Enterprise Electronics Corporation or EEC is an Alabama-based commercial

weather radar 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 puls ...

system company, founded in 1971. EEC has designed and manufactured over 1,000 weather radar systems to 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 rather indefinitely set at approxi ...

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 can be polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asynchronously), or ...

ground station division from the Australia-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 1974, when production of

cavity magnetron The cavity magnetron is a high-power vacuum tube used in early radar systems and currently in microwave ovens and linear particle accelerators. It generates microwaves using the interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field ...

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 frequen ...

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 agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...

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 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 can be polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asynchronously), or ge ...

. 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 Satellites (GOES) operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ...

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. * 1974 – First commercial weather radar on the market (WSR-100) * 1974 – First Digital Video Integrator Processor (DVIP) * 1980 – First Digital signal processor * 1981 – First commercial

Doppler weather radar 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 pulse- ...

delivered to a TV station (

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 largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...

) * 1988 – First

Personal Computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tech ...

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

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 rather indefinitely set at approxim ...

radar system unveiled * 2014 – First operational Circular Depolarization Ratio (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 Enginee ...

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