When Weather’s Bad, KYW Is Good To Go

This winter is Philadelphia’s fourth snowiest in the past 30 years, with almost 40 inches accumulated so far. All that snow has made the weather the big story on local TV over the past several weeks.

So call it astute planning or amazing good luck, but CBS O&O KYW has a new tool to enhance its coverage and attract viewers. Last November, before the first snowflake had fallen, the station put its custom-built CBS-3 Mobile Weather Lab on the road.

Part live mobile weather unit and part promotional vehicle, the Audi Q7 Quattro four-wheel drive SUV has real time National Weather Service radar, two dashboard mounted video cameras, GPS navigation, a 42-inch Sony monitor, two Apple iPads, Skype two-way video, wireless broadband Internet and digital microwave connectivity.

Using the on-board instrumentation, meteorologists can read current temperatures, wind speed and direction, dew point and solar radiation readings — all live and in real time on location. The lab can also track satellite and ground-based radar, provide lightning strike data and Level 3 National Weather information — the same level used by first responders during natural disasters.

On the top of the vehicle is an LED crawl that will display weather information in real time. It can also be used as a storm chaser to track bad weather.

While driving into bad weather conditions, one camera can transmit live video of the storm ahead, while the other offers a head-shot of the meteorologist, who may be driving the vehicle. The moving signals can be transmitted live via IP or microwave.

The Mobile Weather Lab had its debut on Nov. 22 with a live broadcast from the Franklin Institute with meteorologists Kathy Orr and Carol Erickson doing an on-location forecast.  When the rear truck lid is elevated, the 42-inch monitor can be swung into position to allow the weather personnel to do such live remotes.

Citing “competitive” reasons, KYW declined to comment for this story. However, the station has been heavily promoting its use of the vehicle. It even has its own Facebook page.

The Weather Lab was assembled by Integrated Microwave Technologies, a leading ENG microwave supplier, working under the directi of KYW’s chief tech Rich Paleski.

Because of its small size, the three-seat SUV was a challenge for IMT, which put it all together in only five weeks after KYW drop-shipped the vehicle to them. “It was extremely difficult to fabricate all of the components into that vehicle because no one had ever worked on one before,” says Jeff Daubert, who — as integration operations manager at IMT — was in charge of the project. Daubert declined to discuss the cost of the vehicle.

The mobile unit has two types of connectivity: wireless broadband Internet via a dial-up cellular card modem and RF Central’s microLite HD, an MPEG-4 based full-HD digital COFDM ultra-miniature transmitter connected to a compact Wil-Burt “Night Scan” 13-foot mast.

The microLite HD occupies less than six cubic inches and can be operated in either low 20 mW or 100 mW output power modes. The transmitter supports video and embedded audio transmission in a 6 MHz channel. Requiring little setup, it operates in either the 2 GHz or 5.8 GHz bands.

The Weather Lab is unique, says Daubert. “KYW had some basic guidelines. They wanted a weather system and a big screen television in a small vehicle and they wanted it high-tech and futuristic looking. The goals for the vehicle were promotional as well as being a functional live broadcast truck.”

Although the Weather Lab is one of a kind, IMT is now building a variety of other smaller, lower cost microwave newsgathering trucks based on its Modular Mobile RF Platform (MMRP). Like the Weather Lab, these other vehicles use COFDM technology for the microwave feeds.

By adding a small pop-up mast, a directional antenna and a roof-level low-profile omnidirectional antenna with COFDM modulator and transmitter, vehicles can be built without the added weight, mass and cost of a hydraulic mast. Most IMT-made vehicles use a Ford Transit Connect chassis.

“Now that everyone has switched from analog to digital, we have found there’s a much bigger market for the smaller vehicles and small masts,” Daubert said. “It’s a small platform, without a heavy mast, no generator and a lot less maintenance — a much more user-friendly vehicle.”

With KYW keeping quiet, it hard to know whether the Weather Lab has fulfilled its promise of better coverage and more viewers, but it is an award winner. The Engineering Societies of the Delaware Valley and the Philadelphia chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of Profession Engineers have cited the unit as a “notable achievement” in electrical and mechanical engineering.