Baron Services, in partnership with L-3 Enterprise IT Solutions (EITS), has installed the first of the U.S. National Weather Services’ (NWS) 171 NEXRAD upgrades in Norman, Okla.
The prototype will serve as a test bed for hardware and software trials until May 2010.
The EITS/Baron team was awarded the five-year NEXRAD contract in October 2007, and is providing design, development, and production of a comprehensive, system-wide upgrade of the 171 NWS, FAA and Department of Defense NEXRAD radars to dual-polarization. The upgrade is expected to “vastly improve forecasting for critical weather events, such as flashfloods, in the future,” according to Baron officials.
Unlike conventional systems that transmit only a horizontal scan, dual-polarization radars emit both vertically and horizontally polarized beams. Through use of hydrometeor classification for identifying locations and types of precipitation, dual-polarization radars deliver larger amounts of more accurate information concerning the size, shape, orientation, and state of hydrological data. This information provides forecasting professionals the ability to identify precipitation events more precisely than ever before.
For more information: L-3com.com/EITS.
