight
Both Collins and HDneywell have stayed management systems, ground
with the solid-statetransmitting devicesused prox and other sensors, the
on their previous airlineJassradars -the radarknowswhereitis,whereit
former's WXR-700 and the later's RDR-4B will next be, when and at what
(previously the Bendix RDR-4B). The mu- altitude. It automatically adjusts
blesome old magnetrons are gone from tilt accodngly. Once a M ,
airliners and will no doubt soon disappear the system spends the first 16
6rombusinessaircraftaswell.Inadditionto seumds calibrating its memory

-
did- transmiuerdevices, otherfeatu~~and computers, and once it

-
have been carried over to both these next- determines which echoes are
genedonradars. bterrainandwhicharenot,
Before getting into details, it must be it remembers where ground is ,-,-
acknowledged that the two radars are still and filters out those returns.
w o r k s i n p ~ . I n f o r m a t i o n a n d h a r e T h e remaining echoes are
chaqhg almost daily as engineerscontinue obviouslybweather. Collins
to tweak and rework algorithms. But by says the system automatically
digging deep, asking lots of questions and eliminates about 98 percent of
sorting through much chaff (each team is ground returns. To help get it
fiercely protective of its own unique started, a database of world
a~chtoarevolut3oninmrmamidame) terrainisalsoinplay.Howewr,
we're mmfbrtable thatwhat follows awrecdy theonlyfunctionofthehbase
&scribes the systems that will reach the is to provide Multiscan with

-
hks aviation market terrain clues to get it started.
The Cdllns Way The Nuance8 b
To resolve the tilt management requifement, Of course, that only scratches
Collins engineers came up with dmr much
publidzed -and trademark protected -
Multiscan system. Simply explained, the
radar lirst scans where it knows ground to
the &ce of evervthinn minn
on behind that skitch hirkei
AUTO. To more thoroughly
understand what's happening
inside the box, we'll simulate a
1 = OCI 011

be,butdoesn'tdisplaytheresults,andimme-
diately scans in the direction the aircraft is long flight to tap into all the
going and displays the results of that second subtleties engineered into the
scan. 'Ihus, echoes b ground objem are -
system an 8,000-nm nonstop
filtered out, leaving only weather echoes. from Chicago t o Sydney,
M about all a pilot needs to know to Ausualia, will do i t
operate the system. Turn the radar to Assoonastheaircraftpowers
AUTO, select a range for display and stayup, the radar energizes automat-
away6romtheechoes.~ofPaining.(Orat ically, thereby enabling wind-
least firoman airline maqer's undemading shear detection functions. (On
and hope, that's end of mining.) Airbus aircraft a test regimen veil Collins Multiscan GCS off

B h & CanmmiolAviation W April 2008 71

Avionics
occurs automaticallyat power-up; there is no
test button. On Boeings pushmg the TEST
button initiates a test regimen, which the
crew can monitor. If the button isn't pushed,
the system conducts a silent self test.) Air
carrier regulations require that wind-shear
detection, mandated for all air carriers, be
active when operating below 1,200 feet agl
on the radar altimeter, regardless of radar
operation. (Collins says the system poses no
radiation threat to ramp personnel since the
radiated energy is less than that of a
microwave oven.) W h e n wind-shear
detection comes on, tilt, receiver sensitivity
and range are automatically fixed. T h e
normal 180-degree scan is reduced to 120
degrees to increase looks per second from six
to eight. If the radar is manually turned on
(via an EFIS switch) and the crew selects
either TEST or MAP, the system automat-
ically goes into wind-shear detection mode.
It returns to the crew's exclusive control as
the aimaft climbs through 1,200feet on the
radar altimeter.
After pushback, when radar is selected on
an EFIS display, Multiscan operates in dual
modes: one sweep for wind-shear detection,
the next for weather detection. It will alert
the crew to a wind-shear event out to three
nm ahead of the aircraft for Boeing instal-
lations, five nm for Airbus. (Several other
significant differences in wind-shear alerts
and displays exist between Boeing and
h b u s installations,so crews should carefuuy
study the manual. Unfortunately, airline
flight crews rarely receive manuals, which is
doubly unfortunate in this instance because
Collins' document is outstanding. It's a
nearly complete radar system course by
itself.)
With the WXR-2100, the crew has an
option to operate the radar in manual or
automatic mode. When taxiing out, you
would be wise to selectMAN and search for
echoes that may be of concern on the
d e p a m . Multiscan is not functional in the
MAN mode, so you'll be working with a
single beam, as with any other radar. But
remember, until out of 1,200 feet agl, every
other sweep is for wind-shear detection.
