Radar environmental observations and Internet data handling for naval operations using the Lockheed Martin Tactical Environmental Processor

Lockheed Martin NE&SS-Moorestown, in partnership with the US Navy, has developed an advanced weather radar processor that extracts detailed environmental measurements from existing surveillance radars such as the AN/SPY-1 phased array radar aboard the U.S. Navy's AEGIS cruisers and destroyers. The Tactical Environmental Processor (TEP) program, started in 1996, completed a highly successful at-sea demonstration aboard the USS O'KANE (DDG 77) in the fall of 1999 as the ship transited from Bath, Maine to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. TEP benefits both the warfighters and the meteorologists, and has been proven to be an effective tool for both communities. Using normally scheduled radar dwells, TEP generates spectral moment measurements (reflectivity, radial velocity, and spectrum width) of the environment surrounding the battlegroup and produces high-resolution weather radar data comparable in quality to that of NEXRAD, the National Weather Service's most advanced Doppler radar. Additional high-sensitivity Pulse Doppler waveforms are available for cloud characterization and wind mapping, and have been shown to provide valuable data on boundary layer turbulence. TEP data are also used by the SPAWAR Refractivity From Clutter (RFC) alogorithms, which provide a near realtime assessment of ducting conditions in the surrounding environment by examining the radar clutter return data from TEP.

An enhanced version of TEP is currently being deployed onboard the USS NORMANDY (CG 60) for use in the Joint Fleet Exercise 2000 (May, 2000) and includes several upgrades for information handling and data dissemination off the USS NORMANDY via the Navy's secure Internet (SIPRNET). The most significant upgrade to TEP is the ability to automatically provide rapid spectral moment updates of the surrounding environment and display the weather radar images onboard the USS NORMANDY, while transferring the weather radar data to off-ship users such as other warships within the battlegroup. Every 15 minutes, TEP generates a Composite Reflectivity image that is overlaid with a shoreline image and latitude/longitude data and transfers the combined image to SIPRNET. The SPAWAR RFC products, including propagation loss charts and ducting assessment charts, are also automatically transferred every 30 minutes through SIPRNET. Outside users, such as MET teams aboard the battlegroup aircraft carrier or forecasters at the fleet meteorology center, can log into the SIPRNET site hosting the TEP data and receive a current weather radar image of the area surrounding the USS NORMANDY. The data capture-process-display-transfer functionality is completely automated and requires a sailor to merely start the system when needed. Once the system is started, the data handling process continues providing weather radar and ducting data at regular intervals over the Navy's secure network without any operator intervention whatsoever.

An interactive TEP console located on the USS NORMANDY allows the crew to replay previously captured radar images and view any available spectral moment or generate a movie mode loop of the current day's environmental conditions. Several additional routines, such as a wind profile program, can be used to extract a wind profile or feather plot from the TEP spectral moment data. This feather plot can also be exported to outside users via the ship's SIPRNET connectivity.

This paper will discuss the enhanced functionality of TEP and present some preliminary results of the at-sea demonstration during the May, 2000 Joint Fleet Exercise.