CINRAD Joint Venture. In August 1994, the Unisys China Company Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Unisys Corporation in China, and the China Meteorological Administration have signed an MoU to establish a joint venture in China to develop and produce a new Doppler weather radar for use in China and to be marketed throughout the Pacific Rim. The new radar would be similar to the WSR-88D. The China New Generation Weather Radar (CINRAD) would be specifically tailored for the Pacific Rim area and would sell at a lower cost. 1
1994 年 8 月,联合信息公司(Unisys Corporation)在中国的全资子公司——联合信息中国公司(Unisys China Company Ltd)与中国气象局签署了谅解备忘录,决定在中国成立一家合资企业,开发和生产一款新的多普勒天气雷达,该雷达将用于中国并在整个太平洋地区销售。该雷达与 WSR-88D 类似。中国新一代天气雷达(CINRAD)将专门为太平洋地区量身定制,并以较低的成本销售。
Loral Defense Systems-East and the China National Huayun Technology Development Corp. have agreed to establish a joint venture to develop and produce an advanced Doppler weather radar system for use, initially, by the China Meteorological Administration. The system, called CINRAD (China Next Generation Weather Radar) will be similar to U.S.’s National Weather Service NEXRAD network, which is produced by Loral. Loral will own 51 percent of the joint venture, and will provide systems engineering and NEXRAD technology. Loral says CINRAD will offer the same or better performance than NEXRAD, and will be competitively priced.
这家公司实际上先是收购了 Unisys 的一部分业务,然后又被 Lockheed Martin 收购:
May 5, 1995 – Loral acquires Paramax, the defense unit of Unisys, for $862 million in cash.
January 8, 1996 – Lockheed Martin agreed to purchase the defense electronics and system integration businesses of Loral for $9.1 billion. Loral becomes Loral Space and Communications.10
I visited METSTAR JV in Northwest Beijing to see and discuss their metereological radar project, jointly with Lockheed-Martin. Their CINRAD-WSR-98D is an upgrade of the now old UNISYS WSR-88D NEXRAD made for the US National Weather Service. The new model has many enhancements that provide performance superior to NEXRAD. Two are: use of manual scan in real-time radar operating mode; and use of rain gauges to provide calibration of the radar derived from empirically based rainfall estimation. Interestingly, they are making both S-band and C-band versions. Most of the radar systems assemblies are made in China; transmitters by NRIET in Nanjing; antennas by ???; receivers are made in Xian (some with digital receivers). DELL makes CINRAD computers. These radars will essentially blanket the inhabited areas of China. Most interestingly, the C-band and S-band radars are not intermixed, but rather are in separate “bands.” The antenna towers (30 m or so) are artistic wonders: some are curved masonry rather than plain steel towers topped by radomes. The first was installed in Hufe in 1998. This is a project that China and Lockheed-Martin can be proud of; I was given a model of the CINRAD-WSR-98D antenna (batteries not included).
我参观了位于北京西北部的 METSTAR JV,与他们讨论了与洛克希德·马丁(Lockheed-Martin)联合开展的气象雷达项目。他们的 CINRAD-WSR-98D 是对现已老旧的 UNISYS WSR-88D NEXRAD 雷达的升级,该雷达最初是为美国国家气象局(NWS)制造的。新型号在多个方面进行了改进,性能优于 NEXRAD。其中两个主要改进是:在实时雷达操作模式下支持手动扫描,以及使用雨量计进行校准,以提高基于经验的降水估算精度。有趣的是,他们正在制造 S 波段和 C 波段两种版本的大气雷达。雷达系统的大部分组件都在中国制造:发射机由南京的 NRIET(南京电子技术研究所)生产;天线由 ??? 生产;接收机在西安制造,其中一些采用数字接收技术。CINRAD 雷达的计算机由 DELL 生产。这些雷达将覆盖中国的主要居住区。最值得注意的是,C 波段和 S 波段雷达并未混合使用,而是分别部署在各自的“频段”内。雷达的天线塔(约 30 米高)设计独特,极具艺术感:有些是弯曲的砖石结构,而不是传统的钢塔和圆顶罩。第一座雷达站于 1998 年在合肥安装。这是一个值得中国和洛克希德·马丁共同骄傲的项目。我还获赠了一个 CINRAD-WSR-98D 天线模型(不含电池)。11
In another agreement, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau signed a US$4.76 million contract with Unisys China Hong Kong for the delivery of a WSR-88D Doppler weather radar for installation in Shanghai in early 1996. The Shanghai radar would be identical to the US systems and installed on a 700 ft twin-tower complex built in downtown Shanghai by a Hong Kong developer. Data would be transmitted to the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau and serve as a baseline for developing the CINRAD system. 1
Johnston, S. L. (2002). Chinese International Radar Conference 2001 (CIRC ‘01). IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine, 17(1), 31-33. https://doi.org/10.1109/MAES.2002.978362↩︎