8.2 New Weather-surveillance Capabilities for Nssl’s Phased-array Radar

The U.S. Government operates seven distinct radar networks providing weather and aircraft surveillance for public weather services, air traffic control, and homeland defense. A next-generation, multifunction phased array radar (MPAR) concept has been proposed that could provide enhanced weather and aircraft surveillance services with potentially lower life-cycle costs than multiple single-function radar networks. As critical technology costs decrease, MPAR radars could prove to be a cost-effective alternative to current surveillance radars. Because the total number of required radars would be reduced, maintenance and logistics infrastructure would be simplified. The National Weather Radar Testbed PhasedArray Radar (NWRT PAR) is an S-band phased-array radar located in Norman, Oklahoma that was established to demonstrate the MPAR concept. Since its inception, scientists and engineers at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) have been improving the quality of data produced by this system and, more importantly, demonstrating new capabilities in the context of weather and multifunction observations. Unlike conventional radars, which are constrained by inertial limitations of mechanical scanning, the NWRT PAR can exploit electronic beam steering to focus weather observations solely on areas of interest without having to collect data contiguously. This capability, termed adaptive focused observations, produces higher temporal resolution data without sacrificing data quality or spatial resolution through more efficient use of radar resources. This paper presents an overview of the latest improvements to the adaptive scanning capabilities of the NWRT PAR.