ROC SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

The Innovative Techniques Working Group (ITWG)

The Innovative Techniques Working Group (ITWG) is a small working group that was formed to provide a forum where ideas for new/improved data acquisition and processing techniques can be shared and vetted. This group of meteorologists, engineers and software developers was formed with the goal of developing creative solutions to improve WSR-88D operation and performance. Even though the permanent membership is intentionally limited, the ITWG has the support of the WSR-88D Stakeholder agencies to recruit temporary expert members to address specific problems/topics.

To identify operational problem areas, the ITWG reviews comments from field personnel, Hotline call tickets and inquiries/suggestions received via the WSR-88D feedback system. Initial topics addressed by the ITWG include reducing VCP update times, more frequent low-level updates and optimizing PRF selection. The ITWG focuses on operational problems with the goal of finding creative techniques and implementing field-deployable solutions. Additionally, members leverage existing agency processes (e.g., NEXRAD Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), Software Recommendation and Evaluation Committee (SREC), etc.,) to reduce the time required to move from the drawing board to deployment.

Through this group we have seen that, often times, a new look at an old problem can result in creative solutions that can implemented fairly quickly (e.g., AVSET and SAILS).

Information about current ITWG projects can be found on the ROC home page under New Radar Technology.