Epic of the Cuban Doppler-10: The Rocky Homecoming of the Prodigal Son

«Epic of the Cuban Doppler-10» tells the story of the bold decision to move the Doppler radar prototype from Loma de la Mula to the Camagüey Meteorological Center, a relocation that combined logistical and technical reasons with an ethical commitment to serving aviation. This chapter recounts how the LADETEC team, led by Albio and Leonardo-Ichi, dismantled and transported intact the fiberglass radome — over five meters in diameter — in a feat that alone deserved recognition, and how the radar proved its worth during Hurricane Irma by detecting embedded tornadoes in real time. Discover the hidden motives behind the move — from radio-link problems and interference from the TRT unit to the need to improve wind-shear detection for aviation — and the return of the «prodigal son» to his origin.

«The Prodigal Son's Rough Road Home» tells the story of the complex and bold decision to move the Doppler radar prototype from Loma de la Mula, where it had operated since 1997, back to the Camagüey Meteorological Center — the «prodigal son's» return to his origin. The chapter lays out the many reasons behind this move, which went far beyond simple logistics: deteriorating roads that made access difficult, the shortage of fuel and transport affecting the operators (who worked 24-hour shifts and needed bicycles to cover the 10 km from the city), the fragile voice-and-data radio link that would prove insufficient for the enormous volume of Doppler data, electromagnetic interference from the TRT unit, and one high-flying technical reason: from Loma de la Mula, the radar was practically blind to longitudinal wind shear along the airport runway — the single most dangerous phenomenon for aviation. The author stresses that, although no one demanded they prioritize air-traffic service, they considered it an ethical duty for two reasons: Doppler radars were born to protect aviation from tornadoes and downbursts, and besides, they owed it to General Rogelio Acevedo, who had made the whole project possible. The move itself was a technical feat: they dismantled the fiberglass radome — over five meters in diameter — without taking apart its petals, and hauled it on a «zorra» (flatbed cart) over rough roads, lashed down with thick ropes, without it ever cracking — a feat that, in the author's words, would be enough on its own to go down in history as an exceptionally inventive group of engineers. The return to the Center, even though it meant losing about 15 meters of altitude and some coverage, proved to be the right call: during Hurricane Irma, the Cuban Doppler radar detected and tracked embedded tornadoes in real time, showing excellent coverage that fully justified the relocation. And just when the reader thinks the story is wrapped up, the author warns that the final commissioning still holds surprises — «just you wait», like the Wolf to the Hare in the Soviet cartoons. Here it goes, told in the first person.

What if it does? The doubt bug

By early 2011 we already had almost everything (processor + analog receivers, with STALO), just a few months after the mambo, but …

The first MRL-5 in Cuba was installed in its transportable version on the grounds of the Camagüey Meteorological Center. I don't know if it was the vibrations of the trailer, or the 10 years of intensive operation in the Induced Rain experiments, but by 1994 it was a radar with so many "false targets" that it broke down weekly or more. That's when we decided to ask the general director, Fabio Fajardo, to give us a new MRL-5 that the Instituto de Meteorología (Cuban Meteorological Institute) had received after a long dispute. In 1997 we set it up on Loma de la Mula as the prototype for the Cuban (Automatic) Weather Radar. This radar, from so much moving around and the time it had spent in storage (since 1990), came with a few problems of its own, so on Loma de la Mula we ended up assembling a hybrid, part this one, part that one. In effect, the Camagüey radar moved from the Center to Loma de la Mula.

And then, out of nowhere, the beast Albio came up with... "what if we set it up again at the Center." Something like "Back to the Future." Sounded crazy, but it put into words a truth: the real madness was commissioning a new radar under the logistical conditions of Loma de la Mula. On the other hand, something in us resisted the idea — on Loma de la Mula we were happy, us (the LADETEC engineers), the operators, and the radar too. More space, a comfortable building, better coverage (higher up), a great view over the scrubland, a commanding visual of the city (you could do nowcasting with nothing but binoculars); but... there were reasons.

