THE NEW NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE BECAME OPERATIONAL ON JUNE 22, 2000
The Contract for the replacement NWWS was awarded
to DynCorp on September 30, 1999. All WFO/RFC hubs and selected National
Centers will be receiving the new NWWS. The purpose of this Web site is
to keep NWS regional and field offices apprised of the latest developments
in the implementation of the system so as to facilitate the transition
from the old to the new Weather Wire. In addition, information to
help commercial end users as well as State-designated emergency management
agencies transition to the new NWWS is included.
Table of Contents: (Click on
Section names for direct text link)
1. Contact Information
2. Site
Implementation
3. Implementation
Schedule
4. Information
and Documentation
4.1 Pre-Site
Survey Information
4.2 Site
Surveys
4.3 Transition
Information
5. Message
Formats
5.1 List of Weather Message Products
5.2 Interface Control Document:
NWWS 2000 External Message Formats
6. System
Updates
6.1 SPECIAL NOTICE REGARDING DE-ICER
POWER REQUIREMENTS ( 3/31/00)
7. System
Monitoring Software
For more information, contact DynCorp at
(800) 633-2340. Information is also available on their website: http://www.weatherwire.net.
They are offering three options for receiving WeatherWire products:
C-band, Ku-band, or Internet service. If you want service closest
to what you currently have on the NWWS, then the C-band option is most
appropriate. The benefits and costs of each option are explained
on the Web site. In addition to a straight purchase, DynCorp is
also offering long term financing plans.
(1) EMWIN (Emergency Managers
Weather Information Network) systems are available from many private industry
suppliers, and they are listed on the National Weather Service EMWIN
Web site. These systems offer an economical way to receive all products
available on the NWWS. Compared to the NWWS, typically, an additional
broadcast delay of 5 to 20 seconds can be expected for watches and warnings
, as compared to the NWWS delay described above. The EMWIN system
is monitored on a 24 hour per day, 7 day a week basis, and has an estimated
availability of at least 0.99. Being a satellite system, there are
short outages of several minutes duration (60 minutes worst case) during
a 3-4 day satellite eclipse period which occurs in the spring and fall.
The NWWS has backup provisions for such occurrences, whereast EMWIN does
not. A backup facility, such as the Internet, might be considered
during such scheduled outages. For more information, contact Mr.
Ken Bashford at (301) 713-0386 ext. 102, or kenneth.bashford@noaa.gov.
(2) The Interactive Weather Information Network (IWIN) can be accessed for free over any Internet connection. This site is maintained by the National Weather Service, and of course is subject to availability of the Internet network. The contact person is the same as for EMWIN, above.
(3) The National Weather Service's Family of Services Public Product Service (PPS) disseminated all public watches, warnings, and other meteorological products which are found in the NWWS data stream. These service is accessible, for an annual fee, directly from the National Weather Service via dedicated telecommunications lines in the Washington, D.C. area, or from commercial providers. For more information, contact Ms. Julie Hayes at (301) 713-1741 ext. 205, or julie.hayes@noaa.gov.
(4) NOAAPORT satellite broadcast receivers are available for lease or purchase. The NOAAPORT Web site includes a technical description of the system, sample products, and list of equipment manufacturers. For more information, contact Ms. Julie Hayes at (301) 713-1741 ext. 205 or julie.hayes@noaa.gov.
(5) Private sector weather service
companies and meteoroligists also provide services. The NWS Industrial
Meteorology Web site provides links to these providor home pages as
well as a directory of private weather services organized by State.
For more information, contact the IM staff at (301) 713-0258.
For States beginning with A-Z | Pat Gillis
(301) 713-1743 ext. 104 patrick.gillis@noaa.gov |
For equipment installation questions | DynCorp: Frank Wesby
(703) 818-4266 |
For all general program, policy questions, and sites as listed below | Doug Walls
(301) 713-1743 ext. 147 Douglas.Walls@noaa.gov |
C O M P L E T E D
Installation Status is summarized below.
Sites indicated as "COMPLETE"
may still need to have a USSI technician visit the site to confirm two
way operation with the latest software version. All sites will have
to go through formal Site Acceptance Testing, which will take place after
completion of the System Integration Test, which is currently on Hold pending
finalization of the software. IF ANY OF THE INFORMATION BELOW IS
INCORRECT, PLEASE NOTIFY THE OSO POINT OF CONTACT.
C O M P L E T E D
The project implementation schedule is as follows:
Contract Award 9/30/99
Preliminary Design Review Completed 10/28
FCC Licensing 9/30/99 to 4/25/00
Site Surveys: Complete
Critical Design Review Completed 11/23/99
Install NWS Sites: All NWS installed and operating. Boston and Salt Lake City operating over dial backup pending installation of RFI shielding
State Agency Installation Status:
System Integration Test: COMPLETE
Site Acceptance Tests: TBD
Terminate Current NWWS Service: 8/31/00, except for those commercial customers who have ordered their equipment already, and are not yet installed
New NWWS Operational: JUNE 22
Old NWWS 2-way Sites Disconnected on June 29.
Original data format still broadcast to existing customers by data feed
to the old NWWS broadcast hub using data provided by the new NWWS sites.
Click here
to access the following docment, formatted in WordPerfect: NOAA
Weather Wire Service (NWWS) Pre-Site Survey Information Package.
Note that since the "Sample Site Survey Report" caused some confusion,
it has been deleted from the package.
Site surveys will be posted here as they become
available.
4.3 Transition Information
4.3.1 Information Packet
Click here
to access the following document, formatted in WordPerfect: NOAA
Weather Wire Service (NWWS) Transition Information Packet.
This is the most current
listing of PIL
headers and associated product name identification.
This very important document defines the message
formats that the NWWS 2000 "Calypso" DCE expects to see from AWIPS and
AFOS, and also the message format that end users will see from the broadcast
downlink. If there are any questions or concerns, please let us know.
Refer to this
link for information on the format conversion tool, which can be very
helpful in implementing message header changes from your existing system.
DynCorp has advised that
the de-ice system will work from a prime power source anywhere in the range
of 198 VAC (4.7 amps) to 242 VAC (3.9 amps), single phase.
All designated State Agencies with an MOU with the NWS, plus all
NWS sites, will be receiving software called SKYTAP, produced by Marta
Corporation. Any other customer can buy this software directly from
the manufacturer. The components are FOSRX (weatherwire data receiver),
Router (background data processing), and SAND (weatherwire viewer).
This versatile software presents a user friendly interface for selection
of products which a site wishes to receive, without the requirement to
notify DynCorp, as is required in the present system. Another feature is
the ability to select any installed printers(up to four) to print the data
output. In addition, warning alarms, archiving, and the ability to
re-transmit data are available for computers operating on Windows NT.
A description of this softare can be found here.
The minimum and recommended computer requirements are as follows:
Minimum System Requirements
Windows-NT - 233Mhz Processor, 64Mb RAM, 1Gb Hard Drive
Windows-95 - 133Mhz Processor, 32Mb RAM, 1Gb Hard Drive
Windows-98 - 133Mhz Processor, 32Mb RAM, 1Gb Hard Drive
Recommended System Requirements
Windows-NT - 450Mhz Processor, 128Mb RAM, 2Gb Hard Drive
Windows-98 - 450Mhz Processor, 128Mb RAM, 2Gb Hard Drive
Please note that for full funcionality, a computer equipped with Windows
NT is strongly recommended. Specifically it must be running NTFS
with Service Pack 5 or
later.
Contact Information
douglas.walls@noaa.gov
Last Modified: Septenber 28, 2000
URL: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oso/oso1/oso15/newnwws.htm