Closed-loop architecture for distributed collaborative adaptive sensing of the atmosphere: meteorological command and control

Distributed collaborative adaptive sensing (DCAS) of the atmosphere is a new paradigm for detecting and predicting hazardous weather using a dense network of short-range, low-powered radars to sense the lowest few kilometers of the earth’s atmosphere. DCAS systems are collaborative in that the beams from multiple radars are actively coordinated in a sense-and-respond manner to achieve greater sensitivity, precision, and resolution than possible with a single radar; DCAS systems are adaptive in that the radars and their associated computing and communications infrastructure are dynamically reconfigured in response to changing weather conditions and enduser needs. This paper describes an end-to-end DCAS architecture and evaluates the performance of the system in an operational testbed with actual weather events and end-user considerations driving the system. Our results demonstrate how the architecture is capable of real-time data processing, optimization of radar control, and sensing of the atmosphere in a manner that maximizes end-user utility.