A Comparison of the Automated Meteorological Profiling System High Resolution Flight Element to the Kennedy Space Center 50 MHz Doppler Wind Profiler

Wind profile measurement and the simulation of aerodynamic loads on a launch vehicle play an important role in determining launch capability and post launch assessment of the vehicle's performance. To date, all United States range certified wind profile measurement systems have been based on balloon tracking. Since the 1960's, the standard used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Air Force at the Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS) for detailed wind profile measurements has been the radar tracked, aerodynamically stabilized Jimsphere balloon system. Currently, the Air Force is nearing certification and operational implementation of the Automated Meteorological Profiling System (AMPS) at CCAS and Vandenburg Air Force Base (VAFB). AMPS uses the Global Positioning System for tracking the Jimsphere balloon. It is anticipated that the AMPS/Jimsphere, named the High Resolution Flight Element (HRFE), will have equivalent, or better resolution than the radar tracked Jimsphere, especially when the balloon is far downrange, at a low elevation angle. By the 1980's, the development of Doppler Wind Profilers (DWP) had become sufficiently advanced to justify an experimental measurement program at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). In 1989 a 50 MHz DWP was installed at KSC. In principal, the 50 MHz DWP has the capability to track the evolution of wind profile dynamics within 5 minutes of a launch. Because of fundamental differences in the measurement technique, there is a significant time and space differential between 50 MHz DWP and HRFE wind profiles. This paper describes a study to quantify these differences from a sample of 50 MHz DWP/HRFE pairs obtained during the AMPS certification test program.