Results of the Kansas City 1989 Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) Operational Evaluation Testing

The Lincoln Laboratory Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) testbed was used to carry out an experimental and operational hazardous weather product evaluation program for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at the Kansas City International (KCI) airport during the summer of 1989. The objective of the program was to test and refine previously tested techniques for the automatic detection of low-altitude wind shear phenomena (specifically microbursts and gust fronts) and heavy precipitation in a midwest weather environment, as well as to assess possible new products such as storm movement predictions. A successful operational evaluation of the TDWR products took place at the KCI tower and terminal radar control room (TRACON) from 15 July to 15 August 1989 and from 15 to 30 September 1989. Several supervisor and controller display refinements that had been determined from the 1988 operational evaluation at Denver were assessed as effective. The system was successful in terms of aircraft at KCI avoiding wind shear encounters during the operational period, and it was assessed as "very good" in usefulness for continuing operation by the KCI air traffic control (ATC) personnel. The probability of detection for microbursts was substantially better than that in Denver and was well above the system requirements specifications. However, the false-alarm probability was found to be substantially higher in Kansas City due to a combination of weather and clutter phenomena. By optimizing the site-adaptation capabilities of the TDWR meteorological and data quality algorithms, the required false-alarm probability was achieved. The gust front detection performance was generally poorer than in Denver due to a combination of unfavorable radar-airport gust front geometry and false alarms induced by low-level jets. Gust front algorithm refinements which should provide improved performance are discussed.