Toshiba to supply Taiwan with world’s largest S-Band weather radar system
Staff Writer |
Toshiba will contribute to better understanding of weather conditions in Taiwan by providing the Taiwan Central Weather Bureau with an S-band weather radar system.
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It has an antenna in the world’s largest class and it is for installation in Chigu district, Tainan city.
The system is to be delivered by Toshiba with High Bound Co., a Taiwanese engineering company, under an order received from GECI GROUP (GECI), Spanish system integration and high-technology company.
It will have a range of approx. 400km, and will support high resolution imaging of precipitation and wind velocity, essential for accurate, pinpoint weather forecasting. Toshiba, High Bound and GECI will deliver the system in 2019.
The western Pacific, long known as Typhoon Alley, is home to some of the world’s strongest tropical cyclones, including the strongest ever recorded, Typhoon Tip.
Taiwan is regularly hit by typhoons, such as Nepartak, which made landfall in July 2016, causing extensive damage and claiming three lives.
As a mountainous island where torrential rains can quickly result in landslides and flooding, Taiwan must be constantly ready to deal with the risk of such disasters, and deployment of Toshiba’s S-band radar will make a major contribution to the island’s state of readiness.
The radar system adopts dual polarization and Toshiba’s state-of-the-art microwave transistors to deliver wide area observation, and achieves high level observation capabilities and accuracy.
The system also integrates several redundant microwave transistors to maintain operation if some cease operation. Toshiba received the order following GECI’s technical review and price evaluating. ■
Modified arctic air combined with a moisture-laden area of low pressure along the Gulf Coast will continue to allow for a broad area of winter weather impacts from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Southeast today into early Saturday morning.