Convolutional neural network for fast adaptive beamforming of phased array weather radar

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a deep-learning-based beamforming method for phased array weather radars, especially whose antenna arrays are equipped with large number of elements, for fast and accurate detection of weather observations. Design/methodology/approach - The beamforming weights are computed by a convolutional neural network (CNN), which is trained with input-output pairs obtained from the Wiener solution.Findings - To validate the robustness of the CNN-based beamformer, it is compared with the traditional beamforming methods, namely, Fourier (FR) beamforming and Capon beamforming. Moreover, the CNN is compared with a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) which is a shallow type of neural network. It is shown that the CNN method has an excellent performance in radar signal simulations compared to the other methods. In addition to simulations, the robustness of the CNN beamformer is further validated by using real weather data collected by the phased array radar at Osaka University (PAR@OU) and compared to, besides the FR and RBFNN methods, the minimum mean square error beamforming method. It is shown that the CNN has the ability to rapidly and accurately detect the reflectivity of the PAR@OU with even less clutter level in comparison to the other methods.Originality/value - Motivated by the inherit advantages of the CNN, this paper proposes the development of a CNN-based approach to the beamforming of PAR using both simulated and real data. In this paper, the CNN is trained on the optimum weights of Wiener solution. In simulations, it is applied on a large 32 x 32 planar phased array antenna. Moreover, it is operated on real data collected by the PAR@OU.