Integrating New Algorithms into the WSR-88D: Algorithm Development in the pre-CODE Environment

With the evolution of the Weather Surveillance Radar - 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) from a monolithic, proprietary system to the new open architecture soon to be a reality, opportunities will abound for the addition of new, advanced scientific algorithms. In the early stages of deployment, there will exist a limited number of services and documentation to aid developers with integrating new algorithms. In later builds, CODE, the Common Operations and Development Environment, using an integrated new WSR-88D applications programming interface (API), will provide extensive documentation and services to assist in the development, testing and integration of new algorithms into the Open Systems Radar Product Generator (ORPG).

This paper will describe the process required to create and integrate a new radar algorithm into the ORPG using ANSI C. This will entail descriptions of system services from the establishment of input buffers and data streams to the writing of the final product for distribution. In addition, required modifications to system input files will be presented.