ATRAD News

For the full news article, select the item's title. Further news and information can be found in ATRAD newsletters.

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• July 2008 - New 64kW MF Spaced Antenna Radar for China
  ATRAD has commenced construction of a new 64kW MF Spaced Antenna Radar to be installed to the North West of Beijing. The radar is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2008 and will be used by Chinese scientists to support advanced research into the Mesosphere Lower Thermosphere (MLT) region and contribute to the continuation of the Climate And Weather of the Sun-Earth System (CAWSES) program of SCOSTEP (CAWSES-II).
  
  
• June 2008 - 24kW Steerable Ionospheric & Meteor Analyser for Sanya, China
  A 24kW, 6-channel Steerable Ionospheric Analyser (SIA24/6) has been shipped to Sanya, China and is expected to be commissioned in September 2008. The SIA24/6 will be used to examine Ionospheric Irregularities in the E & F regions of space. It has also been equipped with an independent all-sky interferometer array to support both Ionospheric and Meteor mode observations.
  
  
• June 2008 - MF Radar Upgrade Completed in Tirunelveli, India
  The Indian Institute of Magnetism's MF radar located in Tirunelveli has recently been upgraded with an ATRAD 3rd Generation MF Radar transmitter. In addition to increasing the radar's maximum power output, the pulse-pulse switching ability of the transmitter extends the radar capability to include Differential Phase and Differential Amplitude Experiments (DPE/DAE).
  
  
• May 2008 - Buckland Park ST radar upgrade gives wind profiles to 20km
  The University of Adelaide's Buckland Park test facility received a major upgrade to its Doppler ST (Stratospheric/Tropospheric) radar earlier this year. The upgrade included the installation of an ATRAD ST40 40kW PEP radar transmitter, enhancement of the Meteor mode capability and an overhaul of the beamsteering and switching systems. The result, when operating in Doppler mode, is that wind profiles are reliably obtained at up to 20km above ground level.
  
  
• April 2008 - 20kW EMDR commissioned in Hainan, China
  Commissioning of the Hainan EMDR was completed in early April. Since undergoing its final calibration phase, it has been recording unambiguous meteor counts of over 26,000 meteors per day. The performance of the EMDR series radars is meetin g ATRAD's high expectations and represents a step change improvement in performa nce over the earlier generation systems currently in service around the world.
  
  
• January 2008 - 20kW EMDR Enhanced Meteor Detection Radar for Hainan, China
  The EMDR radar has proven to be a highly successful instrument. The Hainan radar is the latest in a rapidly growing list of EMDR installations and is expected to be commissioned in March this year.
  
  
• January 2008 - EMDR Enhanced Meteor Detection Radar hits 27,000 Unambiguous Counts per day
  The 8kW EMDR Radar installed at King George Island almost a year ago continues to set new highs, recently reaching counts of over 27,000 meteors per day during the peak meteor season.
  
  
• January 2008 - METEK Sales on the rise
  Sales of Metek equipment are off to a good start in 2008 with a MRR-2 Rain Radar for University of Queensland and a USA-1 3D Scientific Anemometer with Turbulence measurement option for Sondei Group.
  
  
• December 2007 - Windprofiler for the Bureau of Meteorology
  The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has taken delivery of another 7.5kW Boundary Layer Windprofiler for installation at its East Sale site in early 2008. The new Windprofiler expands the Bureau's Australian network and will be used to replace local weather balloon operations.
  
  
• November 2007 - A showcase of ATRAD scientific radars for China
  ATRAD has recently installed a suite of 3 radars in KunMing, China, which complements the customer's existing instrumentation to provide a very comprehensive and capable atmospheric/ionospheric observatory.
  
  
• April 2007 - EMDR Enhanced Meteor Detection Radar routinely exceeds 20,000 Counts per day
  Since its installation in early February 2007, the King George Island radar has consistently recorded meteor count rates in excess of 20,000 per day - typically 24,000 per day. This astounding performance for only an 8kW radar can be attributed to ATRAD's extensive work in enhancing the meteor analysis software as well as close attention to overall RF system design.
  
