Development of a Low cost, Dual-Polarization Pulse Coded Doppler Phased Array Weather Radar for NEXRAD network near surface gap augmentation

NOAA’s Next-Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) network has improved over the years. However, a combination of the curvature of the earth’s surface, complex terrain and ~200km spacing between sites blocks line-of-sight scanning of microwave beams across ~70% of America. NEXRAD beams miss significant volumes within the lower troposphere, where people live and work. Tornadic activity or heavy rain thus occurs outside of NEXRAD’s radar sampling volume, particularly within rural communities. The result is a significant number of small-yet-severe weather events are missed down near the surface. We propose leveraging advances in solid state electronics and digital signal processing to develop low cost, micro dual-polarization Doppler weather radars, operating at “Community Scale” that are affordable to local and state emergency management agencies. Systems will be compact enough to be mounted atop “towers-of-opportunity”, including municipal water tanks or ubiquitous two-way radio communications towers. Each radar would perform its own local front end data processing and preliminary quality control screening for ground clutter removal and other interference, and relay data via internet or 5G mobile to NOAA. Importantly, these radars would supplement NEXRAD operations, filling in near surface gaps and enabling local rapid response to pop-up severe storms, all at very low acquisition cost.