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8th International Summer School on Radar/SAR Systems (15-22 July 2016)

radar-school-2016Fraunhofer FHR, one of Europe’s leading radar research institutes and has pioneered radar and SAR research and development over the decades, is pleased to announce the 8th International Summer School on Radar/SAR, which will take place from 15-22 July 2016 in the picturesque Upper Middle Rhine region (Haus Humboldtstein). We cordially invite students, PhD candidates, post-docs and anyone else eager to broaden and deepen their understanding of radar and SAR techniques to participate in our truly international summer school.

The highly positive feedback of previous participants showed that there is a strong interest for events that brings together young scientists to study and learn whilst at the same time building networks and forging new friendships that will lead to future collaborations. The Summer School posses a proper balance between lectures, practical workshops and leisure activities that are an essential component for creating and sustaining an atmosphere conducive to learning and for binding with new colleagues.

Internationally renowned experts from across Europe, USA and Canada make up the summer school lecture team. This is a unique opportunity to gain an in-depth appreciation of modern radar and SAR systems whilst absorbing the multifarious atmosphere of the famous Upper Middle Rhine region. Participation in the programme of social activities with the international group of attendees will inspire and enrich your learning experience.

Synopsis of lecture programme of the 8th International Summer School on Radar/SAR:

  • Radar fundamentals (Dr. M. Weiß, Fraunhofer FHR, Germany)
  • Radar Remote Sensing (Dr. P. Rosen, JPL/NASA, USA)
  • SAR fundamentals (Prof. P. Lombardo, University la Sapienza, Italy)
  • THz Imaging (Prof. N. Pohl, Fraunhofer FHR, Germany)
  • Antenna and other hardware aspects (Prof. D. Heberling, RWTH-Aachen, Germany)
  • MIMO Radar and Waveform Design (Prof. M. Lesturgie, ONERA, France)
  • Moving target recognition (MTI/GMTI) (Dr. C. Gierull, DRDC, Canada)
  • SAR interferometry (Dr. G. Fornaro, IREA, Italy)
  • Compressed Sensing with Radar (Prof. J. Ender, Fraunhofer FHR, Germany)

The participants will be split into several workshop groups, which are an essential part of the summer school. These workshops follow the idea of Confucius (~450BC): ‘Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand.’ With assistance and guidance of international experts each group works on a different problem. Each workshop solution will be presented to all other students.

Outside of the lecture theatre there will be ample time for other activities, such as enjoying the surrounds of the beautiful Rhine Valley, visiting the vibrant cities of Cologne and/or Bonn. Summer school participants will also be taken on a technical tour of the Fraunhofer FHR institute, which is located nearby.

Due to the kind sponsorship from Airbus Defence&Space (an EADS company) we can offer the summer school, inclusive full board and lodging, for only 600 Euro for students, 900 Euro for Ph.D. candidates, and 1200 Euro for all others.

Fraunhofer FHR cordially invites appropriate candidates to visit our website: http://www.radarsummerschool.fraunhofer.de for further information and to download the Application form. Specific queries regarding the summer school should be addressed to: matthias.weiss@fhr.fraunhofer.de.

Congratulations, Doctor Penkin!

Congratulations, Doctor Penkin!

Congratulations, Doctor Penkin!

Photo by Xuan Wang

Meeting on Friday…

2015-10-28-colleagues02 Read more »

TU Delft news: Rain Radar installed in Rotterdam

Should you go by bus or by bicycle? Take your umbrella or your sunglasses? A newly installed rain radar in Rotterdam may help, as it will be able to accurately chart and predict local precipitation. Main aim of the project is to prevent local flooding and water damage.

A new type of rain radar was installed in Rotterdam on 22 September. The radar was installed on the roof of the Delftse Poort office building on the Weena. It will be used to accurately chart the rain patterns in Rotterdam.

As high as possible

Unlike the existing radars that measure precipitation throughout the whole of the Netherlands, the recently installed rain radar specialises in measuring local precipitation. For optimum observation of precipitation in the city, the rain radar must be placed as high as possible above the city’s skyline. The radar was therefore placed on the roof of the Delftse Poort office building on the Weena – one of the tallest buildings in the city centre. The radar was hoisted up via the window cleaner’s lift to a height of 150 metres and fixed to a special frame on the roof in order to withstand strong wind gusts. The radar’s range is 30 kilometres and therefore covers the entire city and the surrounding area, including the Europoort.

