Baron Services Part Of Team Awarded $43 Million Contract

WxWorx told ANN Wednesday its affiliate Baron Services, through a partnership with L-3 Communications, is part of the team awarded a five-year, $43 million, firm fixed price contract from NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS).

Under the contract, which was awarded based on the best technological solution and overall value, Baron Services will provide design, development and production for a comprehensive system-wide upgrade of the 171 NWS, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department of Defense (DOD) NEXRAD radars.

The NEXRAD upgrade will include converting the radars to dual-polarization Doppler capability, technology that will significantly enhance the Weather Service's ability to specifically identify and accurately measure precipitation. This capability will aid in saving lives by enabling meteorologists to predict severe weather effects, such as flash floods and winter precipitation, more precisely than before.

"We're very proud to have been selected as a partner in this program and we look forward to working with L-3," said Robert O. Baron, President and CEO of WxWorx and Baron Services. "Our team brought leading technology solutions to the table, and did so at the best value," he added.

Unlike conventional radar systems, which transmit solely a horizontal scan, Baron's dual-polarimetric radars send out both vertical and horizontal polarized beams (shown at right), and enable meteorologists to see twice as much data as they can using systems not employing this technique.

Because dual-polarimetric radars use hydrometeor classification to identify the location and type of precipitation that is falling, they provide more accurate information about the size, shape, orientation and state of hydrological data. This enables forecasting with them to be highly precise.

Baron Services has installed all broadcast dual-polarimetric radars in the world, and has experienced significant success in domestic and international radar and weather markets -- also adding new technological and data advancements to WxWorx.

FMI: www.l-3.com, www.wxworx.com, www.baronservices.com