Regarding wind-shear detection, in
addition to providing visual and aural alerts,
the Collins system records magnitude,
velocity and hght path diversions resulting
from the event for later analysis by safety
folks. It will record up to three such events.
At least 16 seconds before taking the
runway (the system needs five sweeps for the
initialization process) the flight crew should
select AUTO and a 40- or SO-nm displayed
range. At that point, they can sit back and
enjoy the automatics. T h e system will
alternate between radar and wind-shear
detection up to 1,200 feet agl, then transfer
to AUTO only.
7 2 Business & CommercialAviation .April 2008
Tilt annunciation, found on an EFIS
display, will probably go to about plus five
degrees at rotation and early climb, but that's
the average of the two MultiScan beams. In
fact, the upper scan is at plus seven degrees
and the lower one is at something less than
seven degrees, depending on the terrain
ahead. In AUTO mode the top beam will
point in the direction of climb; the lower
beam will adjust itself to sweep below the
climb angle to detect ground and lower
weather. Thus MultiScan searches from the
top of the upper scan, which at rotation will
be 8,500 to 9,000 feet agl at 10 nm ahead,
down to ground level. (In some parts of the
world storm bases are higher than that.
MultiScan won't detect them, so a dry
microburst can drop down from them and
you won't know it until it hits the ground and
mggers the wind-shear detection feature. All
next-generation radars should have a vertical
scan feature and Collins does promise it for
later versions.) Looking 40 nm out, the
system will be searching from about 35,000
feet on down to terrain, thereby ensuring
that any weather of significance will be
detected and displayed.
Chances are you'll switch the displayed
range to 80 or 100nm at 10,000feet, at which
setting the lower beam will be covering
everything from about ground level up
through 25,000 or 30,000 feet, while the
upper beam continues to paint everydung in
the climb path. (Displayed range selection
capabilityis determined by the EFIS system
installed in a particular aircraft; MultiScan
will support any combination.)
In short, MultiScan will take care of the
tilt to make certain you get no surprises, at
all altitudes and all displayed ranges. It's not
actually using two beams to do that, but the
upper and lower sweeps happen so quickly
it's as though it's a dual beam arrangement,
hence the "MultiScan" nomenclature. (In
describing the functions of this radar, Collins
has trademarked a huge portion of the
English language, from "MulitScan"
through "Gain PLUS" and even "Oceanic
Weather Reflectivity Compensation.")
Before continuing on out to Sydney, let's
look at another departure scenario. Instead
of O'Hare, you're departing Aspen, Colo.,
Runway 33. MultiScan knows its location
and that there are mountains just eight or 10
miles off the departure end of the runway.
The lower beam will adjust itself to catch just
the top of those mountains, and scan for
distant weather. In AUTO those mountain
peaks will not be displayed. If you want to
use the radar for backup terrain alert, you
must select MAN.
Continuing across the Plains, you're going
to be pleased that this radar seems to detect
and &lay the tops of storms at high altitude
better than other radars you've flown. That's
"Gain PLUS" doing its thing. Collins
designed the system as though all thunder-
storms are classic, textbook storms.
According to textbooks, as temperatures
drop below hezing, water begins turningto
ice. And since ice has lower radar reflectivity
than water, it's necessary to increase receiver
sensitivity to compensate. By doing so, those
tall icy echoes with lower reflectivity that in
the past would be displayed in green, now
paint yellow up high. Those that might be
yellow down low tend to become red up
high. And by the time you've climbed to
where the OAT drops below 1K)"C,the three
colors will have shifted up one entire level.
About now on our imaginary trip, the
system displays a cluster of echoes 70 or so
miles ahead. One of them, the one to the
north of others, is a huge glob of red, with
hardly any yellow or green at all. Obviously,
an exception to Collins' textbook storm.
Scientific studies have found that water
sofietimes remains in a liquid state to
altitudes well above 40,000 feet and temper-
atures considerablybelow -40" C. When that
occurs, a supercell results. That system's
extra receiver sensitivity makes the storm
appear to be the granddaddy of all convective
weather. To see just how red it really is, you'll
have to reach for the "GAIN"knob and
twiddle it a bit More on that later.
Next, suppose you get an ACARS message
t e l l q you there are storms 300 nm ahead in
the Grand Canyon area. You tell your first
officer to leave his displayed range at 80 nm
to keep an eye on several echoes just south
of course and you switch to the 320-nm
maximum range. (InAUTO mode, range
and "GAIN" can be split between captain
and first officer.) Sure enough, you see
echoes out there at 300 nrn. C o b is malung
much of this ability to detect storms across
the horizon, but any radar with a displayable
range to 320 nm will detect weather at that
distance -if a storm is tall enough to reach
above the horizon and the pilot uses
extremely precise tilt management However,
accomplishmgthis is easier and more certain
with Multiscan, since the system eliminates
confusing ground echoes as well.
