Doppler Weather Radar Research and Development

NSSL Project 8 – Investigation into the use of Phased Array Radar Technology for Improving Hazardous Weather Detection and Warnings:

Radar Control Interface

Priegnitz (CIMMS at NSSL)

Funding Type: CIMMS Task II

Objectives
Continue support for the Radar Control Interface (RCI) to the NWRT phased array radar; design a new scan control interface to support adaptive scanning.

Accomplishments
The Radar Control Interface (RCI) has been improved to provide enhanced status reporting. As an example, when scanning is active, feedback now is provided on the current stimulus that is queued for execution and on how much of the scan that has been processed. If the RCI software determines that a scan has "hung", notification is immediately provided to the user.

For the first time since its deployment, the NWRT PAR was a component of several research projects run from the National Weather Center’s new Hazardous Weather Test Bed (HWTB). The RCI played an important role in PAR operations to support these projects on a 24/7 basis. More than a dozen individuals were trained on RCI basics.

An important benefit of phased array technology versus conventional mechanically scanning radars is the ability to electronically steer a beam to a position without physically moving the antenna. This capability will allow new scanning strategies to be developed that "adaptively" scan selected regions of the atmosphere faster. The RCI is currently being enhanced to support adaptive scanning.

This project is ongoing.

Publications
Priegnitz, D., and D. Forsyth, 2007: Update to the Radar Control Interface for the National Weather Radar Testbed. 23rd International Conf. on Interactive Information Processing Systems for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology, San Antonio, TX, Amer. Meteor. Soc., CD-ROM 8A.2.

Sample RCI client system display window.