National Weather Radar Testbed (Phased-Array): An outstanding platform for research and development

The National Weather Radar Testbed (NWRT) has continued its research and development role as the multi-function phased array radar testbed in Norman, Oklahoma. Developed as a result of a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Severe Storms Laboratory, the United States Navy's Office of Naval Research, Lockheed Martin Corporation, the University of Oklahoma's Electrical and Computing Engineering Department and School of Meteorology, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, the Tri-Agencies' (Department of Commerce, Defense and Transportation) Radar Operations Center, the Federal Aviation Administration's Technical Center and Basic Commerce and Industries, Inc, the NWRT continues to provide both meteorological and aircraft data for testing the concept of a multifunction phased array radar system. In addition, the NWRT has become a testbed for signal processing advancements and continues as an important component in the education of the forthcoming generation of radar meteorologists and engineers. The testbed continues to provide important data on severe weather events and to demonstrate the advantages of using phased array technology. Participation by National Weather Service forecasters has expanded our knowledge concerning the benefits of fast scanning radars. New scanning strategies are being tested every year. In addition, our work on risk reduction continues on dual polarized phased array radars. In this paper, we will elaborate on our accomplishments and describe future work using the NWRT.