Effects of the Antenna Measurement Uncertainties on the Estimation of the Differential Reflectivity

The parameters of interest in polarimetric weather radars, defined in terms of the scattering coefficients of the targets, are affected by non-ideal radiation systems. The effect of cross-polar radiation has been studied and the requirements that radiation patterns must verify in order to maintain an affordable error in the polarimetric estimates have been established. Unfortunately, these requirements are very strict and difficult to achieve with phased array antennas. Recently, it has been shown that the effect caused by non-ideal antenna systems can be separated from the scattering parameters and, consequently, corrected. Hence, this technique could be used to make the transition to phased array polarimetric radar systems feasible. However, this correction method requires knowing the radiation patterns of the antenna, so they must be measured. The aim of this work is to study the effect of the uncertainties introduced by the antenna measurement procedure in the correction of the differential reflectivity factor.