Logistical factors

Fourteen years had passed since the inauguration. On the hill behind our radar, at the same time ours was inaugurated, a secondary airport radar was inaugurated alongside a TRT unit. The construction crews called our radar "the poor man's one" and ECASA's (the airport's) "the rich man's one"; the provincial First Secretary of the PCC, Carlos Díaz Barranco, on the other hand, called our radar "the project of the century in Camagüey." ECASA, obviously a powerful organization, took care of improving the access roads, which worked in our favor. But by 2011, ECASA had relocated and modernized its radar to the grounds of the Camagüey airport. The roads had gotten worse, the marabú (invasive thorn scrub) closing them in day by day.

Meanwhile, the Camagüey Meteorological Center had grown poorer, less transport, less fuel. From the start the operators had worked 24-hour shifts. Faced with the shortage of transport and fuel, the Center's management put the operators on a weekly rotation. They didn't agree and decided they'd keep coming in on their own (some 10 km from downtown) for 24-hour shifts; but they demanded bicycles be sold to them.

The bicycles were arranged; but the road, in bad shape, wore through the tires fast, and it was a constant state of discontent. Food was brought to them once a week, but bread had to be delivered daily (and often couldn't be). Logistics kept getting more complicated.

Albio, who drove our "guagüita" (Cuban slang for a small van; ours was a Ford donated by China in 2007), complained every time he was asked to fetch bread or run some other errand, because the tires would get damaged and the marabú (an invasive thorny brush common in Cuba) scratched the sides of the "Balamóvil" (we called Albio "La Bala" — "The Bullet" — and the car the Balamóvil, roughly "Bulletmobile"). Albio took the care of our transport very much to heart, but that wasn't his only reason for proposing this move. Besides, even though Albio was the one who voiced it most vehemently, all of us felt this issue seriously and knew that the commissioning was going to require traveling daily, maybe several times a day. Remember, reader, that LADETEC wasn't just a development group devoted only to the Doppler. We were the technical arm sustaining the Weather Radar Surveillance Service in Cuba.

Up to this point, what most people knew; but there were other technical reasons that weren't public knowledge.

Technical Elements

Another issue was that the radar communicated over a voice-and-data radio link. Lightning strikes damaged it more than once, and propagation conditions would knock it out or make it noisy and ineffective on no few occasions. Albio, who handled the IT side of the whole Radar Center and did it in an innovative way as a LADETEC engineer, knew that the brand-new Cuban Doppler Radar, up on the Loma de la Mula (the hill where the radar site sat), was going to be a giant tied down by a thread. With that radio link we wouldn't be able to get through all the information (far more than a conventional non-Doppler radar's) this radar was going to generate, and that was no small matter. I've always held the view (and Albio was my strongest backer on this) that a radar observation isn't complete until it reaches the end user's eyes in its fullest form, and we mustn't forget that our biggest user is the Centro Nacional de Pronósticos (National Forecast Center) in Casa Blanca (Rubiera, to the vast majority of the Cuban people).

No less important was that the TRT unit caused fierce interference (not on the radar's frequency, but in general — it threw off a very powerful electromagnetic field). Contrary to what they had promised when we granted the permit at Planificación Física (the physical-planning authority — yes, we were there first), despite our many complaints, they never fixed the problem and left the antenna radiating, stuck pointed straight at us (not out of ill will, but because the prevailing wind kept it aimed our way).

And there was one last technical reason that only the five of us discussed (Leonardo-Ichi, Roberto, Arturo, Albio, and me). From the Loma de la Mula site, the Doppler radar was practically blind to longitudinal wind shear along the airport runway (the most dangerous kind). The position at the Centro Meteorológico de Camagüey (Camagüey Weather Center) isn't optimal, but it's better than the Loma de la Mula for this particular purpose.

To avoid a detailed technical explanation here, I recommend interested readers check out these two posts, which explain the wind-shear problem and the technical criteria for siting a Doppler radar to serve an airport: Wind Shear, Aviation's Deadly Enemy and Where to Site a Weather Radar to Serve an Airport?

The Cuban Doppler Radar was designed to provide information to the Cuban weather service. No one ever required us to keep aviation service in mind; but, for us, this was an ethical and moral duty for two reasons: First. Because Doppler radars were born to catch tornadoes and microbursts because of aviation losses. Second. We felt a great commitment to aviation service because of the extraordinary contribution of Major General Rogelio Acevedo in achieving this development. Caramba, we had to reciprocate and be grateful, aside from the fact that improving aviation's weather services is a benefit for the whole country.

