High-Resolution, X-Band Dual Polarization Radar Product Support in AWIPS 2

The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 is aimed at improving severe weather forecasting and emergency response in the U.S. by identifying and filling low-atmosphere radar observation gaps. Over the last decade, Raytheon Company and the Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) have been developing low power, X-band, dual polarization radar networks as a gap-filling solution. Radar observations must be readily available for real-time interrogation by forecasters in the National Weather Service (NWS) forecast offices so that watches and warnings can be issued to the public. The AWIPS 2 platform developed and maintained by Raytheon provides this critical capability, integrating observations from existing WSR-88D radars, satellites and other sensors. This paper describes the collaborative work undertaken by the company and CASA to successfully integrate X-band radar observations into AWIPS 2. The paper discusses integration challenges and solutions, testing and evaluation, and presents cases from the Dallas Fort Worth area - where CASA operates a network of X-band dual polarization radars and the data is integrated into AWIPS 2 for operational use by the local NWS forecast office. Finally, the paper presents initial results from work being done by CASA and Raytheon to integrate novel, low-power phased array radars into AWIPS 2. Integration of netted phased array radars introduces new challenges and opportunities, addressed in this paper.