Unusually high differential attenuation at C band: Results from a two-year analysis of the French Trappes polarimetric radar data

The differential phase (ΦDP) measured by polarimetric radars is recognized to be a very good indicator of the path integrated by rain. Moreover, if a linear relationship is assumed between the specific differential phase (KDP) and the specific attenuation (AH) and specific differential attenuation (ADP), then attenuation can easily be corrected. The coefficients of proportionality, γH and γDP, are, however, known to be dependent in rain upon drop temperature, drop shapes, drop size distribution, and the presence of large drops causing Mie scattering. In this paper, the authors extensively apply a physically based method, often referred to as the “Smyth and Illingworth constraint,” which uses the constraint that the value of the differential reflectivity ZDR on the far side of the storm should be low to retrieve the γDP coefficient. More than 30 convective episodes observed by the French operational C-band polarimetric Trappes radar during two summers (2005 and 2006) are used to document the variability of γDP with respect to the intrinsic three-dimensional characteristics of the attenuating cells. The Smyth and Illingworth constraint could be applied to only 20% of all attenuated rays of the 2-yr dataset so it cannot be considered the unique solution for attenuation correction in an operational setting but is useful for characterizing the properties of the strongly attenuating cells. The range of variation of γDP is shown to be extremely large, with minimal, maximal, and mean values being, respectively, equal to 0.01, 0.11, and 0.025 dB °−1. Coefficient γDP appears to be almost linearly correlated with the horizontal reflectivity (ZH), differential reflectivity (ZDR), and specific differential phase (KDP) and correlation coefficient (ρHV) of the attenuating cells. The temperature effect is negligible with respect to that of the microphysical properties of the attenuating cells. Unusually large values of γDP, above 0.06 dB °−1, often referred to as “hot spots,” are reported for 15%—a nonnegligible figure—of the rays presenting a significant total differential phase shift (ΔϕDP > 30°). The corresponding strongly attenuating cells are shown to have extremely high ZDR (above 4 dB) and ZH (above 55 dBZ), very low ρHV (below 0.94), and high KDP (above 4° km−1). Analysis of 4 yr of observed raindrop spectra does not reproduce such low values of ρHV, suggesting that (wet) ice is likely to be present in the precipitation medium and responsible for the attenuation and high phase shifts. Furthermore, if melting ice is responsible for the high phase shifts, this suggests that KDP may not be uniquely related to rainfall rate but can result from the presence of wet ice. This hypothesis is supported by the analysis of the vertical profiles of horizontal reflectivity and the values of conventional probability of hail indexes.

Quantitative pulsed phase thermography applied to steel plates

Pulsed Phase Thermography (PPT) has been proven effective on depth retrieval of flat-bottomed holes in different materials such as plastics and aluminum. In PPT, amplitude and phase delay signatures are available following data acquisition (carried out in a similar way as in classical Pulsed Thermography), by applying a transformation algorithm such as the Fourier Transform (FT) on thermal profiles. The authors have recently presented an extended review on PPT theory, including a new inversion technique for depth retrieval by correlating the depth with the blind frequency fb (frequency at which a defect produce enough phase contrast to be detected). An automatic defect depth retrieval algorithm had also been proposed, evidencing PPT capabilities as a practical inversion technique. In addition, the use of normalized parameters to account for defect size variation as well as depth retrieval from complex shape composites (GFRP and CFRP) are currently under investigation. In this paper, steel plates containing flat-bottomed holes at different depths (from 1 to 4.5 mm) are tested by quantitative PPT. Least squares regression results show excellent agreement between depth and the inverse square root blind frequency, which can be used for depth inversion. Experimental results on steel plates with simulated corrosion are presented as well. It is worth noting that results are improved by performing PPT on reconstructed (synthetic) rather than on raw thermal data.

Dual-hop amplify-and-forward cooperative relaying in the presence of Tx and Rx in-phase and quadrature-phase imbalance

In this study, dual-hop channel state information-assisted amplify-and-forward (AF) cooperative systems in the presence of in-phase and quadrature-phase (I/Q) imbalance, which refers to the mismatch between components in the I and Q branches, are investigated. First, the authors analyse the performance of the considered AF cooperative protocol without compensation for the I/Q imbalance as the benchmark. Then, a compensation algorithm for the I/Q imbalance is proposed, which makes use of the received signals at the destination, from the source and the relay nodes, together with their conjugations to detect the transmitted signal. Moreover, the authors study the considered AF cooperative system implemented with the opportunistic relay selection and the proposed compensation mechanism for the I/Q imbalance. The performance of the AF cooperative system under study is evaluated in terms of average symbol error probability, which is derived by considering transmission in a Rayleigh fading environment. Numerical results are provided and show that the proposed compensation algorithm can efficiently mitigate the effect of the I/Q imbalance. On the other hand, it is observed that the AF cooperative system with opportunistic relay selection acquires a performance gain beyond that without relay selection.