  
• February 2007 - EMDR Enhanced Meteor Detection Radar for King George Island, Antarctica
  Chungnam National University of Korea have installed an 8kW Meteor Radar at their King Sejong Base situated on the Barton Peninsula of King George Island alongside the Antarctic Peninsula. Since commencing operations in Feb 2007, the radar has consistently produced unambiguous meteor counts rates exceeding 20,000 per day. Using Count Rate per Peak kW as a figure of merit, the EMDR exhibits performance up to 3-4 times better than that of other commonly used all-sky meteor radars.
  
  
• November 2006 - EMDR Enhanced Meteor Detection Radar for Bear Island, Norway
  ATRAD supplied an 8kW EMDR Enhanced Meteor Detection Radar to STEL Japan / University of Tromso for installation at Bear Island in Norway. Bear Island is the southernmost island of the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard, situated halfway between the arctic circle and the north pole. The University of Tromso are providing the Antenna array and final commissioning is expected to occur in the first half of 2007.
  
  
• September 2006 - ST Radar for Wuhan, China
  ATRAD has recently commissioned a 100kW ST-Class Doppler Radar for Wuhan University in China.
  
  
• August 2006 - Meteor Analysis Software Upgrade, Colorado, USA
  The ATRAD Data Analysis & Display software suite has recently been supplied to Colorado University to enhance the performance of their Meteor Radars.
  
  
• August 2006 - ST40 Radar Transmitter, Colorado, USA
  ATRAD has delivered its new generation 40kW solid-state radar to Vaisala in Colorado. The new transmitter supports up to 15% duty cycle operation and is specifically designed to deliver both the flexibility required by the scientific user and the robustness and reliability required by operational users.
  
  
• May 2006 - Data Acquisition Upgrade, Kohlapur, India
  In 1999, an MF Spaced Antenna radar was installed in Kohlapur, India for the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism. Recently performance has been significantly enhanced by upgrade the original data acquisition system to the latest ATRAD APAC system.
  
  
• March 2006 - ST Radar for Xichang, China
  Vaisala has installed a 40kW LAP-12000 Doppler Radar in Xichang, China. The LAP-12000 radar is the result of a collaboration between Vaisala and ATRAD.
  
  
• October 2005 - Meteor Radar for Darwin, Australia
  An MDR5 All-Sky Meteor radar has been supplied to the University of Adelaide's Atmospheric Research group for deployment in Darwin, Australia.
  
  
• July 2005 - ST Radar for Jiiquan, China
  Vaisala has installed a 40kW LAP-12000 Doppler Radar in Jiiquan, China. The LAP-12000 radar is the result of a collaboration between Vaisala and ATRAD.
  
  
• July 2005 - MF Radar Upgrade, Juliusruh, Germany
  Since its original installation, the Juliusruh MF Spaced Antenna radar has operated flawlessly. In a major upgrade, the Juliusruh radar has been upgraded to a Mill-Cross configuration and now supports both Doppler and Spaced Antenna operation. It delivers similar performance to the Saura MF Radar.
  
  
• July 2005 - Boundary Layer Radar for Canberra, Australia
  The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has installed a Boundary Layer Windprofiler at its Canberra airport site to augment its forecast capabilities.
  
  
• January 2005 - Meteor Radar Davis Base , Antarctica
  A stand-alone MDR5 All-Sky Meteor radar has been installed at the Australian Antarctic Division's Davis Base station, operating at 33.2 MHz
  
  
• December 2004 - Combination ST & Meteor Radar for Davis Base, Antarctica
  The Doppler / Spaced Antenna capability of the Australian Antarctic Division's MST radar has been further enhanced with the addition of a Meteor-Mode capability.
  
  
• November 2004 - Broadband Transmitter for Beijing, China
  ATRAD has delivered a Broadband Radar Transmitter to a research customer in Beijing, China.
  
  
• September 2004 - ST Radar for Huayin, China
  Vaisala has installed a 100kW LAP-12000 Doppler Radar in Huayin, China. The LAP-12000 radar is the result of a collaboration between Vaisala and ATRAD.
  
  
• July 2004 - 55MHz Test Array for Buckland Park, Adelaide
  ATRAD recently commissioned a 144 Antenna, 55MHz Doppler/Spaced Antenna Array at the Buckland Park Research Station to support the University of Adelaide's research activities.
  
  
• June 2004 - Boundary Layer Radar for Launceston, Australia
  The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has installed a Boundary Layer Windprofiler at its Launceston airport site to augment its forecast capabilities.
  