Test phase

The radar will now be extensively tested. The rotation of the radar antennas requires very precise control to enable accurate measuring. Processing the radar signals – many terabytes of data – places high demands on data communication for which special fibre-optic connections have been laid running up to the roof. Following the test phase, the radar will officially become operational in mid-October.

RainGain

The Rotterdam rain radar forms part of the wide-ranging European RainGain project, a transnational project aimed at improving the prediction of pluvial floods in our cities. RainGain develops and tests innovative tools and practices based on the use of high resolution radars in four pilot cities: Leuven, London, Paris, and Rotterdam.

More information on the use of rain radars is provided in this interview with Marie-Claire ten Veldhuis (CiTG):

Source

You have to start from the beginning…

You have to start from the beginning!

You have to start from the beginning!

Source

Progress meeting in /pub…

Progress meeting in /pub...

Progress meeting in /pub…

Photo by Xuan Wang

Delft Survival Guide by TU Delft’s Delta

Delft Survival Guide by TU Delft's Delta

Delft Survival Guide by TU Delft’s Delta

Why is the Architecture faculty called BK? What is sugar called in Dutch? What does a person do for a midnight snack in Delft? Why is the food at the Aula so bad? Okay, we can’t help with the last one, but TU Delta has answers for the rest and more.

TU Delta is proud to announce the launch of their very first e-book – Delft Survival Guide. Free to download and accessible on any online reader, this is a compilation of the hugely popular Survival Guide series published in TU Delta. The book is your handy reference guide to Delft. From eating out and public transport, to understanding Dutchisms. So grab your copy today!

New radar installed

New high-resolution scanning X-band FMCW polarimetric Doppler radar is finally mounted on the roof of Delftse Poort (Nationale Nederlanden) in Rotterdam. It was done in the framework of the Raingain project with the goal to provide the high resolution precipitation mapping sensor information to Rotterdam municipality services. Our group will support the development of signal and data processing algorithms, the radar maintenance and data acquisition. The combination of this radar with our existing radars (PARSAX, IDRA, MESEWYI) also opens new possibilities to study further the atmospheric targets characteristics using spatially distributed, multifrequency radar systems.

New X-band Metasensing radar on 150 m height

New X-band Metasensing radar on 150 m height

Radar on the roof

Radar on the roof

The Delftse Poort (Nationale Nederlanden) building near the Central Station in Rotterdam

The Delftse Poort (Nationale Nederlanden) buildings near the Central Station in Rotterdam

Delft moves up the QS Rankings

TU Delft has moved up the global QS Rankings this year, from 86th to 64th place. In the national rankings table TU Delft has climbed from 4th to 2nd place.

In the subject rankings for ‘Engineering & Technology’ TU Delft is in 19th place (16th in 2014), and for ‘Natural Sciences’ it is in 66th place (79th in 2014). TU Delft is ranked first in the Netherlands for both these subject areas. The rise can partly be explained by refinements made to the way in which the rankings are calculated and compiled.

For the electrical & electronic engineering we are ranked on 50th place this year.

Six indicators and five subject areas

The QS World University Rankings is a rankings table that covers what are approximately the top 900 universities, selected from around 3,500 universities around the world. The universities are ranked on the basis of six indicators: academic reputation, reputation of alumni among employers, staff/student ratios, citations per academic employee, international students and international employees. In addition to the general rankings table, there are five subject rankings for the following areas: Arts & Humanities, Engineering & Technology, Life Sciences & Medicine, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences & Management.

International staff

TU Delft has moved up this year for the factor ‘international staff’. This was measured in the same way as it had been in previous years. For other factors, a few refinements made to the methodology that the QS used this year played a role.

Citations and reputation

Traditionally, the extent to which academics are cited has been one of the elements on which universities are compared. Last year, subject areas with relatively high citation rates still counted more heavily than others. This year, the QS has given the five subject areas an equal weighting. This means that the contribution of Life Sciences & Medicine, for example, has fallen from 50% to 20%. In general, the consequence of these refinements has been that universities with medical centres have moved down and universities with Social Sciences, Engineering & Technology and Arts & Humanities faculties have moved up in the ranking. This adjustment has therefore worked in TU Delft’s favour.

A further change in comparison with previous years is that for academic reputation and reputation among employers, the compilers consulted surveys done up to 5 years ago, rather than up to 3 years ago.

Source

Delta, #2, 2015-2016