As you get into the area of the storms, you
see an echo several miles ahead. As it h f t s
back you begin to wonder whether you
should deviate or not. Collins literature may
lead you to believe that's no longer a concern,
because MultiScan has "Overflight
Protection." Don't be misled by that trade-
marked term since the "protection" is
actually an automated alert. What it does is
pull up memory and continuously display
any echo with a radar top less than 6,000 feet
below your altitude, so you watch it right up
to the moment your head bounces off the
overhead. To avoid that experience, never
allow an echo to get inside the 30-nm arc,
 Overflight Protection notwithstanding. 6lHnanyotherI.ddarpFoducedinthepesc
After passing Hawaii, you fly out over a half century. Chances are that the more
thin overcast that goes on for miles and knowledgeable pilots will use it both
miles. It has your attention because you've AUTO and MAN, the latter to help
been there before. Experience tellsyou to be answer Question2: What is it, a showex
alert for thunderstorm tops poking up or a dangerousthunderstorm?
h u g h the stratus deck that's hidden by the The radar does have a MAP mode,
dark. Pmiously, radar wouldn't detect them which can be useful confirming navi-
&youtumedtheuGAIN"knobwayup, gation information and backing up
but that's not necessary with this radar. In ?idlWS@pmentInMAP,the&
designing it, Collins leaned heavily on gain is altered to enhance terrain
oceanic storm research by a couple of mapping capability, so don't pay attention
Ph.Ds., Ed Zi ser and Kurt Lua. Their to the colors.
&, x t kow thathave been common Of anme, MultiS*m has most all the
knowledge for 40 years or more -that otherfeaturesthathavebecamestandardon H o n e ~ r a u l t l f u n o w r * ~
hderstormsaredit&mntindi&mtp airline equipment It co~neswith dual conaol
of the world. For example,in the Pacific tops capability. While displayed range and possible not all ground clutter d be elim-
ofstorms tend to be lower in deaivity than "GAIN" can be split while in AUTO, TILT inated. However, during a demonstration
elsewhere. Therefore, geography must be c a m o t I n M A N m o d e , h ~ fIight~hyneFieldtoSaltLaLeCityand
~
consided when using radar to esdmate the can be split, with the captain getting right- back this was not significant, nor was it a
degree of hazard. This radar automatically to-Mi sweeps and the 6rst &cer the left-m- source of any confusion.
adjusts to the fact that you're out over the rightOritcanhavedualsensorsforbachp. Whileonthegmd,data~theinitial
Pacific dealing with oceanic weather. However, AUTO and MAN cannot be split, individual scans are displayed as soon as
Receiver sensitivity is increased, color which in certain situationsis not good. available, but bemuse the completevolume-
thresholds are adjusted, and those less- scan process takes time, Honeywell
reflective oceanic storms are detected and The H o ~ y m l RDR4000
l rec~mmendstumingthesystemonaseady
displayed. Collins says that same sort of Honeywell's RDR-4000 radar employs the as possible (clear of ground personnel,
adjustment will be made for storm charac- volume-scan concept that has been used on fueling operations and large metal
teristics g l o w , they flew the radar mund ground-based NEXRAD systems for over sauctures). 'Thisallows data to begin flowing
the world working up the algorithms. 20years. Improvementsin techuology have into the bdk, and also faciltatesa thorough
F i i you're descendinginto Sydney. Of allowedittobeadaptedtoairbomeradar. evaluationofboththedepartmamidorand
course, you find thunderstorms aplenty. Early business ayiation customers will as much of the area surrounding the airport
You'xe p m g to have to twist and turn and probably be doing some head scratching as possible prior to takeoff -a highly
skim by an echo or two to get onto the when looking at the contml panel, because recommended technique. Once airborne,
approach. Collins' Multiscan is displaying for the 6rst time an airborne radar is absent regardlessof WXR switch position, the radar
allthestonns,sharpand distinct-withno tilt control altogether. Fundamentally, the scans continuously. 'This is done so &but&
distracting p u n d returns. But the absence antenna scan is similar to traditional radar is constantly updated and weather data will
of ground returns is actually a problem systems,solnning horizontally through 160 be immediately available upon selecting
because reading radar shadows behind degrees. But then, automatidy, antenna tilt WXR.
storms is critical in ale* you to a storm's is adjusted slightly and another sweep is
htmsity.ThatGCSswitchontheAirbusor completed. In less than 30 seconds, eight
GC button in the Boeing can be used to individual horizontal scans at slightlv A
bring up ground reams momentarily, which diikent angles make up a full-volume
is good. But in both cases, the control is scan cycle, resulting in a top-to-
spring loaded OFE The pilot must keep a bottom scan of the atmosphere-
finger on it to read shadows.MORabout the fiomgroundlevelto60,000ket,
signi6canceof that in the conclusions. msl.
