Summary
Abrupt changes in the winds near the ground pose serious hazards to aircraft during approach or departure operations. Doppler weather radars can measure regions of winds and precipitation around airports, and automatically provide air traffic controllers and pilots with important warnings of hazardous weather events. Lincoln Laboratory, as one of several organizations under contract to the Federal Aviation Administration, has been instrumental in the design and development of radar systems and automated weather-hazard recognition techniques for this application. The Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) system uses automatic computer algorithms to ident* hazardous weather signatures. TDWR detects and warns aviation users about low-altitude wind shear hazards caused by microbursts and gust fronts. It also provides advance warning of the arrival of wind shifts at the airport complex. Extensive weather radar observations, obtained from a Lincoln-built transportable testbed radar system operated at several sites, have validated the TDWR system. As a result, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a procurement contract for the installation of 47 TDWR radar systems around the country.