Real-Time Implementation of a Network-Based Attenuation Correction in the CASA IP1 Testbed

Monitoring of precipitation using higher-frequency radar systems such as X band is becoming popular. At X-band frequency, weather radar signals are attenuated along their paths due to precipitation. A network-based reflectivity retrieval technique has been developed for the Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) system, which is a radar network that can observe a weather event simultaneously by multiple radars. This paper describes the design and implementation of an architectural framework for real-time processing of the network-based attenuation correction system. The benchmarks presented here show that the system accomplishes networked attenuation correction within a few seconds, making it well suited for the CASA system. This paper presents the performance of the network-based attenuation correction system in terms of the metrics of attenuation correction as well as computational performance using CASA Integrated Project 1 (IP1) data during 2007–09 field experiments. The results show that the network-based attenuation correction algorithm works robustly in real time while retrieving attenuation-corrected reflectivity.