A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/706293
Weather Display (AWD). The AWD will be replacing ITWS, CIWS, and WARP terminal in all domains including the command center. The AWD is being designed from scratch and will be configurable for each pos ition that will be getting a display, i.e. ATCT TMC, TRACON TMC, Arrival TMC in the ARTCC. All users will have the ability to save configurations to allow easier use. Training for the AWD will be more than just teaching how to access the products but also how to use the actual weather products which will be a new direction for the weather programs. Weather Evaluation Team - Collaborative Decision Making WET - CDM The WET team is currently running the Collaborative Aviation Weather Statement (CAWS) summer demo and evaluation within the CDM community. There have been a number of issues that have come up this year due to confusion on how it should be used, when it should be issued. The team has been discussing ways to improve the understanding of the product and m aking it a lot more impact - based not just weather - based. The goal is to have a forecast that will only show weather that will have an actual impact on NAS operations, i.e. playbook or TMI was generated because the CAWS showed an impactful weather event. Th e Tech center is making site visits at a number of facilities to observe how the CAWS is being used in the field and then decisions will be made on where to take the product for the next convective season. Surface Weather S ystem (SWS) The SWS is replacing the old F420 wind sensors as well as the wind measuring equipment (WME) with new state of the art wind sensor, temp/dew point, and a triple redundant altimeter sensor. The system will replace the F420 wind dials with either a 10 - inch or 8 - inch display dep ending on space the facility has. Money has not been allocated to do console modifications so the display is designed to cover the holes left by the F420. Th ese displays are slat wall compatible. At facilities that are using WME or wind shear system s, this wi ll be a mostly behind the scenes replacement , as the wind will be displayed on the current display. The SWS is compatible with ACE - IDS and IDS - R. SWS is currently be deployed and sites that will require new displays are being delayed due to a earthquake t hat damaged the plant that makes the glass for the displays.