As you descend through 2,300 feet agl, Weather returns displayed
wind-shear detection scans begin automat- are no longer tied to the
ically to ensure the system is calibrated mechanicalsweeppatternof
before reaching 1,200 feet agl. Similar tothe antenna. Instead,data is
AUTO operation during departure, on time-tagged (for five
alternate sweeps the radar also displays
weather echoes, so you can monitor the
minutes) and placed in a
systembufferfordviathe
1
missed approach area in the event a go- control panels. In AUTO, the
mund beunnes necessary. system compares reflectivity &L
from the scans against an internal
AUTO w MAN, Whlch Is Best? terrain database and then filters out '
That make-believe trip illustrates how we clutter it considers terrain, leaving only
suspectmostpilotswilloperatetheradar- weather returns on the display. The Pilot
inAUTOalltheway.I-Iowever,theCollins operating Handbook (POW
-1
system has other capabilitiesand o h other cautions that the terrain
altemath, the major one being the ability database is not aware of
tooperatetheradarinmanualmode.When man-made reflectors such
in MAN, the WXR-2100 is little &%rent as cities; therefore, it's
Avionics
System SpecMc Features
Predictive Wind-Shear (PWS) traditionally
has been available only on aircraft with
larger antennas, such as those on airliners.
The potential protection afbrded by PWS
to modern, turbine-powered business
aircraft is now possible with smaller
antennas, according to Honeywell. The
company plans to have RDR-4000 PWS
capable "out ofthe box" for business a M Both Collins and Honeywell partially
customers, although when asked about
aircraft equipped with a 12-inch antenna,
the optimism of company personnel was
guarded. Most of their efkrts so far have
been with 18-inch and 24-inch antennas.
PWS activates no later than the takeoff
roll, and even if WXR has not been
selected, there's a pop-up feature that will
present the appropriate PWS alert icon on
the MFD should a wind-shear event be
detected. The PWS provides three ditkrent
alerts (Advisory, Caution, Warning)
depending on location of the event. The
envelope and parameters are comparable to
other systems with PWS. That's because of
the narmmess of the RTCAdocument that
the FAA used as a basis for its regulation
requiring it on air carrier aha&.
Because fast update rates are needed, the
volume of airspace scanned by the RDR-
4000 during the active PWS regime -
below approximately 1,800 feet agl -is
reduced. The uppermost scan angle during
ground operations is limited to plus eight
degrees, meaning the center of the beam is
only 8,000 feet agl at 10miles, and 4,000 feet
agl at five miles. As mentioned earlier, the
bases of thunderstorms in arid locations may
be located 10,000feet agl or higher, meaning
they may not be detected or displayed on this
radar, and when conditions are ripe, "dry-
climate" microbursts may exist, which can
elude PWS. Honeywell wisely cautions:
"This system is meant to supplement other
means of detecting and avoiding hazadous
wind-shear conditions." That warning is
valid for any PWS-equipped system.
Whereas Collins decided to give pilots a
manual mode with traditional tilt control,
Honeywell took a completely different
approach with the RDR-4000. By selecting
MAN on the conml panel, the ALT knob
becomes active, allowingpilots to access and
displayspecificweather data h m the buffer
in 1,000-foot increments. Honeywell
describes these slices of weather, h m zero
to 60,000 feet, as " m t h i h , " or laser-
cuts that are corrected for the earth's
tmvame in an &rt to aammely depict the
weather that occupies that slice of the
atmosphere out to the "beam-filling" range
of60to70nm.
Although weather may be depicted
beyond that in the MAN mode, the POH
states, Within 60 nm, &cient resolution
74 Business 6 Cmnmmial Aviation W April 2008
radar, the upper part of a thunderstorm is
normally composed of dry, frozen precipi-
tation and is notoriously poor at reflecting
radar energy with "GAIN"at the CAI,
position. Therefore, all radars tend to
understate the snength of echoes at altitude,
or perhaps not detect them at all. Physics,
not the manufacturer, imposes this limi-
tation.
overcome this by increasing receiver sensi-
tivity, or color thresholds at altitude.
Additionally, the RDR-4000 volume scan
process capitalizes on the fact that all
significantstorms,including those in oceanic
regions, exhibit high reflectivity at some
lower altitude. Operating the Honeywell
system in AUTO is impomnt because that
mode provides a top-to-bottom scan of the
--
5 atmosphere. Although an echo doesn't
disappear from the display until it's behind
.--- -. .---.-.-.,., you, the rule stated previously applies -
bottom dm- don'talet any echo in your "flight path" (see
~
oolpona
~ ~
-,
h b
.I~OUM
,,,o
hM,
a
,-. r t
below) l
intrude ~
inside the 30-nm arc.
