There is no such thing as a "transponder at the end of the runway".
The transponder is in the airplane and is used to communicate position and altitude data to the air traffic controllers and other aircraft for collision avoidance.
There is nothing at the end of the runway except lights and dirt.
As for the "system" you are talking about I have even less of an idea about what you are talking about than you.
But this just goes to prove my point. All this talk about systems, technology, data etc does not and cannot override the pilot's decision to land in the vicinity of such an intense thunderstorm.
EVERY pilot knows that the winds and turbulence within twenty five miles of a thunderstorm can be wildly variable such that you can lose control of the aircraft or structural damage can occur.
I admit to having flown between cells as close as three miles apart in a line of cold front thunderstorms with no problems, not a bump. I also recall many decades ago flying under a huge black cloud with weird bumps underneath it that looked like tits!
When I looked the cloud up in the books later I found that it was called mammatus and that the most severe turbulence could be found beneath them. Yet it was smooooooth as silk for me.
I have also flown around mountain waves with lenticular clouds while soaring. Again, smooth as silk and being in a sailplane (glider) we went looking for this. In a powered aircraft, you stay wayyyyy clear of mountain waves and "lennies"
Anyways, it would be easy to fall into the trap of these successes causing one to lose fear or respect of these powerful weather machines. And the more you succeed the more confidence you get and the more often you think you are special and that you are so good that you can get away with it again.
Until you don't.
Fortunately I learn from others, have been involved in a few accident investigations and gone to a few funerals of fellow pilots. So I am now a chicken and stay the fuck away from bad weather.
One interesting story where I didn't listen to my own advice.
I was on my way back from the Bahamas and was landing in Raleigh-Durham North Carolina. I was getting tight on fuel and they also had cheap gas. We were solidly in the clouds (IFR-Instrument flight rules) with steady rain typical of a large low pressure system.
There was a small cell (building convective cloud/thunderstorm) directly on the approach about two miles from the runway. I asked to hold until the cell had passed.
Fifteen minutes later ATC advised that the tail end of the cell had passed through the localizer (approach path) and we were cleared to begin the approach. Cutting it a bit close but this was a busy airport and I didn't want to be seen as less than a pro by asking to hold longer!
So away we went. Everything was perfect. Autopilot was tracking the ILS (Instrument Landing System) airspeed was right on the money, and the rain had even lightened up from the constant beating on the windshield. But we were still in the clouds and could see nothing. It was just getting past sunset and it was not dark but getting there.
Then like lightning.... LIGHTNING! It struck the wingtip and all the panel lights and radios glowed and then we lost all electrical power. The autopilot kicked off and I had to hand fly. Fuck, what to do now that we had no radio or nav equipment but we had gyros and should be breaking out of the clouds any second....
I kept up the descent as we were stable descending through 700' AGl and the ceiling was reported at 600' AGL. Sure enough in ten seconds the clouds wisped away and we could see the runway ahead. THEN the turbulence began! We literally got rolled on the side to 90 deg knife edge and got sucked back up into the clouds! Then SLAMMED down so hard that I smashed my head on the ceiling even though I always keep the seatbelts very tight on the approach and landing. It almost knocked me out.
We came down out of the clouds at 2000 fpm and with ful power we could not arrest the descent. I saw the ground come up and knew we were certainly going to crash. I jsut hoped to hold things level as possible to try for the best controlled crash to maybe survive.
Then it was smooth.
We landed without any further problems.
So what is the lesson? Can you land or should you go elsewhere when thunderstorms are in the area?