Figure 3.2 The original CRAFT network as of January, 1999 [Droegemeier 00]
NSSL Home > Scientific Publications > Technical Memorandum NSSL-107
The archival and acquisition of base data is through a hierarchical network structure. Local radar is connected to the nearest Internet2 node via a T1 line or 56k phone line or in some cases, through the regional network.
By early 1999, six WSR-88D radars in and around Oklahoma were delivering base data in real time using the methodology given in Section 2.2. The topology of those radars is given below:
|
Figure 3.2 The original CRAFT network as of January, 1999 [Droegemeier 00] |
In the early June 2000, the NCDC began receiving compressed base data in real time from the original six CRAFT radars via the commodity internet. These data were being transferred directly, and automatically, to the NCDC mass storage system as shown in the following:
 |
Figure 3.3 The real time archival process at the NCDC [Droegemeier 00] |
The base data from CRAFT have been verified to be identical to those from the 8 mm tapes. The CRAFT system has reduced the number of archival processing steps from 8 to 2 and has reduced the time required to archive a data set by a factor of 4. Given the success of initial test bed of six radars in Oklahoma, other radars throughout the country have been added. The following figure shows the current topology of 21 CRAFT radars transmitting base data in real time as well as 18 new radars to be added soon in the future:
 |
Figure 3.4 The CRAFT network as of October 2001 (http://kkd.ou.edu/new_craft_radars.htm) |