Contact: NOAA: Barry Reichenbaugh FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(301) 713-0622 5/3/95
FAA: Liz Neblett
(202) 267-8107
WMO: Eirah Gore-Dale
41-22-730-8314
ICAO: Hutton G. Archer
(514) 285-8220
MCI: Tracy Hughes
(703) 902-6170
Alden: Kevin O'Reilly
800-225-9492, ext. 2391
Pilots around the world will soon receive more detailed and timely aviation weather forecasts through a new satellite-based communications system dedicated today at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration headquarters in Silver Spring, Md.
Representatives of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) joined NOAA Administrator D. James Baker to introduce the new World Area Forecast System (WAFS). The WAFS program is a cooperative effort between NOAA, the WMO and ICAO, with funding from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
Satellite broadcasts of WAFS products will give pilots on the ground access to more detailed, up-to-date significant weather forecasts and charts of forecast upper-air winds and temperatures for their use in flight planning.
"The increase in transmission speed with this new system is like changing from the pony express to Federal Express," Baker said. "The World Area Forecast System will give the world aviation community weather information necessary for safer operations, and more economical fuel allocation and departure timing."
Countries will receive the WAFS broadcasts through a dedicated satellite receiving dish connected to a customized computer workstation used to process the data. Pilots will get the weather forecasts in hard copy form through either their country's meteorological services organization or another provider of aeronautical weather information.
The primary contractors for designing, building and equipping the system are MCI Communications Corp. of Washington, D.C., and Alden Electronics Inc. of Westborough, Mass.
The satellite communications capabilities are a dramatic improvement over former land-based systems, jumping data transmission rates from the previous 75 baud to 38.4 kilobits per second.
Using the same satellite link as WAFS is another new network for sharing weather information in WMO Region IV, which encompasses North America, the Caribbean and Central America. The Region IV Meteorological Telecommunications Network (RMTN) is a two-way communications system for sharing meteorological observations and forecasts between countries that make up Region IV. RMTN is a cooperative effort between NOAA's National Weather Service and the WMO.
RMTN replaces a "daisy-chain" of telecommunications between Caribbean and Central American nations and the United States, which was vulnerable to breakdowns. One break in that land-based chain could cut off life-saving information to islands farther down the chain. The satellite communications of RMTN gives the U.S., Central America and Caribbean nations more reliable disaster and emergency communications and monitoring capabilities.
MCI is building the WAFS system based on data transmission technology using small satellite earth-station dishes, called Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT), to provide more cost- effective, reliable, high-speed data transmission services. MCI will provide 24-hour network monitoring and trouble management and reporting. The broadcast and monitoring services are financed by the FAA.
Alden is building user terminals for use with WAFS and RMTN. The terminals -- known as Satellite Telecommunication and Analysis for Region IV (STAR4) -- will combine the equipment needed for analysis, display, communications and storage into a single high-performance microcomputer.