Status report on the National Weather Radar Testbed (Phased-Array)

The National Weather Radar Testbed (NWRT) is operational in Norman, Oklahoma. This project was 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.. Using a Navy SPY-1A phased array antenna system, the NWRT provides the first phased array radar available on a full-time basis to the meteorological research community.

The NWRT became operational in September 2003, and first data were collected in May 2004. Several data sets have been collected during the limited 2005 storm season. Current efforts are concentrated on improving the scanning speed through beam-multiplexing and preparing the system for remote operations. In this paper, we will describe the present status, research progress, and plans how to exploit the unique capabilities of electronic beam steering on the NWRT.