Next-Generation Real-Time 3D Weather System for Television Broadcast
Digital Radiance designed and developed the algorithms and software
for the real-time multi-radar volumetric database and 3D meteorological graphics
for Baron Services'
VIPIR5D™ real-time 3D
weather broadcast system. Using state-of-the-art techniques developed by Digital Radiance
and Baron Services, and fueled by the VIPIR5D team's combined experience and passionate
vision for breakthrough broadcast weather systems, Baron's patented VIPIR5D system
allows multiple sources of weather information, particularly volumetric Doppler radars, to
be merged and analyzed in 3D on high-end PCs in real-time with no loss of data accuracy.
This system ingests and displays real-time volumetric Doppler radar as well as data from
the leading-edge 3D weather-analysis systems developed by the VIPIR5D team, particularly
Baron's patented storm-tracking and DTW Markers™ (Dangerous Twisting
of the Winds) detection system. With over one hundred television stations using their
current 2D systems, this revolutionary upgrade is having a nationwide impact during severe
weather emergencies.
The following pictures, courtesy of Baron Services, show images from VIPIR5D as it
tracked tornadoes in Birmingham and Nashville during a severe weather outbreak in April
1998.
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This screen shows two
government weather radars simultaneously imaging a tornadic storm system in
Nashville. With VIPIR5D's exclusive display, the 3D shape of the storm is clearly
visible. Note the yellow DTW Marker circles indicating a rotation in the winds at
multiple heights in the atmosphere, a powerful visual signal of wind shear. |
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This tornado in
Birmingham was imaged by a single government radar. The core tornado rotation area is
determined automatically by the DTW Markers technology. VIPIR5D denotes areas of
shear with yellow and red circles, red depicting shear closest to the ground.
Surrounding these circles is a "hook echo", a classic radar signature of strong
atmospheric rotation. With VIPIR5D's exclusive 3D capabilities, the storm rotation is
clearly seen to extend from the ground up to around 40,000 feet, as verified by the height
of the gray area in the accompanying storm graph. |
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This close-up of the
Birmingham radar shows the VIRPIR5D software system's automatic identification of rotation
in four levels of radar data as well as an increase in intensity of the precipitation
within the hook-echo region, denoted by the purple. The accompanying storm
graph serves as a "ticker tape" history of weather events, scrolling to the left
as time advances. Altitude in thousands of feet is charted along the vertical
axis. Presented here is thirty-five minutes of data, with "now" being at
the right-most end of the graph. Note that the altitude of maximum signal return,
denoted by blue in the graph, rises quickly from 15,000 feet to 30,000 feet in about 5
minutes and then drops again. All of this complex data is visualized in real-time to
automatically alert the weather personnel that a strong tornado is descending. |
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The Birmingham tornado
can be seen lifting into the atmosphere, as depicted by the rising blue region in the
accompanying storm graph. Physical evidence on the ground later confirmed that the
VIPIR5D software system had indeed correctly identified the tornado's end time. Read
the caption in the previous picture, above, to learn more about the details of the storm
graph. |
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