And since I know detractors are never in short supply, I'll explain that at LADETEC we have never made hasty decisions, we have always analyzed and calculated everything, and that's one of our success factors for having reaped numerous milestones. Yes, we were losing about 15 meters of altitude. Obviously that has implications for coverage, it gets worse; but we're engineers and we like exact things — by how much does it get worse? that's the question we decided to answer for ourselves. I made calculations, and more calculations, in every direction. The result is that …not by much, the rest of the factors weighed more.

If anyone wants to judge me, I'll say like the Romans, «Res Non Verba» (no offense, dear reader, "res" here has nothing to do with beef), I invite you to see the tracking the Cuban Weather Radar (RD-200SX) gave Hurricane Irma (read the post Cuban Radars vs Hurricane Irma). We not only captured the intensity images (Reflectivity), but we captured in real time the tornadoes embedded in Hurricane Irma as it passed over northern Camagüey and Ciego de Ávila, which contributed to the unusual devastation in that area, thanks to the Velocity (Doppler) information. In another post I explained why this is hugely important. We feel very proud of the performance of our Cuban Doppler Radar in its confrontation with Hurricane Irma, watch the animations and see for yourself whether our coverage with that radar is good or not. See from where to where it detected and tracked this hurricane.

For all of the above, we made the decision (I don't remember the exact date, I suppose it was early 2011, maybe my colleagues remember better) to move the radar to the Centro. In light of everything that has come after, it was a wise decision. Life has proven us right, nowadays they can't even keep the radar standing at the Centro, now imagine it up on Loma de la Mula.

Once the decision was made, we put to use what was going to be a tower for elevated water tanks, which became the radar's new home. I say it quick like that, but pulling it off in short time was an epic feat that deserves a post of its own. The "monster" Albio and the "monster" Leonardo showed off their engineering talents applied to construction.

From a spark (Iskra) will come the flame, said Lenin

I don't remember the exact date the tower was ready to house the radar — maybe Dositeo can pin it down from his notes — I'd guess it was November 2011. I do know that in December 2011 the antenna rotation mechanism of the Loma de la Mula radar suffered a fatal failure (or maybe not so fatal, but that's how it looked at the time). Fixing it meant using parts from the pedestal of the old radar that used to be at the center. That was the spark (Iskra). Leonardo-Ichi gave the order: poyekhali, as Gagarin once said, and the arrangements for a crane and a «zorra» (a long, low flatbed trailer) for the move got underway, and the madness broke loose.

Eppur si muove

I was on the course in Nalchik, I had experienced Soviet advisors, and I heard plenty of stories about radars toppled from moving them with the dome undismantled. I know I always sound immodest and grandiloquent; but I'll say it anyway. This dismounting of the dome without taking it apart, and its successful move to the center, would be enough on its own to go down in history as a group of exceptionally innovative and daring engineers.

The problem is that dome had been manufactured in 1990 and mounted in 1997. Our tropical sun is hard on fiberglass and scorches it — any careless move would have cracked it. Imagine moving a fine glass cup more than five meters across without breaking it, rattling along on a flatbed over a very rough road, lashed down with thick ropes … but by then we were very experienced engineers, we had a fair number of installations behind us. It wasn't for nothing that Leonardo, Roberto and Arturo were offered astronomical salaries to work at the prestigious German factory (SELEX-Gematronik, today Leonardo-Germany) back in 2010.

The radar dome was dismounted without taking apart its petals, moved, caulked, painted, and set on the pedestal (already repaired) at the Camagüey Meteorological Center on its new tower … where it stands to this day. One more missed opportunity for the Sciences Trade Union to hand out a Labor Achievement Banner. If you want more detail, you can read the post: Wanderer, there is no path, you make the path by…mounting radars.

Of course, the rest of the radar equipment was also moved and installed in its new (and current) home. The electrical assembly and commissioning were beginning. All the components were already there. The Camagüey radar, the prodigal son, was returning to its origin — and no, I wasn't referring to the parable of Jesus Christ.

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Having lived through what I'll tell in the next post, about the final commissioning and startup, I sincerely believe that doing it from Loma de la Mula would have been very hard — imagine having to come to the center several times to fetch this component or that one, needed unexpectedly … My impatient reader will say, alright then, what story is he going to make up now? «Just wait, you'll see», as the Wolf used to tell the Hare in those well-remembered Soviet cartoons.