GMWR-25-WS X-band Doppler weather radar for airport surveillance at LVNL

The GMWR-25-WS is designed to measure precipitation levels up to 32 nautical miles for Air Traffic Controllers responsible for landing and starting operations at airports with increasing density levels. The system allows the controllers to have a 360° surveillance of precipitation areas critical to flight operations at low altitude, with an update rate of 10 seconds. The radar system is a dedicated precipitation measurement device, independent from ASR or ATM radar system and allowing the integration of available precipitation data from weather services, and producing a data output stream in ASTERIX CAT008 and CAT009 format that can be visualized on standard controller consoles.

This system was installed for LVNL on Tower West at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (Luchtverkeersleiding Nederland) at the end of 2018 and is successfully used in operation since June 2019. Main operational objectives were to provide the Air Traffic Controllers with precipitation information at a high update rate. Operational advantages compared to alternative systems used in ATM or by national weather services will be explained and scenarios at other international or national airports analyzed in perspective of air traffic control operations and dedicated weather surveillance systems. Specifically, the use of a GMWR-25-WS on airports in tropical regions under the influence of critical and rapid changing atmospheric conditions will be presented and discussed.