Using the system, extremely high resolution profiling is possible in the lower 3 km of the atmosphere. The main topic of study is the turbulent layers created by the nocturnal jet seen over the Great Plains region. This jet, which occurs at approximately 500 m, can generate severe turbulence and is also associated with large wind shear. By transmitting an acoustic chirp signal into the atmosphere, the radar is used to track the speed of the sound wave. These temperature measurements along with those from the FDI system should help in our understanding of the formation of the nocturnal jet.
Various techniques are available and are inherently dependent on any phase imbalance in the system.
The imbalance is caused by a path length difference between the multiple receivers, which is typically corrected at the time of construction. Aging of the system and other environmental changes can cause a modification in the phase lengths, however. An obvious method to calibrate an SI system is to examine the phase differences between the receivers for a signal produced by a scatterer with known location. For physically small systems, this can be accomplished by pointing the antenna beam toward a man-made source, such as a transmitter with the same center frequency of the radar. The present work details the calibration of the MU radar using the radio star Cygnus A as a source of known location.