The new Group IRIDE S.p.A. (born from AEM Turin and AMGA Genoa merging) has been active for a long time in the meteorological sector: the implementation of a sensor to monitor rain fields was aimed to optimize management of water catchments. For this purpose a consortium has been established with two other companies based in Genoa with appropriate skills and know-how for the project development: the radar specialist APELMAR KODEN Italia and the software house IBR SISTEMI. Furthermore in December 2005, to further scientific fallouts, a research group has been created by AMGA in cooperation with Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) with the specific objective to define useful models for extrapolating rain fields through integration of data from the existing pluviometric network with radar images.

The abovementioned team has developed the on-going research, about the optimization of an integrated multi-objective system, focusing their efforts on radar application.The most innovative aspect of this project is the type of radar chosen. It is a marine radar which, thanks to its widespread presence in the naval sector, is available at much lower costs, if compared with other radars usually employed in this sector. This type of radar is characterized by emissions in the X (instead of C or S) band range: it broadcasts electromagnetic waves at a frequency of 9410 MHz. The adopted model has an emission power of 12 kW ensuring coverage up to 133 km and is completed controlled digitally. The radar has been installed in Genoa, at Forte Begato location, in December 2005 at 450 m a.s.l.. The site has been selected, after a thorough study, for its position over the gulf of Genoa and, in spite of the local complex orography, allows a good allows a good visibility of the historic district which is under survey in relation to mitigation of effects due to heavy rainfalls. The main task of our research is to detect the precipitations. The radar under survey is able to discriminate the reflected signal intensity on eight levels: 0 to 7, where 7 indicates that the signal exceeds the maximum threshold. The mode "gain" changes the receiving antenna sensitivity and, consequently, the maximum threshold level. Also the size of the area under survey can be modified from 0.5 up to 133 km. Exploring the sky at different distances provide important information on the approaching fronts.The interdependence between setting parameters makes complex the definition of automated setting procedures. Furthermore setting at large coverages makes view worse at closer ranges. For these reasons a program is being developed to perform measurements under various conditions to achieve an effective image for rain field analysis. The data amount is another important factor for analysis: the radar is able to perform up to 4096 scannings per 1 antenna spin and to divide sampling of each scanning into 512 segments. The system takes two seconds to perform a complete spin.

Logics have been introduced in radar operation. The system alternates intervals of operation and stand-by modes to collect only significant measures. The sequences of measurements collected during operation intervals allow to define averages and eliminate possible instantaneous disturbances. Furthermore it is possible to exclude signal on angular sectors that cannot, due to the presences of obstacles, provide useful information and that, for safety reasons, must not be illuminated. Introducing these techniques has involved a reduction in operating costs by prolonging the magnetron lifetime and a dramatic decrease in the amount of electromagnetic radiations. The reflectivity signals received during the sensor operation are stored for post-processing at the IRIDE S.p.A. Technology and Environmental Services Control. Post-processing of data files initially involves statistical processing. The acquired information are used to establish a correlation between images and events.