The Vaisala Sigmet Radar and Antenna Control Processor RCP8™

Connecting a weather radar to the outside world

The purpose of a controller is to provide a simple interface between high-level user applications to the various electrical signals that are required to control and monitor a radar and antenna system. The RCP8™, our new PCI/Linux based controller, provides the flexibility to connect to radar systems from a variety of manufacturers. With comprehensive BITE monitoring, wide range inputs and programmable control logics, the RCP8™ offers outstanding versatility in the field. We provide a fully documented API so that sophisticated users can develop their own application software. Specify the RCP8™ for weather radar upgrades or for new weather radar systems. Of course the RCP8™ is 100% compatible with the Vaisala Sigmet IRIS software for UNIX workstations.

Flexible algorithms for ground-based and stabilized moving platform applications

The RCP8™ implements digital position and velocity servos that are more flexible than traditional analog servos-there are no pots to tweak to tune the servos. Because of the digital approach, the servo feedback can be easily adjusted to stabilize virtually any weather radar antenna system. The RCP8™ is so flexible that it is the favorite controller for shipboard weather radar applications since it can connect to an inertial navigation unit and compensate for ship motion to 0.1 degree.

Comprehensive over voltage protection for I/O lines

The Vaisala Sigmet I/O-62 PCI card serves as the gateway for signals in and out of the RCP8™. Each I/O line is configured with a fast switching diode to protect it against transient high-voltage spikes from lightning or other sources. This is important since radar systems are often sited in locations that are prone to lightning strikes.

Fail-safe protection for your investment

A radar antenna is a costly item. To protect this investment, the RCP8™ provides the most comprehensive fail-safe features in the industry. For example, a watchdog program constantly checks for consistency between the tachometer vs position angles, for velocity over-speed, unresponsive antenna and out of tolerance elevation angles. Aside from these built-in safety checks, the RCP8's™ programmable control logics allow users to create their own custom monitoring/response actions (e.g., alarm bells, warning lights, transmitter shutdown, etc.)

RCP8™ specifications

RCP8™ I/O Characteristics
Expandable I/O	SIGMET I/O-62 PCI card (one standard) with RCP8™ rackmount panel
AZ and EL Angle Inputs	TTL 16-bit binary of BCD for AZ and EL or Synchro/Resolver (various frequencies supported)
AZ and EL Angle Outputs	Parallel TTL Binary angle up to 16 bits, or serial RS232 Asynch
Tach Inputs	Analog up to +80 V
Antenna Drive Output	+ 10 V to servo amplifiers for AZ and EL
Status Bit Input Range	Switch closure or wide range +27 V triggering at +2.5V. 330K input impedance. +5V pull-up/down configurable by software
Control Bit Output Range	RS422 and TTL. In addition 6 DIP relays are provided for switch closure output
A/D Inputs	20 A/D inputs nominal + 6V, 12 bits @ 100 Hz
Host Interface	10/100/1000T Ethernet or RS232C asynch serial selectable to 39 Kbps
Antenna Control/Monitoring Features
Servo Types	Digital position and velocity servos for both AZ and EL (independent)
Tachometer	Analog TACH or "Virtual Tach" from differentiated angle input
Velocity Servo Accuracy	0.5% at 3 RPM typical
Position Accuracy	0.1 degrees typical
Fail Safe Checks	Soft limiting, out-of-bound elevation request limiting, out of bound elevation, limit switch diode clamping, limit switch shutdown, out of bound antenna speed, unresponsive antenna, tach and angle changes inconsistent, "dead" host computer
Display	Front panel 2-line user configurable display to show AZ and EL positions and velocities as well as status parameters and faults. Optional keyboard, mouse and monitor
Radar Conrol/Monitoring Features
Dedicated Control Outputs	Servo Power, Radiate, T/R Power, Pulse Width (4), Reset Signal
Dedicated Status Inputs	Servo Power, Radiate, Standby, Wave Guide Pressure, Interlock, Cooling Airflow, Pulse Width (4), Antenna Local Mode
Arbitrary BITE Monitoring and Control Features
BITE Status/Control Outputs	Up to 80 lines configurable in groups of 8 to be either input or output, TTL/CMOS
Moving Platform Option
Motion Reference	Honeywell or Seatec INU with GPS update and serial output
Physical and Environmental
Packaging	2U or 4U EIA 19" rackmount chassis. 3U rackmount connection panel
Input Power	85-264 VAC, 47-63 Hz
Power Consumption	70 Watts
Environmental	0°C to 50°C operating, 0 to 95% (non condensing) R.H.
Reliability	>50,000 Hours MTBF

RCP8™ documentation

Our complete manual sets are available for download in Adobe PDF format. Printed and bound versions of the documentation are also available on request.

Notes: To view these files you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader version 2.1 or later installed on your computer.

To use the interactive Table-of-Contents (TOC) Links, Acrobat's window must popup directly within this browser frame (not as a separate window). If this does not work, or if you want to download the files themselves, please click a "Download Files" box which will take you to each FTP directory.

Products