• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.233-240
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• 2000

A commercially available Doppler radar was modified and evaluated for on-board monitoring of ground speed. The radar output was corrected for pitch angle of aircraft based on the output of an electrolytic tilt sensor. The effects of aircraft speed, height and mounting angle on error in the ground speed were evaluated. The speed error decreased with an increase of the mounting angle since the radar contact angle with respect to the ground approached to the mounting angle. The error increased with an increase of the nominal aircraft speed. The altitude insignificantly affected the speed error. The Doppler radar provided acceptable percent errors within 5% in most measurements. The error can be reduced within ${\pm}$1.5% by increasing the mounting angle ($43^{\circ}$). The error of -3.8% at the mounting angle of $29^{\circ}$could be reduced by adjusting the mounting angle with respect to the radar contact angle.