Weather Alert System
PT Helps Upgrade FAA's Weather Alert Systems; Integrated, Robust Solution Improves Efficiencies While Reducing Operational Costs
PT’s Managed WAN Gateway solutions are utilized in the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Automated Data Acquisition System (ADAS) weather tracking system developed in conjunction with Basic Commerce & Industries, Inc. (BCI) of Moorestown, NJ.
The FAA continuously monitors weather information at all airports, critical for flight operations for the nation's air traffic control system. As part of the agency's ADAS program, the new systems from BCI incorporate PT's products to convert and translate weather data, previously transmitted by traditional leased line services, over Internet Protocol (IP). Designed with built-in redundancy for high-reliability, PT's Managed WAN Gateways and integrated WAN protocol software, combined with BCI's application software, offer the FAA a robust configuration that efficiently acquires the meteorological data and manages the transmission of the updated weather information.
In addition to allowing the new BCI-built ADAS systems to help the FAA reduce costly leased line expenses by using more efficient IP-based solutions, the PT high availability IPnexus platforms provide improved reliability, offer remote management capabilities to diagnose systems, decrease maintenance requirements, and reduce spare parts inventory levels through the use of shared common platforms and hardware.
The BCI application software performs data acquisition from weather sensors on a one-minute cycle. Sensor data is acquired from Automated Weather Observation Systems (AWOS), Non-federal AWOS, National Weather Service (NWS) Automated Surface Observing Systems (ASOS), Department of Defense (DoD) Automated Observing Systems (AOS), and Automated Weather Sensor System (AWSS). The one-minute observations will, in turn, be distributed to the FAA's Weather Message Switching Center Replacement (WMSCR) system, the Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS), and local IP clients. The BCI application software is configurable using a built-in adaptation program. This allows the same baseline software to be adapted for the local configuration at each site within the National Airspace System (NAS).
"Performance Technologies enables us to provide the FAA with a powerful solution," said BCI Vice President Thomas McParland. "With its advanced, remote management capability for superior performance, the ADAS system from BCI, with PT's Managed WAN Gateway solution, offers a highly efficient way to provide one-minute observations to the current National Airspace System users and to future users of the FAA's upcoming System Wide Information Management (SWIM) system."
