MPAR could scan at angles as high as 60 degrees in elevation, and simultaneously track meteorological phenomena, biological flyers, non-cooperative aircraft, and air traffic.

During use, it was discovered that the false-alarm rate was high due to the radar detecting swarms of insects and clutter from nearby mountainous terrain.

NOAA built a tower and pedestal to house the antenna and its components at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma.

The MPAR provided much faster volume scans, comprehensive wind profiling, and more complete insights to supercellular structure, while simultaneously tracking aircraft.

Dual-polarization technology exploits the fact that falling rain droplets have a flattened shape as a result of air resistance, and thus return a different signal in the horizontal plane than in the vertical.

The capability to detect and track aircraft while simultaneously monitoring the weather attracted the attention of the FAA, which operates numerous radars for air traffic control purposes (e.g., ASR series), as well as localized weather radars near airports (TDWR units) to detect dangers to aircraft such as flocks of birds, wind shear, and microbursts, amongst others.

[21] The prototype, called the Advanced Technology Demonstrator (ATD), was installed on 12 July 2018 on the tower formerly housing the MPAR, and it is expected to become fully operational in 2019.

[22][23][needs update] Like MPAR, the ATD radar is an S band flat panel phased array with a 90° field of view.