The Virtual CHILL (VCHILL) system conveys the educational and research experience of the Colorado State University dual polarization radar to remote locations over the Internet. The VCHILL operation includes remote control of radar and display of radar parameters estimated at the radar site. In addition, the operation enables the remote users to locally process high-bandwidth radar data transferred over data networks.

The low-bandwidth VCHILL operation allows the remote users to access the archived and real-time data estimated at the radar site, and simultaneously display them on their local machines. A parallel receiver was developed exclusively for the independent high-bandwidth VCHILL operation. The parallel receiver operates in conjunction with the network server so that it arranges the digitized signals into a specified packet in real-time and transmits them at a data rate of a few hundred Mbps. The high-bandwidth radar signals transferred to the remote users are processed according to their needs. End-system architectures were also developed to accommodate the demands of the real-time requirements. Graphic User Interface (GUI) provides the end-users at various institutions with ease of installation and usage.

Several universities and institutes have been actively using the low-bandwidth VCHILL for education and research. The architecture for the high-bandwidth VCHILL was successfully implemented and evaluated in real time using a test bed at the CHILL radar facility. The VCHILL not only expands the educational experience provided by the radar system, but also provides a new environment to develop innovative research applications for atmospheric remote sensing.