The Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD)/Air Route Surveillance Radar (ARSR) Operational Comparison
Abstract
The National Weather Service (NWS), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Department of Defense are in the process of fielding the Next Generation Weather Radars (NEXRAD). These doppler weather radars, also known as Weather Surveillance Radar (WSR)88D, will be replacing the WSR-57 and WSR-74 weather radars in use today. The NEXRAD data will be used by the FAA's Advanced Automation System (AAS) in place of the Air Route Surveillance Radar (ARSR) weather data currently being used by air traffic controllers. Because the NEXRAD's scanning strategy is more time consuming than the ARSR's, there have been some concerns expressed within the FAA about using untimely NEXRAD data in an Air Traffic Control (ATC) environment. In response to these concerns, the FAA's Center For Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) at MITRE conducted a study, under the sponsorship of the FAA's National Airspace System (NAS) system Engineering Service (ASE), to assess the relative ability of NEXRADs and ARSRs to detect and present significant weather in order to determine the operational impact of using NEXRAD data in lieu of ARSR data. This paper documents the NEXRAD/ARSR operational comparison study. NEXRAD, TDWR, ASR-9, WSR-88D, Radar, Weather, Surveillance, Reflectivity, Air traffic control.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA273077
Entities
People
- Brian Dunbar
- Jeff Mittelman
Organizations
- MITRE Corporation