Where It Is, Made Slmple
exists for evaluating cells." That's essentially By e h m m n g p u n d ~.etumsin theAUTO
true for any radar. Beyond 60 to 80 nm, the mode, the RDR4000 simplifies long-range
beam, even with a 28-inch antenna, becomes detection of tall echoes out to 300-plus nm.
tao large in diameter and mlution beannes Honeywell also simplified interpreting
the limiting faaor. weather location by presenting it using one
(The limitation is some* that must be of two distinct patterns, depending on the
considered for many business aircraft with vertical proximity to the aircraft or flight
12-inch antennas, since the beam filling path. "Flight path" weather is that which
distance with such small antennas is only Honeywell believes may be relevant to the
about 25 nm with either of the new radars.) airrraft flight path and appearsin solid colors.
The first data displayed on the RDR-4000 Everything else is considered secondary
when MAN is selected will be from the weather and is displayed using a c m e h d d
current aircraft altitude, rounded to the pattern.
nearest 1,000 feet But by rotating the ALT To discxhimte between the two types of
conml clockwise one click, weather data in weather, the system uses inputs associated
the buffer (from all the individual scans) with thespecificphase of flight The nominal
calculated to be in the horizontal plane 1,000 "flight path" weather envelope is +/-4,000
feet above the aifisaft, are displayed. Another feet of the expected flight path, but it's
click and data from a plane 2,000 feet above expanded under certain conditions. For
aircraft altitude are displayed, and so on. instance, on the ground, o r during
Turn the ALT knob counterclockwise after depamdanival, the ceiling is fixed at 10,000
selectingMAN and weather data from the feet During climb to a high-altitude &,
desired plane below theairrraft are displayed. the floor of the envelope remains at 25,000
The MAN mode of the RDR-400 is both feet and, based on thunderstorm anatomy,
intuitive and helpful in making a detailed there is sound scientific reason for this. So
analysis of weather returns. an aircraft cruising at FL 390 for example,
Interestingly, the blanked range of other would have a flight path envelope from
radars, caused by the up and down antenna 25,000 feet msl to FL 430 and any detected
tilt limits, is eliminated. By referring to the weather in that range would be presented in
data stored in the buffer,the radar showsyou a solid pattern Mkder outside this envelope
weather right down to zero miles. Display gets d a t r h m g .
permitting, it will even display weather that But there's more. Since the conml panel
has passed behind the aircraft. The risk of switch position determines which data will
over-scanning is also reduced because even be called up from the buffer for display, a
though an echo passes under the lowest W s p l i t control panel configuration means
antenna scan, memory takes over and each pilot can independently select mode,
continues to display i t gain and range. Even better, the volume-
A note of caution is warranted. As scanlbuffer interaction of the RDR-4000
mentioned earlier in reference to the Collins allows weather to be depicted vertically, ifthe
 EFIS display supports i t Adding terrain to
the vertical display boosts situational
awareness even more, because pmimity of
bothrerrainandwepdrer,ldativeto~
altitude, are easily visualized. (It should be
notedthatallCoatrolledFlightInto?efirin
-CFIT-acciden~shaxealossofsitua-
tionnlawaxmesbytheirtlightaxwsindae
ve&d,~orbothViewingweather
and terrain in this manner inaeaes situa-
tional awPreness in a simple, intuitive, and
potaainllyliksavingmumer.)
-say-
prefer to have one pilot in AUTO mode,
allowing for a loqprange+clum-fmeview
of weather, broken down by either flight-
path or secondary weather, while the other
pilot is 0lt.eiUy.analyzing specific slices of
the atmosphere on a shorter range in the
MAN mode. A great capability, but careful
cmdedmshouldbegiventothiscaafig-
uration in a terrain-rich ermironment since,
with many EFIS displays, the RDRJIOOO
m - as does the CdlinsMultiScan
MAN m .tron*..t--.
system. You don't want to be leaning back,
enjoying the automaticsand become a CFlT
smhic should your ?idiWS fad at a criad
time.
A Common Feature to Shwt About
Although AUTO TILT,as accumplished by
Collins and Honeywell, is great, neither radar
would be worth much without another cap-
-mttycommon to both, which deserves
special recognition-the "GAIN" controls!
Why? Because in the airline versions
+lay echoes in black, greaqyellow and red
only. No magenta. The fact is, those four
colors tell you virtually nothing about the
convective hazards ahead without some
analysis.We're all conditioned to believe that
red is danger, and in many applications it is.
