CONTACT: Stephanie Kenitzer FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NWS (301) 713-0622 8/16/95
Jim Smith
PRC (703) 556-1078
The National Weather Service this month begins testing the new high-speed computer and communication system that will allow forecasters to quickly access and compile weather data gathered by radars, satellites, and automated surface observing systems, all in one workstation.
Prototypes of the sophisticated workstation and communication network, called the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS), were installed in July and early August at five sites: one in Pittsburgh, two in Boston and two at National Weather Service headquarters in Silver Spring, Md.
AWIPS is the heart of the National Weather Service's major modernization program that will significantly improve its forecasting and result in more timely and precise severe weather and flood warnings for the nation. By integrating the most advanced observing systems such as the Doppler radar, satellites and automated surface observing systems with technologically advanced computer capabilities, forecasters can quickly extract the most meaningful information and provide more timely and precise forecasts and warnings.
The pilot program, dubbed Pathfinder, will demonstrate certain AWIPS capabilities, including communication of weather satellite imagery and weather forecasts via a satellite broadcast network; the advanced workstation's ability to display and manipulate radar, satellite, and other weather data; and the operations of the central monitoring and communications facility.
The Pathfinder effort, developed by PRC of McLean, Va., is scheduled to last approximately 18 months, with national deployment of AWIPS scheduled to begin in 1997. Plans call for the full system to be in place by 1999.
"Pathfinder is the first step in bringing the AWIPS program into operation," said Mary Glackin, AWIPS program manager. "We can now fully analyze the system's elements in an operational environment and gain experience in the installation, operations and maintenance of the system prior to installing it nationally."
In addition to deploying the Pathfinder prototypes, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has signed a contract modification with PRC that paves the way for continued development of this premier weather system. The contract modification restructures the development phase of the agreement with PRC and calls for revised system architecture, hardware and designs.
"The revised architecture and technical components are extremely powerful and will improve the overall performance of the AWIPS system," said Len Pomata, senior vice president of PRC's Systems Integration Division. "In fact, the new workstations will be six times faster than the initial ones and the communications link will handle 10 times more information than the originally planned system."
"This is a tremendous step forward in restructuring the AWIPS program," said Rannie Boyd, acting director of NOAA's Systems Acquisition Office. "The contract modification breaks the development phase into smaller pieces and allows it to evolve with operational experience. We've also agreed that PRC will continue development of the system software, while the weather service will develop the weather warning and forecast application software."
The agreement locks in the AWIPS development schedule through 1997. In addition, the contract modification increases the value of the development phase of the contract by $68 million, raising the total value of development to $127 million. The overall value of the 11-year AWIPS contract is estimated to be $286 million.
PRC provides information technology-based systems, products and services, and environmental management consulting and services to government and commercial clients.
###
Editor's Note: For technical information on the AWIPS architecture, data servers and workstations contact Jim Smith at PRC at (703) 556-1078.