(Formerly paper 3.14) Proof of concept development process for the NEXRAD Open RDA

Representatives of the tri-agency NEXRAD program have proposed several significant improvements for inclusion in the Open RDA. Some of the changes are based on results from prior technical implementation on the FAA's Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) and others are methods developed or proposed within the research community over the past several decades. Most of the improvements have the potential for improving the data quality of the radar but before baseline changes are requested by the agency and funding allocated, some type of validation should be performed. Before the FAA NEXRAD Program Office recommends and funds improvements to the Open RDA, new methods must be well tested and show significant benefit to FAA's use of the NEXRAD system.

In order to support this type of proof of concept testing, the FAA proposes the establishment of a process that will allow the funding agency to determine if proposed methods have enough merit to support a baseline change. This paper describes a FAA proposal for the establishment of a NEXRAD testbed facility at NSSL with the integration of NSSL engineering personnel, OSF engineering personnel, and FAA research personnel for the purpose of implementing and demonstrating new concepts and techniques for the NEXRAD system.