  
• November 2003 - Data Acquisition Upgrade for Kuhlungsborn, Germany
  The Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) have upgraded their Kuhlungsborn Radar data acquisition system and analysis software to the latest ATRAD ADAC build standard. The radar was originally developed and built by IAP and used an ATRAD transmitter and ATRAD-designed antenna array.
  
  
• November 2003 - Meteor Radar for Tromso, Norway
  An MDR5 All-Sky Meteor radar has been installed in Tromso, Norway for the National Institute of Polar Research and Tromso Geophysical Observatory.
  
  
• October 2003 - VTX Transmitters for Davis Base, Antarctica
  In July 2002, ATRAD was awarded a contract to supply the first phase of an MST Radar for the Australian Antarctic Division. In this second phase, the radar has been upgrade to its full 100kW operating power.
  
  
• October 2003 - MF Transmitter Upgrade for Davis Base, Antarctica
  An MF Spaced Antenna radar has been in operation at Davis Base since originally supplied by ATRAD in 1994. Recently the transmitter was upgraded to the latest ATRAD build standard. The upgrade provides the pulse-to-pulse switching needed to support DAE/DPE observations.
  
  
• August 2003 - Data Acquisition Upgrade for Tirunelveli, India
  In 1992, an MF Spaced Antenna radar was installed in Tirunelveli, India for the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism. Recently performance has been significantly enhanced by upgrade the original data acquisition system to the latest ATRAD APAC system.
  
  
• March 2003 - Upper-Air Windprofiler for South Uist, UK
  A LAP-12000 Upper-Air Windprofiler has recently been commissioned at the UK Met Office's South Uist site. The LAP-12000 is the result of a collaboration between Vaisala and ATRAD. It is an integral part of the UK Met Office's operational upper-air network and feeds into the European EUMETNET system. It is a 64MHz ST-Class Doppler Radar and replaces a manned meteorological balloon station.
  
  
• September 2002 - MF radar for Juliusruh, Germany
  Following the successful MF radar installation in Andoya, The Leibniz-Institute for Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Kuehlungsborn, Germany has ordered a second MF system for installation at Juliusruh in Germany.
  
  
• July 2002 - MST radar for Australian Antarctic Division
  Atrad has won a contract to supply a Mesospheric Stratospheric Tropospheric (MST) radar to the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) to be installed at Davis Base in Antarctica.
  
  
• July 2002 - New large-scale MF radar for Andoya, Norway
  ATRAD has completed the supply and installation of a large-scale Medium Frequency (MF) radar for The Institute for Atmospheric Physics (IAP) in Germany.
  
  
• July 2002 - Meteor radar hits 10,000
  The Svalbard meteor radar reached a new milestone in achieving daily count rates of over 10,000 unambiguous meteors during late June.
  
  
• April 2002 - ATRAD Installs ST Radar in Woomera
  An ATRAD team of Engineers has completed the installation of a VHF ST Wind Profiling Radar just outside Woomera in the far North of South Australia.
  
  
• April 2002 - Indonesian Visitors
  ATRAD hosted for three weeks two members of the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space organisation from LAPAN - BANDUNG West Java Indonesia.
  
  
• March 2002 - Radar for Auckland, New Zealand
  ATRAD has leased a Boundary Layer Tropospheric Radar (BLTR) Wind Profiler in Auckland to support Americas Cup race forecasters.
  
  
• February 2002 - Meteor radar installation
  ATRAD has recently completed the installation of the Meteor Radar for the Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics of The Chinese Academy of Sciences in China.
  
  
• October 2001 - Argonne National Laboratory radar
  The University of Chicago operates the Argonne National Laboratory and has recently placed an order for the supply of a VTX20 Radar Transmitter.
  
  
• August 2001 - ATRAD partners with Vaisala Meteorological Systems Inc.
  ATRAD has won a contract to supply Vaisala with a VHF Transmitter and Antenna Array plus other components as part of a Tropospheric Wind Profiler System for the UK Met Office.
  
  
• July 2001 - MF radar for Andoya rocket range, Norway
  ATRAD has secured a contract for a Medium Frequency (MF) radar for The Institute for Atmospheric Physics at Kuehlungsborn in Germany.
  
