Enterprise Electronics Corporation or EEC is an Alabama-based commercial

weather radar A weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern w ...

system company, founded in 1971. EEC has designed and manufactured over 1,000 weather radar systems for over 90 countries. EEC offers

S Band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the conventiona ...

, C Band, and

X Band The X band is the designation for a band of frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is set at approximately 7.0–11.2&nbs ...

options commercially. In 2013, EEC expanded its product line offering by acquiring the

weather satellite A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites are mainly of two types: polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asyn ...

ground station division from the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

-based Environmental Systems & Services Pty Ltd company (ES&S).

History

Founded by a group of radar engineers in 1971, EEC made its public debut in 1972 with the WR-100-3 radar. One was installed at WKY TV (now KFOR) in Oklahoma. The WSR-100-5 was installed at the same station in 1974. In 1975, the production of the WSR-74 line of radars, mostly C-band, began. It produced

cavity magnetron The cavity magnetron is a high-power vacuum tube used in early radar systems and subsequently in microwave ovens and in linear particle accelerators. A cavity magnetron generates microwaves using the interaction of a stream of electrons wit ...

and

klystron A klystron is a specialized linear-beam vacuum tube, invented in 1937 by American electrical engineers Russell and Sigurd Varian,Pond, Norman H. "The Tube Guys". Russ Cochran, 2008 p.31-40 which is used as an amplifier for high radio frequenci ...

commercial S and C-Band weather radars began.. Also in 1974, EEC was selected by the US

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

to deliver 160

WSR-74 WSR-74 radars were Weather Surveillance Radars designed in 1974 for the National Weather Service. They were added to the existing network of the WSR-57 model to improve forecasts and severe weather warnings. Some have been sold to other countries ...

radar systems to replace the older models across the country. Following this, EEC expanded its operations, becoming a commonly consulted private radar company for media radars. Today, EEC is the only commercial weather radar vendor in the US to offer a complete line of magnetron, klystron and solid-state transmitter weather radar systems. Additionally, EEC's TeleSpace business division offers direct readout ground station systems, which support the full constellation of both

Geostationary Orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular orbit, circular geosynchronous or ...

and

Polar Orbit A polar orbit is one in which a satellite passes above or nearly above both poles of the body being orbited (usually a planet such as the Earth, but possibly another body such as the Moon or Sun) on each revolution. It has an inclination of abo ...

weather satellites A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites are mainly of two types: polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asyn ...

. In 2016–2017, EEC's TeleSpace division delivered the first-ever commercial

GOES-16 GOES-16, formerly known as GOES-R before reaching geostationary orbit, is the first of the GOES-R series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) operated by NASA and th ...

ground station (Capella-GR) systems into North, Central, and South America.

Innovations

EEC, given frequent use by commercial media corporations, has had several instances of innovation within the company. * 1972 – First commercial weather radar on the market (WSR-100) * 1975 – First Digital Video Integrator Processor (DVIP) * 1980 – First

Digital signal processor A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor chip, with its architecture optimized for the operational needs of digital signal processing. DSPs are fabricated on metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit chips. ...

* 1981 – First commercial

Doppler weather radar A weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly pu ...

delivered to a TV station (commissioned by Gary England of

KWTV-DT KWTV-DT (channel 9) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship broadcast property of locally based Griffin Media, and is co-owned with MyNetworkTV affiliate KSBI (channel 52). ...

Oklahoma City, OK Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, its population ranks 20th among United States cities ...

) * 1988 – First

Personal Computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

-based radar display system was unveiled * 2012 – First commercially available solid-state

X-Band The X band is the designation for a band of frequency, frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is set at approximately 7.0� ...

radar system unveiled * 2014 – First operational

Circular Depolarization Ratio Circular may refer to: * The shape of a circle * Circular (album), ''Circular'' (album), a 2006 album by Spanish singer Vega * Circular letter (disambiguation), a document addressed to many destinations ** Government circular, a written statement ...

(CDR) solution unveiled * 2016 – First operational deployment of mobile, solid-state, dual-polarization X-Band radars to a TV station/network of stations in the US * 2018 – First commercial weather radar systems provider to win a

Technology & Engineering Emmy Award The Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards, or Technology and Engineering Emmys, are one of two sets of Emmy Awards that are presented for outstanding achievement in engineering development in the television industry. The Technology and Engineer ...

for television in the US (StormRanger)

External links

References

{{Reflist Meteorological companies Companies based in Enterprise, Alabama Electronics companies established in 1971 American companies established in 1971