Vaisala wins a contract from U.S. National Weather Service

Vaisala has signed a USD 5.8 million contract with the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) to deliver Vaisala Sigmet Digital Receiver and Signal Processors, RVP901. Deliveries will be completed over the coming 12 months. This order is part of the frame contract which includes the delivery of Vaisala Sigmet Digital Receivers and Signal Processors as well as the corresponding dual polarization software licenses. The total value of the frame contract is USD 9.0 million.

The frame contact is related to Service Life Extension Program (SLEP), which the NWS is undertaking to upgrade their NEXRAD weather radar network. Vaisala has been working together with the NWS Radar Operations Center in support of upgrading the existing U.S. weather radar network with modern weather radar signal processing technology.

"The NWS is pleased to work with Vaisala in obtaining this technology for our nation's weather radars, which are a cornerstone of the U.S. weather observing system that supports our critical mission of providing forecasts and warnings to build a Weather-Ready Nation," said Dr. Louis Uccellini, Director of the U.S. National Weather Service.

"Vaisala is proud of its long-term relationship with NWS. Vaisala has delivered weather radar signal processors and software as well as other meteorological products and services, including upper air sounding systems, precision and global lightning data, and various weather instruments to the NWS over the past decades. After updating the current radar network with digital receivers and processors, the NWS will be able to further develop and improve their weather radar observation capabilities" states Ken Goss, National Sales Manager of Vaisala Weather Business in North America.

Vaisala weather radar RVP901 signal processing software analyzes the correlation between the horizontal and vertical polarization information and improve the detectability of different weather targets. A dual-polarized radar distinguishes between different types of rainfall; liquid water, snow, sleet, hail and graupel. Vaisala's weather radar is also able to recognize non-meteorological objects, such as birds and insects. Utilizing dual polarization technology, the intensity of precipitation is measured more accurately, providing valuable information for local short-term weather forecasts in support of building community resilience to extreme weather events.