nbk2000
April 14th, 2007, 08:53 AM
I just had the thought that Doppler weather RADAR could possibly be used as a means of positional fixing by someone with a corner reflector and a ballon to lift it.
Since a large corner reflector returns almost all of the incident energy back to the source, that should show up as a very high return echo on a doppler RADAR.
Reason this could be useful (if it worked) is because most such weather RADAR's are accessible via internet websites of the organisations that are operating them (in the US anyways).
Thusly, one could raise a ballon over their position for a period of time, allowing the RADAR to sweep it several times, then access the website and note the location of an immobile high-return signal relative to their approximate location and the approaching weather system.
That and just to fuck with the weatherperson's head. :p
It probably wouldn't work, because weather RADAR is for monitoring very large objects (storms) so it likely would filter out any small objects, regardless (or especially because) of it's high return.
Proximity to the RADAR would likely affect any possible detection.
Some tests on the effectiveness of commercial marine RADAR reflectors:
http://www.ussailing.org/safety/Studies/radar_reflector_test.htm
Since a large corner reflector returns almost all of the incident energy back to the source, that should show up as a very high return echo on a doppler RADAR.
Reason this could be useful (if it worked) is because most such weather RADAR's are accessible via internet websites of the organisations that are operating them (in the US anyways).
Thusly, one could raise a ballon over their position for a period of time, allowing the RADAR to sweep it several times, then access the website and note the location of an immobile high-return signal relative to their approximate location and the approaching weather system.
That and just to fuck with the weatherperson's head. :p
It probably wouldn't work, because weather RADAR is for monitoring very large objects (storms) so it likely would filter out any small objects, regardless (or especially because) of it's high return.
Proximity to the RADAR would likely affect any possible detection.
Some tests on the effectiveness of commercial marine RADAR reflectors:
http://www.ussailing.org/safety/Studies/radar_reflector_test.htm