Evaluation of a large-eddy model simulation of a mixed-phase altocumulus cloud using microwave radiometer, lidar and Doppler radar data

Using the Met Office large-eddy model (LEM) we simulate a mixed-phase altocumulus cloud that was observed from Chilbolton in southern England by a 94 GHz Doppler radar, a 905 nm lidar, a dual-wavelength microwave radiometer and also by four radiosondes. It is important to test and evaluate such simulations with observations, since there are significant differences between results from different cloud-resolving models for ice clouds. Simulating the Doppler radar and lidar data within the LEM allows us to compare observed and modelled quantities directly, and allows us to explore the relationships between observed and unobserved variables. For general-circulation models, which currently tend to give poor representations of mixed-phase clouds, the case shows the importance of using: (i) separate prognostic ice and liquid water, (ii) a vertical resolution that captures the thin layers of liquid water, and (iii) an accurate representation the subgrid vertical velocities that allow liquid water to form. It is shown that large-scale ascents and descents are significant for this case, and so the horizontally averaged LEM profiles are relaxed towards observed profiles to account for these. The LEM simulation then gives a reasonable. cloud, with an ice-water path approximately two thirds of that observed, with liquid water at the cloud top, as observed. However, the liquid-water cells that form in the updraughts at cloud top in the LEM have liquid-water paths (LWPs) up to half those observed, and there are too few cells, giving a mean LWP five to ten times smaller than observed. In reality, ice nucleation and fallout may deplete ice-nuclei concentrations at the cloud top, allowing more liquid water to form there, but this process is not represented in the model. Decreasing the heterogeneous nucleation rate in the LEM increased the LWP, which supports this hypothesis. The LEM captures the increase in the standard deviation in Doppler velocities (and so vertical winds) with height, but values are 1.5 to 4 times smaller than observed (although values are larger in an unforced model run, this only increases the modelled LWP by a factor of approximately two). The LEM data show that, for values larger than approximately 12 cm s(-1), the standard deviation in Doppler velocities provides an almost unbiased estimate of the standard deviation in vertical winds, but provides an overestimate for smaller values. Time-smoothing the observed Doppler velocities and modelled mass-squared-weighted fallspeeds shows that observed fallspeeds are approximately two-thirds of the modelled values. Decreasing the modelled fallspeeds to those observed increases the modelled IWC, giving an IWP 1.6 times that observed.

Improved and optimal dual circular 32-QAM for MB-OFDM

Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) and Dual Carrier Modulation (DCM) are currently used as the modulation schemes for Multiband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM) in the ECMA-368 defined Ultra-Wideband (UWB) radio platform. ECMA-368 has been chosen as the physical radio platform for many systems including Wireless USB (W-USB), Bluetooth 3.0 and Wireless HDMI; hence ECMA-368 is an important issue to consumer electronics and the users’ experience of these products. To enable the transport of high-rate USB, ECMA-368 offers up to 480 Mb/s instantaneous bit rate to the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, but depending on radio channel conditions dropped packets unfortunately result in a lower throughput. This paper presents improvement on a high data rate modulation scheme that fits within the configuration of the current standard increasing system throughput by achieving 600 Mb/s (reliable to 3.2 meters) thus maintaining the high rate USB throughput even with a moderate level of dropped packets. The modulation system is termed improved and optimal Dual Circular 32-QAM (DC 32-QAM). The system performance for improved and optimal DC 32-QAM modulation is presented and compared with previous DC 32- QAM, 16-QAM and DCM.

Enhancing MB-OFDM throughput with dual circular 32-QAM

Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) and Dual Carrier Modulation (DCM) are currently used as the modulation schemes for Multiband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM) in the ECMA-368 defined Ultra-Wideband (UWB) radio platform. ECMA-368 has been chosen as the physical radio platform for many systems including Wireless USB (W-USB), Bluetooth 3.0 and Wireless HDMI; hence ECMA-368 is an important issue to consumer electronics and the users experience of these products. To enable the transport of high-rate USB, ECMA-368 offers up to 480 Mb/s instantaneous bit rate to the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, but depending on radio channel conditions dropped packets unfortunately result in a lower throughput. This paper presents an alternative high data rate modulation scheme that fits within the configuration of the current standard increasing system throughput by achieving 600 Mb/s (reliable to 3.1 meters) thus maintaining the high rate USB throughput even with a moderate level of dropped packets. The modulation system is termed Dual Circular 32-QAM (DC 32-QAM). The system performance for DC 32-QAM modulation is presented and compared with 16-QAM and DCM1.

To what extent are EU steel companies susceptible to competitive loss due to climate policy?

In recognition of their competitive vulnerability, a set of special rules have been devised for managing sectors such as steel and cement within the EU ETS. These rules basically seek to set sector specific performance benchmarks and reward top performers. However, the steel sector as a whole will receive the vast majority of its allowances for free in Phase III. Perceptions of competitive vulnerability have been largely based on inherently hypothetical analyses which rely heavily on counterfactual scenario and abatement cost estimates often provided by firms themselves. This paper diverges from these approaches by providing a qualitative assessment of the two key reasons underpinning the competitive vulnerability argument of the EU Steel Companies based on interviews and case study involving the three largest producers of steel within the EU – AcerlorMittal, Corus, and ThyssenKrupp. We find that these arguments provide only partial and weak justifications for competitive loss and discriminatory treatment in the EUETS. This strategy is difficult to counter by governments due to information asymmetry; and it appears to have proved very successful insofar as it has helped the industry to achieve free allocation in Phases I-III of EU ETS by playing up the risk of carbon leakage.