During the Fall of 1999, Lockheed Martin NE&SS-Moorestown, under sponsorship of the Office of Naval Research, completed several at-sea experiments in which atmospheric conditions were measured by the SPY-1 Phased Array Radar and the Tactical Environmental Processor (TEP) System onboard the AEGIS Destroyer USS O'KANE. The SPY-1 Radar and TEP System were used to collect and process numerous measurements of atmospheric phenomena ranging from heavy precipitation to clear air turbulence. During these at-sea demonstrations, the TEP System was validated by comparing the radar data taken onboard the O'KANE with data provided by NEXRAD sites along the eastern coast of the United States. Additionally, measurements were made on clear air boundary layer turbulence and wind profile maps were generated.
An enhanced version of TEP was deployed onboard the USS NORMANDY (CG60) for use in the Joint Fleet Exercise 2000 (May 2000) and included several upgrades for information handling and data dissemination off the Normandy via the Navy's secure Internet, SIPRNET. The most significant upgrade to TEP was the ability to automatically provide rapid spectral moment updates of the surrounding environment and display the weather radar images onboard the NORMANDY, while transferring the weather radar data to off-ship users such as other warships within the battlegroup. Every 15 minutes, TEP generated a Composite Reflectivity image that was overlaid with a shoreline image and latitude/longitude data and transferred the combined image to SIPRNET. The SPAWAR RFC products, including propagation loss charts and ducting assessment charts, were 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, could log into the SIPRNET site hosting the TEP data and receive a current weather radar image of the area surrounding the NORMANDY.
Examples of the NEXRAD-validation of TEP, boundary layer turbulence, and wind profile maps from this experiment will be presented. This paper will also discuss the enhanced functionality of TEP and present some preliminary results of the at-sea demonstrations from the fall of 1999 and the demonstration from the May 2000 Joint Fleet Exercise.