Atmos
Digital receiver for meteorological radar data is the bet of a
small innovating company that already operates two of them

Evanildo da Silveira

Designing and building meteorological radars is a complex task in terms of technology. But that doesn’t intimidate Atmos – air in Greek –, a small company created in 2004 exactly to design and build them. In its two-room headquarters in the central São Paulo neighborhood of Vila Mariana work the seven people that make up the company’s staff. Led by the engineer Fabio Fukuda, Atmos has been involved since June of 2005 in the development of two meteorological radars: one, ordered by the Brazilian Air Force, will operate as of the beginning of 2008 at the São Luís airport, in the State of Maranhão; the other, to which the company dedicates most of its time, will be part of the State of São Paulo’s Integrated System of Hydrometeorology (Sistema Integrado de Hidrometeorologia do Estado de São Paulo, Sihesp) when in operation. With the Mobmet — as it has been named to highlight the fact that it is a mobile radar —, the State will increase its capacity to observe and forecast rain and storms in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area, which includes 39 municipalities with a population around 20 million.

“In this equipment we put our entire experience and knowledge about radar development and radar services,” says Fukuda. “Mobmet is Brazil’s first double polarization Doppler meteorological radar mounted on a mobile platform.” Understanding what is a radar with such specifications is difficult. The engineer prefers to explain what the “double polarization” is good for. “Raindrops have an elongated format,” he explains. In other words: water drops are not round. “The larger the drop size, the bigger the distortion,” he goes on. That’s the first advantage of Atmos’ radar: it is able to detect the drop size – and therefore the rain’s intensity – through that distortion, which a single polarization radar cannot detect. But that’s not all. “The format of hail, or ice, is different. Also, they don’t come down in a certain direction, like rain.” That’s advantage nr. 2: Mobmet distinguishes if what’s coming down is water or ice. The result is more precise weather forecasts.

PIPE and Fapesp

The history of radar development in São Paulo – and of Atmos – is closely linked to the Programa Inovação Tecnológica em Pequenas Empresas (Technological Innovation in Small Businesses Program, PIPE), the program of the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (State of São Paulo Research Foundation, Fapesp) that funds research and development activities in small companies. The program funded the first radar Atmos developed. At the time – 2004 –, Atmos had as partners Atech, a non-profit foundation specialized in integration engineering and in software, and Omnisys, a small company headquartered in São Caetano do Sul, a city in the Greater São Paulo. The companies wanted to develop a meteorological radar and divided the work: in very general terms, Atech was in charge of the software and Omnisys of the hardware. To carry out its share in the job Omnisys requested and obtained funding from PIPE, with which it developed the radar’s signal emitter, signal receiver and the antenna. PIPE’s investment was approximately US$ 350,000. Atech developed the radar’s control software, the data processing software and the built-in test equipment, or Bite. “The project cost about US$ 2 million, including equipment, labor, facilities, etc.,” tells Fukuda. “Atech invested 60% and Omnisys 40%.”

That radar, a prototype – the first Brazilian-made meteorological radar –, materialized the partnership of both companies into Atmos, but also ended up separating them. The capacity demonstrated caught the attention of a multinational company to Omnisys. In 2006, the French company Thales bought the control of its capital. Because Atech and Thales operate in the same area, the partnership with Omnisys ended. So now 94% of Atmos belongs to a company connected to Atech, and the remaining 6% to Fukuda.

Imported digital receivers

But the case of PIPE’s involvement with Atmos continues. In 2006, the company decided to apply for funding to develop a digital receiver for radars like the Mobmet. The money, about US$ 125,000, came in September of that year. “We used the money to buy equipment, especially hardware, and software,” says Fukuda. Atmos is also going to invest US$ 125,000 of its own in the development of the digital receiver.

According to Fukuda, there are today 24 meteorological radars in operation in Brazil, of which only three have digital receivers, all of them imported: Mobmet itself and two radars operated by the São Paulo State University (Universidade Estadual Paulista, Unesp). Atmos’ president points out that in the U.S. there are already 150 meteorological radars with digital receivers in operation. Sooner or later the radars that operate in Brazil will have to be upgraded and their analogical receivers will be replaced by digital ones. The market for the equipment that Atmos is developing includes also new radars, which the company plans to be building in the near future. And more: the Air Forces plans to modernize Brazil’s air traffic control and Atmos’ digital receivers will also be adequate for the radars used for it.

Positive and in operation

The radar Atmos developed when it had its partnership with Omnisys and the Mobmet are different. One difference: the first is not mobile. Another difference: the range. Atmos’ first radar, located in Mogi das Cruzes, also in the Greater São Paulo Area, has a 400 kilometers (250 miles) range. It is therefore able to measure, in real time, the meteorological conditions in the eastern and southern portion of the State of São Paulo, southern Rio de Janeiro, part of southern Minas Gerais and northern and eastern Paraná. It generates revenues to Atmos because the weather forecast company Climatempo uses the data it collects.

The difference in range between both radars has to do with another technical specificity: the bands in which they operate. Mobmet operates in the X band, and Mogi das Cruzes’ radar in the S band. “X band’s higher frequency makes possible more sensitivity, and the equipment’s dimensions are smaller,” explains Fukuda. “The disadvantage is that radars that operate in that band have a smaller range. The S band has a bigger range. But the equipment it requires is bigger and heavier.”

Scientific advance

Just as with the first radar, Atmos did not build the Mobmet alone. The parts and the software are imported. The new radar is also not exactly a state-of-the-art device. There are more modern ones available, whose turns are electronically controlled, which makes them more precise. But that doesn’t put the Brazilian company to shame. “Atmos mounted and integrated all the parts and systems, which is no small or easy task,” says the meteorologist Augusto Pereira Filho, a professor at the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences (Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas da Universidade de São Paulo, IAG-USP) and coordinator of the Mobmet project. “Besides, Atmos developed the platform in which the radar is placed and the truck that carries both. That’s why it can be said that the radar the company has developed is a sophisticated equipment that requires mastering high technology. Atmos did a very good job.”

Modernization of old radars

Atmos also works in the modernization and technical upgrade of the older radars. That’s what it has done with two radars belonging to the Institute of Meteorological Research (Instituto de Pesquisas Meteorológicas, IPMet) that operate in Unesp’s campi of Bauru and Presidente Prudente. That job was completed in February of 2006. The company replaced the radars’ analogical receivers with digital ones (which had to be imported because Atmos has not finished the development of its own product) and processors, and now the equipment have a modern system of data treatment and display.
The improvements can be seen in practice. According to IPMet’s director, Roberto Vicente Calheiros, the modernization increased the radars’ detection capacity, making possible to observe lighter rain. “With that it’s possible to determine, for example, the presence of lighter rain further away from the radar and see the precipitation’s internal structure in more detail (more spatial resolution),” he explains.

Confidence in the future

Life hasn’t been easy for Atmos. The sale of services – such as the contracts with Climatempo and Unesp – helps the company carry on. Revenues, however, are irregular. In 2006, it reached some US$ 600,000. In 2007, it’s expected to be about US$ 330,000. There are other difficulties: “Conditions in Brazil are tough,” complains Fukuda. “Most of our clients are in the government sector. They compare our prices in Brazil, which include all the taxes that we have to pay, with the prices of foreign suppliers, who benefit from incentives in their home countries. In addition, the exchange rate, with the real strong vis-à-vis the dollar, has made things worse.” In spite of the problems, Fukuda persists. “We’ve made a bet on the diversification of our activities, not forgetting our technological base and applying our know-how of radars to other areas. I know we’re going to succeed.” For that the company counts with the successful conclusion of the project of the digital receiver funded through PIPE.