  
• April 2001 - ATRAD signs two more contracts with China
  Atmospheric Radar Systems (ATRAD) has won two important contracts for the supply of a "Meteor Radar" and an "Ionospheric Radar" to the Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics of The Chinese Academy of Sciences.
  
  
• April 2001 - VHF MST radar
  ATRAD has secured a major contract from Wuhan University in China to design, manufacture and install a Mesospheric Stratospheric Tropospheric (MST) radar in Wuhan, China.
  
  
• March 2001 - Woomera VHF wind profiler
  ATRAD has been commissioned by the National Aeronautical Laboratories (NAL) of Japan to manufacture and install a Stratospheric Tropospheric (ST) radar at the Woomera rocket range in the North of South Australia.
  
  

• November 2007 - Telstra-EIA Awards
  ATRAD was a finalist in the 2007 Telstra-EIA Award for Engineering Excellence for the STX-II Solid State Transmitter development.
  
  
• October 2002 - EIA Awards
  ATRAD achieved considerable success at the recent Electronics Industry Association (EIA) dinner, receiving the major award of the evening.
  
  
• September 2002 - Business SA Export Awards
  ATRAD entered in two categories of the Business SA Export Awards 2002.
  
  
• June 2002 - Another Deloitte award
  ATRAD has achieved the position of 10th fastest growing technology company in South Australia.
  
  
• June 2002 - Successful Quality audit
  ATRAD successfully passed the BVQI third party audit with a clean sheet without recording any non-conformances.
  
  
• June 2001 - Deloitte Technology Fast 50
  ATRAD has been awarded a certificate from the Deloitte Technology `Fast 50' survey for being the 14th fastest growing IT company in South Australia. The presentation was made at the 2001 South Australian awards ceremony.
  
  
• December 2000 - BVQI Quality accreditation
  ATRAD was awarded ISO 9001-2000 Quality accreditation by BVQI in December 2000, and recently successfully negotiated the followup third-party audit by BVQI.
  
  

• April 2007 - Rob Silva
  Rob Silva rejoins ATRAD as Business Development Manager.
  
  
• April 2005 - Gary Jonas
  ATRAD welcomes Gary Jonas, who has joined the company as an RF Engineer.
  
  
• January 2003 - Jonathan Woithe
  ATRAD welcomes Jonathan Woithe, who has joined the company as a System Admininstrator and Research Scientist.
  
  
• October 2002 - Callum Heinrich
  ATRAD welcomes Callum Heinrich, who has joined the company on a 12 week work experience placement.
  
  
• March 2002 - Richard Mayo
  ATRAD welcomes Richard Mayo who has joined the company as a Senior Design Engineer.
  
  
• 3 August 2001 - The French disconnection
  Typhanie Sanchez, Telecommunications Engineering final year student from Toulon University in France, has finished her six-month exchange work experience with ATRAD to complete her university degree.
  
  
• July 2001 - Nick Begakis AM BTech FAICD
  The directors of Atmospheric Radar Systems Pty Ltd are pleased to announce the appointment of prominent South Australian businessman Mr Nicholas Begakis AM as non-executive chairman.
  
  
• June 2001 - Andrew Jenkins
  ATRAD welcomes Andrew Jenkins who has joined ATRAD in the newly created position of Systems Manager.
  
  

• May 2007 - Radar Industry Workshop (RIW 2007)
  ATRAD presented an invited paper on the applications of Wind Profiling Radar at this conference held at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation's (DSTO) Edinburgh site in Adelaide, South Australia.
  
  
• Dec 2006 - MST-11 Gadanki, India
  ATRAD co-authored several papers presented at the Eleventh International Workshop on Technical and Scientific Aspects of MST Radar (MST11) held in Gadanki, India. The papers encompassed Meteor and MST Radar observations from Wuhan (China), Darwin (Australia) and Buckland Park (Australia).
  
  
• August 2002 - ATRAD in `The Financial Review'
  ATRAD was referred to in this article of `The Financial Review' newspaper.
  
  
• June 2002 - Technology Futures conference
  ATRAD presented a paper and displayed radar results at this conference held in Adelaide, South Australia.
  
  
• September 2001 - Adelaidean article about ATRAD
  The September edition of the University of Adelaide's `Adelaidean' publication featured an article about ATRAD. A PDF version of the article is available for download.