Interactive Radar Information System (IRIS™) overview

More than just a pretty picture

Because Vaisala has the largest installed base worldwide, we've learned that data processing for weather radar is more than just pretty pictures of radar echoes.

System application experts wanted our IRIS™ software to have algorithms similar to the US NEXRAD, Profiler and TDWR. Since 85% of our business is international we learned how to apply these algorithms in different parts of the world. 

System maintenance/test personnel helped us design the IRIS Utilities™ for radar installation, alignment, calibration and testing. Government agencies trust the Utilities as the primary basis for new radar acceptance testing.

System operators showed us that IRIS™ should have a logical user interface which simplifies even complex scanning requirements. We even made the scanning and data acquisition change automatically in response to changing weather.

Radar system engineers have made it very clear that our RVP8™ signal processor must offer a choice of advanced signal processing algorithms including DFT/FFT, dual polarization, dual PRF, Random or phase coded second trip echo filtering and recovery and the new GMAP™ algorithm.

Forecasters did not hesitate to tell us that they already have too many pictures to look at, especially when the weather situation "gets hot". They wanted IRIS™ to provide automatic warnings and forecasts of significant weather such as mesocyclones, microbursts, flash floods, hail or severe storms. They also wanted our forecaster's Quick Look Window™ to provide loop, cursor, cross-section, track and zoom/pan features without requiring days of user training.

Big savings with Linux systems

The availability of low-cost PC platforms for the IRIS™ software means that customers can now purchase the hardware for an IRIS™ system at a price that is much less than a traditional UNIX workstation.

Send email to: sigmet-support@vaisala.com.