Numerous meteorological disasters recur almost annually. One of the most effective means to observe these phenomena causing such disasters is meteorological radar. A group comprising Toshiba, the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), and Osaka University has developed an X-band phased array radar, improving observation time from the conventional 10-minute duration to just 30 seconds by using phased array technology. The initial radar was installed at Osaka University in May 2012, and was recently replaced by a dual-polarization one. Phased array radar has demonstrated superior temporal and spatial resolution compared to conventional radars and has shown equivalent accuracy in observing variables such as rain rate. Future research is expected to illuminate the advantages and limitations of dual-polarization phased array radar networks, fostering their widespread adoption not only in Japan but also globally.

Expressions are presented for the probability of target detection and the measurement accuracy of the detection, taking into account the effects of antenna beam-pointing error. Evaluation of these expressions requires numerical integration, which is computationally expensive. Approximate but analytic and efficient expressions are also presented. Numerical examples are given to present the relative accuracy of our analytic approximations.

In phased array antennas, the number of radiator rows is one of the important factors to minimizing both cost and weight. Therefore, the antenna tilt angles having relation with the element spacing are among the important design parameters. In this paper, the optimum tilt angles for several types of dipole planar arrays are investigated theoretically. To obtain optimum tilt angles, the directivity equation including phase shift factors for planar arrays are calculated.

The phase and frequency commands of a rotating radar system, that utilizes the frequency scanning and phase shifters to steer the beam in the azimuth and elevation directions, respectively, are derived in terms of the angles of the ground based coordinate system. The frequency equation derived is approximated to a simple form to reduce the calculation time for real time multi-function radar systems. It is shown that the approximate frequency commands are in good agreement with the exact ones if the range of the azimuth scanning is not too wide.