We are happy to announce the extension of the PHARA Research Cloud, with the start of the first externally funded research project utilizing the innovative radar system. 

The four-year project, which began on September 1, 2025, focuses on retrieving three-dimensional wind fields using phased-array weather radar technology. PhD student Alberto Frizzera will lead the research, conducted at TUDelft and supported by funding from Robin Radar. 

Frizzera’s research will harness PHARA’s unique capabilities to reconstruct a volumetric picture of atmospheric conditions by estimating three-dimensional wind components. The system’s fast and adaptive scanning techniques can provide real-time Doppler and polarimetric measurements from full-volume scans, allowing for highly accurate characterization of hydrometeors—water particles suspended in the atmosphere. 

The project will tackle several technical challenges inherent to phased-array radar systems, including adaptive beamforming, mutual coupling between antenna elements, and polarimetric calibration. By modeling and correcting these effects, the research aims to deliver more reliable weather observations to the scientific community, ultimately advancing weather nowcasting and forecasting capabilities.