We report on the steps undertaken by the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) to (1) develop open system hardware to facilitate upgrades, and (2) improve identification of the type of precipitation and its quantitative measure. An engineering evaluation has been completed to determine if the WSR-88D antenna assembly with minimum modification could be used for the polarimetric mode. The polarimetric characteristics and radiation patterns of the research WSR-88D are briefly discussed. Considerations for the choice of polarimetric basis and design options are described. A novel polarimetric scheme employing simultaneous transmission of horizontally (H) and vertically (V) polarized waves is suggested for the WSR-88D; this approach eliminates an expensive high power switch. A theoretical evaluation is performed to determine the effects that feed alignment, drop canting, and backscatter depolarization have on the measurements of polarimetric parameters made with simultaneous transmission and reception of H and V signals. Preliminary comparison of polarimetric variables obtained with alternate transmission/alternate reception to those obtained with simultaneous transmission/alternate reception suggests that the coupling of H,V signals due to simultaneous transmission has no adverse effect on the interpretation of the polarimetric variables. Because the proposed simultaneous transmission/simultaneous reception is less affected by meteorological factors it should be fully tested to evaluate its suitability for applications on operational weather radars.