Terminal Doppler Weather Radars (TDWRs) - Supplemental Product Generators (SPGs) Information

TDWR - SPG Work

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) owns, operates and maintains Terminal Doppler Weather Radars (TDWRs) at 45 major airports around the nation to provide wind shear and other critical weather data to air traffic controllers supporting safe flight operations. The FAA also allows the National Weather Service (NWS) access to TDWR data for NWS forecast operations. NWS developed TDWR Supplemental Product Generators (SPGs) to bring TDWR data into selected NWS forecast offices. This data includes NWS-oriented radar products to be used during forecast and emergency warning operations.

Each SPG hosts software to ingest the TDWR radar data and to generate, store, and distribute NWS products. Each SPG monitors its operational system status and provides a human-computer interface (HCI) to allow local forecasters and maintenance personnel control, monitoring, and troubleshooting capabilities.

The ROC is responsible for the life cycle management and support of TDWR SPG hardware and software. This includes:

1. SPG operations and technical/maintenance manuals
2. Engineering and replacing obsolete hardware components
3. Investigating and implementing requests for a change to the SPG
4. Software maintenance and security

Local forecast offices are responsible for individual SPG equipment physical security, day-to-day SPG operation and maintenance and change request submission via an approved ROC change process.

Current Work

1. Development of SPG Build 16.1, to be released in 2026, which will include security patches
2. Deployment of SPG Build 17.0, to be released in 2027, which will include:
   1. Adding a second hard drive to support remote loading
   2. Porting of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) from X/Motif to the GTK+ language to increase supportability and maintainability
   3. Updating Interface Control Documents (ICDs) and specifications

TDWR SPG Project Overview

1. Updates to SPG Since 2020 (PDF)
2. High Level Overview from 2020 (PDF)
3. Detailed Training Slides - 2020 (PPT)
4. AMS IIPS 2009 Paper (PDF)
5. AMS IIPS 2008 Paper (PDF) & Presentation (PPT)
6. Radar Coverage Maps, Including TDWR (PDF)
7. TDWR SPG Operations Radar Status
   1. Using Level II Data via NL2
   2. Using Level III Data via NCEP

Data Distribution

1. Product Archives and System Information available via the National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI)
2. Public Announcements affecting TDWR SPG data from 2018 to present are available via weather.gov, including Service Change Notices and Public Information Statements. Older statements are available via an archive
3. TDWR SPG Level II data
   1. Can be verified by filtering for the relevant ICAO on the Level II LDM Page
   2. Archived and real time data available on Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud
4. TDWR SPG Level III data via Radar Product Central Collection Dissemination Service (RPCCDS)
   1. RPCCDS Home Page
   2. January 2009 NWS Family of Services Meeting Briefing (TDWR SPG ONLY) (PDF)
   3. June 2008 NWS Family of Services Meeting Briefing (PDF)
5. TDWR SPG Distribution Server (SPGDS) Web Status Display
   1. This shows the flow of SWIM data and LDM connectivity from each SPGDS to each SPG.
   2. SPGDS Status Display

TDWR Elevation Angles

1. Build 1 vs Build 2
2. Elevation Angles of Collected Products for Build 2

SPG Documentation (Please Note: A NOAA login is required)

1. Modification, Maintenance and Software Notes
2. EHB 6-600 Maintenance Instructions Supplemental Product Generator (SPG) Systems Operations Rev 13 - 7 April 2025
3. EHB 6-600 Maintenance Instructions Supplemental Product Generator (SPG) Systems Operations Rev 14 - 30 March 2026
4. Release Note: SPG SW Update 15.1
5. Release Note: SPG Build 16.0