Recent Advances in Radar Technology for Environmental Applications

Modern weather and environmental radar systems have enjoyed revolutionary transformation. This includes scientific advances such as multiple polarization, multiple wavelength and network sensing. Engineering advances include solid state transmitters, advanced signal processors aided by high performance computing, electronic scan antennas, and the ability to close the loop between radar observations and prevailing environment. The rapid advances are being tested and evaluated in several research locations including the CSU-CHILL radar facility. While many of these advances are interesting from a technological point of view, some of these will pass the “cost benefit analysis” tests, and are expected to find place in future operational applications.