Patent ID: 7307577

Claim:
A radar system for an aircraft, the radar system characterizing a storm cell maximum height, the radar system comprising: an antenna adapted to receive signals reflected from a storm cell; a receiver coupled to the antenna, the receiver adapted to process the received signals thereby forming reflectivity data associated with a scan of the storm cell; a processor coupled to the receiver, the processor configured to (a) receive first reflectivity data from the receiver formed from a first scan of the storm cell; (b) identify a first centroid of the storm cell based on the received first reflectivity data; (c) receive second reflectivity data from the receiver formed from a second scan of the storm cell; (d) identify a second centroid of the storm cell based on the received second reflectivity data; (e) determine a scan axis for a third scan of the storm cell based on the first centroid and the second centroid; (f) send the identified scan axis to a radar controller adapted to control execution of the third scan; (g) receive third reflectivity data from the receiver formed from the third scan of the storm cell at a first time; (h) sample the received third reflectivity data to form pixel data, wherein the pixel data comprises a plurality of pixels, wherein each pixel of the plurality of pixels identifies a segment of the third reflectivity data, and further wherein a reflectivity indicator is determined for each pixel; and (i) process the formed pixel data to determine a first maximum height of the storm cell; and a memory operably coupled to the processor to receive and to store the pixel data.