But with radar, red indicates heavy rain,
nothing more. About 70 percent of the red
weather pilots see on their radar is non-
hazardous (other than causing a decrease in
visibility and making runways wet). To
determine whether or not a particular red
echo is hazardous in tern of turbulence and
hail and other dangers, the pilot must first
know if the atmospherein which he or she is
flying is conducive to thunderstormsor not
Thatrequimconvectiveweatherkmwkdge
gained from pmper uaining. But even with
atmospheric knowledge, a pilot cannot spy
whether a particular red area is hazardous. A
primary way to determine that is to disamr
how red it is. Most corporate radars today
display magenta to signify an echo that is
redder than red Since neither of these next-
generation airline category radars display
magenta, pilots must make a reflectivity
measurement of each echo. The "GAINn
control is the primary tool for doing that.
www.aviationweek.com/ bca
ltom saamdmy mMthsr (c-).
Turkcl(~c0,depicted In magenta hem, will Ilk*
be c-~dH&mntly Ibr the corpwte
Ve~ltIablng~svdlabkIbrthe
We've been hanging quotes amund the
word "GAINn because it may not have a
bearing on the radar receiver's sensitivity.In
this digital age, the symbology effect of
varying the receiver's sensitivity may be
achieved by actually varying the receiver
"GAIN" or by varying thresholds for the
colors, and it's done both ways. Therefore,
in pilot speak, the control should no longer
be thought of as "GAIN," but rather as a
calibration contml. Take it out of "CAL,"
tum it clockwise, and the colors will indicate
the weather is wont than fact, or become
"redder" than before. Turn it counter-
clockwise and the colors will indicate it's h
Fed than fact.
With that understanding, using the CAL
control on either of these radars becomes
simple. If you're the sort of pilot who
becomes super cautious at the 6rst dmp of
rain on the windshield, turn CAL ciockwise
to the stop and avoid eve* you see on
your radar. But if it's aitical for you to know
whether what's out there is just red or vny
red, turn CAL down. And here's where the
engineers and manual writers did themselves
proud.
T h e former gave us a range of CAL
reduction to work with and the writers
erplained howtoactuayIputittouse.That's
a great capabilitywe haven't had on radars in
40 years. If you're ftylng the Collinssystemin
an Airbus and see red, turn CAL down to
minus nine. If you still see red, you're
viewing a serious thunderstorm and there's
no question it will deliver severe turbulence,
hail and all the rest Turn it counterclockwise
to MIN, and if you still see red, therein
might lurk extreme turbulence and possibly
gusts to greater than 100 knots, hail the size
of grapefruit, microbursts and even a
tornado. If in a B o e i iwith a Collins system,
turn CAL down about two-thirdstoward the
lower stop and if you still see red it's a serious
thunderstom. Turn it down to the stop and
if it's red, you're looking at a supercell
containing all the above.
If operating an h f t equipped with a
Honeywell system, turningCAL h a l h y or
two-thirdsdown toward MIN identifies the
storm as very bad. Turn it down all the way
to hIIN, and if you still see red, the storm is
horrible.
How simple with both radars. Kudos to
each team.
In addition, Honeywell assures us that
RDR-4000 installations in business aircraft
will continue to feature its industry-standard
color scheme, including magenta, to identi@
echo intensity. If so, manipulation of the
"GAIN" controlwill be necessary only when
additional analysis is required. Count on
Collins to also use magenta for redder than
red, or something similar, for competitive
reasons if for no other.
Uncommon~toCommon
Faahlma
Once you get to use these radars, you'll like
the way the display is refreshed. Since the
information is coming out of memory, it
doesn't jump back with each sweep as with
many older radars; rather, it flows visually, as
when looking through the windshield. And
in a turn you don't have t o wait for
completion of each sweep cycle to get an
update on weather in the direction of a turn;
again, it flows into the display. The radars
Business & CmmnmialAviation. April 2W8 76
 Aviomics

accomplish this diffuendy. so one could assume it will be the same on

While flying straight and level, the the fuarre RTh4100.Memdde, Honeyud
Honeywell RDR-4000 is recording the doesn't include a like feature on the RDR-
image of weather it's flying through and 4000,butpmmisesitforIaterversionslmder
putting it in memory, retaining up to five REACT,its well-established name. We
minuas'dofweathertotherear.Asthe suspect only the person who created the
wingswings~inatum,theradar~ acronym back in the 1970s knows its m e
fbepnssedimPgebn=vdd+b? origin. But we can report that on
it?hedesign~isthat~has
changed since you flew past that area
HoneywellkIrdu,thefcpaurewill T"
a purplish wedge behind the o endlng
minut~~earlier.Assoonasitcan,tkRDR- wesbhet.
