A microwave radiometer (MWR) at NOAA-CESSRST in Manhattan, NYC has experienced interference from nearby sources operating in the 5G FR2 n257 band (26.50--29.50 GHz). In this poster, we produce interference using a mobile 28 GHz IBM Phased Array Antenna Module (PAAM). The mobile PAAM leverages a software-defined radio which offers flexibility in varying center frequency, modulation, gain, bandwidth, time schedule, and more. In this poster, we show preliminary experiments which successfully created controlled interference to a MWR's 28 GHz channel which lead to distortion in some of the MWR final products, such as water vapor profile. We transmitted a 10 MHz bandwidth OFDM signal with varying amplitude, observing the highly sensitive MWR voltage response to fractional dB increments of the transmitter gain. The mobile PAAM is characterized in an anechoic chamber and MWR measurements are taken at various azimuth angles to help estimate the MWR antenna pattern. Future work will develop a Spectrum Consumption Model to help enable coexistence of MWRs and Beyond-5G networks.

In this paper, we present a novel visual speed limit signs detection and recognition system for American signs. Firstly, rectangle detector is used to search rectangle candidate. Secondly, the Improved Stroke Width Transform (ISWT) is introduced to seek stroke width inside each rectangle candidate. Thirdly, the modified Connected-Component labeling is used to group these pixels into digit candidates. Fourthly, a method is presented for segmenting the digit candidates in order to make every digit candidate contains only single digit. Finally, every segmented digit candidate is recognized respectively based on the Support Vector Machine using Majority Voting strategy (MV). We call the SVM using the MV strategy MV-SVM. And, all the recognized digits are verified whether combination of them is speed limit or not according to rule set. The presented system is tested in different conditions, including sunny, cloudy, rainy weather and night, and the experimental results demonstrate that it is much efficient for detecting and recognizing rectangular speed limit signs.

Urban areas suffer from high pollutant loadings due to their proximity to emission sources as well as transported aerosols. Therefore it is essential to have an accurate technique for measuring the pollutants and evaluate their effect. Since the atmosphere mixing height (MH) defines the total volume available for the pollutant transport and dispersion, it is important that air-quality models can provide realistic estimates. This paper studies multiple instruments for MH determination and their potential for validating air-quality model forecasts such as WRF. In addition, use of automated PBL height retrieval using wavelet analysis is briefly described and long term statistical comparisons of MH and WRF mixing height are obtained.

The need for accurate calibration is apparent for accurate retrievals of backscatter at 1064nm. Due to the low molecular scattering in comparison to the aerosol component, it is not possible to use a rayleigh calibration procedure which is suitable for the 355 and 532nm channels and aan alternative approach is needed. In particular,a modified cirrus cloud calibration method is considered which uses the fact that the ciurrus cloud scatter is spectrally independent together with an approach to properly estimate the backscatter at cloud base. We find that the calibration accuracy can be takenm within 15% which is reasonable agreement with the uncertainry in the backscatter color ratio between 532nm and 1064nm

Water vapor is an important greenhouse gas due to its high concentration in the atmosphere (parts per thousand) and its interaction with tropospheric aerosols particles. The upward convection of water vapor and aerosols due to intense heating of the ground leads to aggregation of water particles or ice on aerosols in the air forming different types of clouds at various altitudes. The condensation of water vapor on aerosols is affecting their size, shape, refractive index and chemical composition. The warming or cooling effect of the clouds hence formed are both possible depending on the cloud location, cover, composition and structure. The effect of these clouds on radiative global forcing and therefore on the short and long term global climate is of high interest in the scientific world. A major interest is manifested in obtaining accurate vertical water vapor profiles simultaneously with aerosol extinction and backscatter in the meteorological and remote sensing fields all around the globe in an effort to understand the hygroscopic properties of aerosols. In previous work, simultaneous measurements of RH with backscatter measurements from a surface nephelometer were used to probe the hygroscopic properties of aerosols. However, most of these measurements were not able to probe the high RH domain since such high RH is rare for surface altitudes. For this reason, experiments using a 355nm raman water vapor and aerosol lidar at the ARM site were used. Capable of providing simultaneous backscatter and RH profiles, and performing the experiments under low altitude cloud decks insured stable well mixed layers as well as probing RH profiles to above 95% which is required for the differentiation of different aerosol hygroscopic models.