University of Oklahoma engineers are rolling out a truck‑mounted, all‑digital phased‑array radar near Norman and putting it to work on real storms. The system can grab fresh snapshots of the atmosphere in just a few seconds, which is a major leap over the roughly five‑to‑six‑minute sweeps Oklahomans are used to from the national dish‑radar network. Researchers say those near‑real‑time scans could sharpen lightning detection and shave critical minutes off tornado warnings, giving people more time to shelter during fast‑moving storms. The effort is part of a broader push to understand whether phased‑array systems should eventually replace the aging WSR‑88D radars that now serve the region.
The system on the road is called Horus, and it is the centerpiece of a new National Science Foundation‑funded project focused on storm electrification and lightning initiation, university researchers say. “This project wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory in developing Horus,” Dr. David Schvartzman told University of Oklahoma. The team plans coordinated deployments that pair Horus with OU’s RaXPol mobile radar and with lightning sensors, all aimed at hunting the radar signatures that appear before lightning and before tornadogenesis.
Why phased‑array radars matter
Conventional dish‑style radars such as the NEXRAD network collect a full three‑dimensional “volume” of the atmosphere roughly every five to six minutes, which can miss rapid changes inside supercells. In contrast, phased‑array designs can electronically steer many beams and refresh volumes far more quickly; a recent National Severe Storms Laboratory report notes that a four‑face planar phased‑array radar could achieve 60–90 second volume scans and that rotating phased‑array concepts are being evaluated for still‑faster strategies. The report frames faster update rates as a key reason agencies are studying phased‑array technology as a possible NEXRAD successor, while also noting technical and cost tradeoffs that still need testing.
What OU’s field tests are finding
Researchers on the ground say the differences are not just theoretical. In an interview with News On 6, Schvartzman said phased‑array systems could collect and transmit targeted data every 20 to 30 seconds and that Horus lets them “take pictures in milliseconds of the whole atmosphere.” Those rapid scans have already helped the team isolate lightning‑related radar echoes and other microphysical features that traditional, slower scans tend to smear together.
Federal testing and practical limits
Officials are funding work to move promising prototypes into larger testbeds and to measure whether the operational gains justify the cost. NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory has rolled out mobile radar assets and other research platforms to evaluate how faster scans feed into forecasting systems and warning workflows, and to identify where calibration and data‑quality hurdles remain. Until those tradeoffs are resolved, the federal plan under consideration would use a phased, research‑to‑operations path rather than an immediate nationwide swap of radars…