4000 updates i d w i t h Pctivc scans. Regardless, both are unreliable. That's
Byconmst,duringaturntheCollinsunit becausethefeamlssumesall~~
autmmicaUy goes into a sort of sector scan. mitted by the units actuallygoes out, and all
It pulls some data from memory, while rrfbctionshthat actually-
simul~blaslngscvlsinthe~ t o t h e e . ~ o o . Othat, a
ofthetumtorrfresh~imPgeinsm.~ must be nearly perfect, with a11 repairs
yourpiclrofwhichyouliltck
!

-
Another uncommon way to a common Ilrrw perfomed*,all~conectwith
no stripes around the nose, and that the
feature is how each team approached the p o r l ~ k n , , ~ ~ * ~ ~ * - "rveringisneveram~withrainor
resolution problah Rpdvaddsabout arrsr s # w ~ ~ ~ ~ m mr,wboa#.m mo ice, nor has any ice formed within the
~pulselengthtothefusideofechoes tmk,-k- Jlrd structure, and so on. That's unlikely. Also,
-medIingc?lledSPnge~."Wah -arrdarm--m (U,-
weather causing the attenuation must be
a low-power,solid-state transmitter, accan- within the STC range. For all those rea9ons,
plishing that becomes a challenge because After 20 years of tinkering with TURB, the diability of this fcpaure is qwshable.
the lo 'sh transmission times per pulse both Collins and Honeywell engineus a~ Such radome imperfettions and d e p -
2 for deaction of h t storms axe comfortable their latest upgrade will prwe
also long in linear dimension, meaning they morr useful that older vershs and will have
dations resulting from the environment in
which they operate pose problems for a11
result in much range smearing. For that fewer fnlse alerts. But that 40-nm limit radars. Current specs on the new radars
~ C d l i n s h a d t o u S e 1 4 0 ~ 0 f p a w acontinues to compromise the value of require a Class D or better radome to
and hold transmission times down to a twbuhce deoectIoh At jet cruise speed, or comply with RTCA DO-213 and a Class C
maximumof25 m &
-i which d t s lOnmperminute,acaptainhasdyabout o r b e t t e r t o c o m p l y w i t h the FAA
in adequate range mlution e&n at 320 nrn. four minutes to get passengers and cabin requirements for wind-shear operations.
H o m p d k RDR4I0, however, is the &st attendants buckled in, t(,broker a deal for Accepting the latterwould be the e q u h h t
civil airborne weather radar to use pulse deviation with ATC and begin a near of pu ' budget tires on a Fernri. We
compression. In brief, that means a very aerobatic change of dimxion. In terminal b e l i e v e s of aimaft d g u r e d with the
len&~ontimecanbeusedtoget the 9ight crrw has mybe eightor nine minimum reannmended ndome class will
eneqyautincothe~dwn,with
neeringm& and computer logic, the x minutes, but try to break in to A X for a
heading change request during the noon
canbemadetothinkshortpulsesa~ecaming baUoonat0~JFKorDFWairpw.
have some disappointing, perhaps even
white-knuckle, moments. Given the 2008
pricetagfweitheroftheseradarsensorsand
back. The result is, with a lot less trans- Moreover, any pilot flying a turbulence dual-conaol panels, it simply makesno sense
mission power (only 40 watts), the RDR- detecting radar will tell you that for each to risk handicam them with anydhg less
4000canresdveechoesatlongrangeabout timeitshowstwbuhce,thwwillbetwo thanaClassArdome,rminr?inedtoClass
as accurately as the older RDR-4B, other times that it should, but will not And A standards.
Honeywell's previous generation airline so if a pilot becomes over dependent upon Meanwhile, PAC and REACT and odav
radar.I&CXltah,dradarshthefu~d t h e ~ , c h a n c e s a r e a n e x m m p t o t h e such~axemerelyekamnechanical
use pulse compression, which has been dry cleaner will be in order. attempts to imprwe on somethingMother
standard on militaryradars for decdes. A n o t k kaurrbearlier radar systems Nature has given us free of charge - a
is attenuation, which is a kind of gimmick to shadow behind an echo.
M e T o o ~ F r o m wampilotsthatablankradardisplaycould
~ As~system&bility,amderoonsiderthis:The
Notallthefklhursandcapabilitiesofthese indicate big d l e . Collinscalls its vekon RDR-4000 utilizes dual-dundant direct-
t w o n e x t - ~ o n s y s e m s a ~ t h e d o fPath Attenuarion Comction (PAC), which drive (i.e., no pus) DC,brushless motors
Star Wars. Several old ideas have been is an odd choice since it doesn't correct for both horizontal and vertical antenna
carried over 6rwn radar antiquity. anything. It appears as a yellow arc at the ccmol, giving it a meantime between fahue
Bothradarshaveatwbuhce-TURB r n ~ r p nrlw
r nC& Aienlrmnn A m W M - 7 1 M m F ) gr*aer than 4
7mhours,whichis
-mode,whichfirstlppePredontheWXR- more than many previous systems. By
700Collinssystemba~inthe1980s.Now 0 0 1 1 ~ ~C~ot
ll,insp& to not speculate on
thefePtureislihnoses-mosteveryamhas MTBFiorits radar,sayingsPyingorrlytheunit
0ne.AndevarthoughtheTURBondleSe isnotexpecdtofiilduringthelifeoimeof
two new radars is state-of-the-art, they anyondingthis.

