The University of Manchester Mobile Wind Profiler was designed and manufactured by Degreane Horizon. It is a clear-air UHF Doppler radar system operating at 1290 MHz to measure signal intensity and wind speed and direction under all weather conditions. At this frequency clear-air scattering (from refractive index inhomogeneities) dominates the radar signal return in the absence of hydrometeors, and the signal power is a measure of turbulent intensity.

The wind profiler consists of three panels to emit and receive three separate beams, a vertical beam from the central panel and two other beams orthogonal to the central beam at an elevation of 73 degrees to enable full wind vectors to be calculated. Each panel is an array of eight aerials, each consisting of an assembly of eight collinear dipoles.

The radar is usually operated in two modes: a low altitude mode with a 1000 ns pulse and a high altitude mode with a 2500 ns pulse. The radar typically returns wind profiles from around 100 to 2500 m and can be used to measure the depth of the convective boundary layer and the position of atmospheric convective "lids". The measurement frequency may vary depending on set up for the instrument deployment, but data archived with the British Atmospheric Data Centre are typically averaged over 15 minutes. The averaging period used for the data is indicated in the archived data.

This instrument has been referred to with various titles during its operating history including: UFAM (Universities Facility for Atmospheric Measurement) mobile wind profiler, FGAM (Facility for Ground based Atmospheric Measurements) mobile wind profiler, Aberystwyth mobile wind profiler and University of Manchester mobile wind profiler. The instrument is presently operated as part of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science's (NCAS) Atmospheric Measurements Facility (AMF).

For full operation details refer to the instrument details on the AMF website.

Specifications of the UFAM wind profiler
Transmitter Frequency 1290 MHz
Transmitter Bandwidth 10 MHz
Beam Width 8.5°
Peak Power 3500 W
Aperture 4 m2
Antenna gain 25 dBi
Average power 'low altitude mode' 40 W
Average power 'high altitude mode' 100 W
Minimum height 75 m
Maximum height 4.5 - 8 km dependent on atmospheric conditions and pulse length
Resolution dependent on pulse width 75 m to 375 m
Instrinsic wind speed accuracy < 1m/s
Instrinsic wind direction accuracy < 10°
Periodicity of profile computation 15 minutes as standard, but adjustable from 1 minute
Operational temperature -20 °C to 30 °C
Operational relative humidity 5% to 95 % without condensation
Resistance to wind 20 m/s (average) 40 m/s (gusts)
Power supply 230 V +10% -15 %, single phase