FAA and NOAA Achieve NextGen Weather Milestone

Nov 02, 2011

Two important NextGen stakeholders, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), achieved a major JPDO NextGen milestone with a NextGen Weather Capability Evaluation conducted at the FAA Tech Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey on October 26-27, 2011. The evaluation demonstrated an improved ability to exchange and integrate weather data into current and future flight operations, and advanced both agencies toward information sharing in a Federal “data cloud.”

Building on a series of previous evaluations to show progress made toward the NextGen 4-D Weather Data Cube, the most recent effort illustrated the benefit of using commercial data publishing standards to locate and deliver weather information to requesters. It successfully connected legacy weather systems that publish and consume data, and allowed the National Weather Service (NWS) and the FAA to share a common architectural framework using open standards that will result in more efficient data sharing and system flexibility. Eventually, this will become a one-step process that supports the current operational paradigm, as well as a future, cloud-type operational environment where secure devices like smart phones, tablets, and computers will have mobile access to the same information. This will create a common weather picture for all NAS users, which will enable better collaboration and more consistent decision making.

The demonstration also emphasized the three core capabilities that the NWS is focusing on in support of NextGen, including data discovery, data translation, and data dissemination. These capabilities will allow current weather systems to supply net-enabled information uninterrupted, without any modifications or changes. They will also allow NOAA to accommodate evolving FAA requirements.

This work will set the stage for future efforts to synchronize weather data from the NWS with FAA requirements for translation into decision-assistance information. The JPDO and its partner agencies will continue to build upon these evaluations as it moves toward implementation and fielding of the NextGen 4-D Weather Data Cube and the FAA’s NextGen Network Enabled Weather (NNEW) programs.