-
cannot detect clear air turbulence (CAT), Still, wear and tear is a serious consid-
andememeC#Tthatwillcurlthewingtips eration. Either radar is hput with a failed
can exist IS, 20 or more miles fmm a stonn. 4 antenna drive. Flight depalmlent xnalqm
Nor can TURB detect vertical movements ~ * ~ ~ @ n . c ~ - - should make sure that antenna drive
in the atmosphere, which describes a m e u ~ * d l l r ~ b n k w , llYl *-.
mechanism maintenance is high on their
mimburst before it reaches ground level. ~ p n r l J P * r d p h t t o DOMfrpriorityli!=
~
F i , it cannot fundon beyond 40 nm. QWwnod.,m.Ad- (The Collins Multiscan will continue to

76 Btuina 6 -1 Avi.tion April 2008

function with a failed antenna stabilization We hope so. Honeywell's RDR-4000 has a managers must prepare for their arrival.
system, in which case the antenna reverts to -
similar capability now after it's en route Wise managers will reallocate time
seanningparallel tothewings and following -but a vertical scan of +A30 or 40 degrees previously devoted to teaching basic tilt
the TILT command in pitch.) is often needed before takeoE WS because management t o understanding the
the vertical s t r u m of a storm indicates its atmosphere better and preparing pilots to
Summing Up current and future severity. It should be find answers to those other two critical
How well did Collins and Honeywell simple for Collins to add the feature, but not questions i n thunderstorm hazards
engineers do in attaining their goal of so for Honeywell. avoidance: "What is it" and "What's it likely
sim~hcitvof radar owralion? Thev excelled. It will be a happy day when these radars to be when I get there?"
~ n regarding
h tcat old bugaboo, tilt begin to show up in business aviation -we The challenge for radar m a n u f a m r s is
management, they hit a knockout blow. hope with vertical profile and magenta on to automate that on their next-generation
In working extensively with airlines and their displays. But flight department mms.
airline pilots for 30 years, we've discovered
that radar mining at the typical airline ranges
from miniscule to none. So how much will
Multiscan and Honeywell's volume scan
reduce airline training requirements?Well,
how much more can "nonen be reduced?
Wsnoquestionthatthesenewsystems
are a significant advance in convective
weather safety, because now there's little
excuse for an inadvertent encounter with a
thundexstorm. However, it seems that both
Collinsand Honeywell don't know, or chose
to ignore, the common fact that pilots
operating in terminal a m , for one &ason
or another, fxequently punch into some red
on their radars, or an echo that has red in i t
As previously mentioned, Collins and
Honeywell engineers -bless them -have
included a way via "GAINn to analyze
echoes to help determine whether they are WE'VE BEEN IN
just convective showers or supercells. But
CAL cannot be varied intelligently without THE RIGHT SEAT 11

knowing the reflectivity s t r u m of a thun-

FOR OVER 60 YEARS. 4
derstorm, coupled with knowledge of the
atmospheric convective phenomena. That
requires much uaining, which contradicts
the goal of reduced training. Pilots could be
helped, with little training,by automatically
warning when an echo is redder than red. If
magenta can't be used for some reason, how
about a button that can be pushed to auto-
matically shift the colon so they identify
d d e r than red, or put a skull and m b o n e s
over dangerously red echoes?
In one area, both these radars moved
backward in thunderstorm safety. In their
manuals both manufacturers discuss
shadowing and how to identify it using
ground returns. But in order to do so pilots
must change a mode, push a button or flip a
switch. With the Honeywell radar, that
involves switchingto the MAP mode, which
eliminates weather echoes, requiring pilots
to superimpose the location of the weather JOINNBAATODAY
echoes on the display with a finger or
something. Both need to be simplified or
even automated.
Also, we've touched on the need for a
vertical scan feature several times as an aid
to determining an answer to the question,
"What is it?" We did so after many dis-
d o n s with scientists and four years £lying A TRUSTED PARTNER SINCE 1947
with vertical scan made us conclude that
hrxv Cod. R O M W 3
next-generation radars must have i t Collins
told us it will be on future Multiscan radars.