3.14 Integrating End User Needs into System Design and Operation: the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (casa)

The Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA), a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center, is creating a new type of weather observation system featuring networks of low-power, low-cost radars that adaptively and collaboratively collect high resolution data in the lowest 3 km of the atmosphere, a region which is under sampled by current technology. These radar networks have the potential to improve our ability to observe, understand, forecast, and respond to weather hazards. Called Distributed Collaborative Adaptive Sensing (DCAS) networks, these systems will map wind, rain, and thermodynamic variables in the lower troposphere, supplying real-time, dynamic data to decision makers, such as National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters and emergency managers, based on their information needs. Unlike current radar systems that “push” the same data out to all users, DCAS systems feature a data “pull” where user needs drive the operation of the radar network. (McLaughlin et al. 2005). This paper describes how CASA is embedding end user needs for data into the design and operation of DCAS systems through resource allocation and optimization algorithms that determine where and how the radars scan. It will describe how preferences for data were elicited from different user groups and then translated into quantitative input for system operation. This approach creates the technological link between user preferences for information and radar observations. Such an effort requires multidisciplinary collaboration among engineers, computer scientists, meteorologists, social