Provision of AMDAR Data for the Region

David R. Helms

Office of Science and Technology

NOAA National Weather Service

AMDAR Regional WorkshopMexico City, MexicoNovember 8, 2011

Provision of AMDAR Data for the Region: Possibilities for provision and utilization of targeted data from

MDCRS and other programs for Caribbean, Central and South America

.

Table of Contents

• Collection • Optimization• Formatting• Distribution• Quality Management System • Data Portal• Archive

Data Collection and Formatting:Use Aircraft Probes, Avionics and Communication

Capabilities

• Airlines use VHF air/ground data link service to communicate air traffic control, airline operational control, and airline administrative control between ground-based organizations and the cockpit.

AircraftConditioningMonitoring

System

Flight ManagementSystem Central

MaintenanceComputer

AircraftConditioningMonitoring

System

Flight ManagementSystem Central

MaintenanceComputer

VHFAntenna

VHF Data Radio(VDR)

VHF Digital Radio (VDR)• Digital, multimode radio• Voice: 25 kHz, 8.33 kHz• Data: ACARS, VDL/AOA-ATN

VHFAntenna

VHF Data Radio(VDR)

VHF Digital Radio (VDR)• Digital, multimode radio• Voice: 25 kHz, 8.33 kHz• Data: ACARS, VDL/AOA-ATN

CMU/ATSU/AIMS

Communications Management Unit (CMU)Air Traffic Services Unit (ATSU)AIMS• Aircraft router• AOA

CMU/ATSU/AIMS

Communications Management Unit (CMU)Air Traffic Services Unit (ATSU)AIMS• Aircraft router• AOA

Multi-functionalCockpit

Display Unit

PrinterMulti-functionalCockpit

Display Unit

Printer

Air-Ground Communications Services:ARINC VHF GlobalLink

Air-Ground Communications Services:ARINC/MDCRS Reporting

91 samples during a typical 2:15 flight

Taxi TaxiTake-Off Departure En Route Approach Land

6 sec interval to 90 secsfrom OFF

20 sec interval to 510 secs to TOC

3 min. interval to TOD

60 sec interval to ON

Top of Climb(TOC)

Top of Descent(TOD)

Taxi TaxiTake-Off Departure En Route Approach Land

6 sec interval to 90 secsfrom OFF

20 sec interval to 510 secs to TOC

3 min. interval to TOD

60 sec interval to ON

Top of Climb(TOC)

Top of Descent(TOD)

• Aircraft must be able to accept commands from the ground to configure reporting.

Optimization

Optimization is collection of observations from participating AMDAR aircraft based on establish data requirements.

• The goal of optimization is to collect observations which have the greatest operational value and impact, while minimizing collection of excessive data.

• E-AMDAR and Australian Bureau of Meteorology have implemented optimization capability

• USA is considering adopting optimization as part of future fleet expansion

• E-AMDAR operated several individual optimization applications, typically one for each airline. E-AMDAR coordinate these applications to de-conflict redundant data collection

• Future optimization capabilities will link national and international fleets as an integrated system. Data requirements will be dynamically set, based on risk and uncertainty of predicting high impact weather.

OptimizationBasics of Optimization:

• Send uplink message in ARINC 620 format to enable or disable reporting from aircraft based on a/c departure or destination airport and scheduled time of departure of arrival.

• Command reporting “On” for ascent, descent, en route, or for more than one phase of flight.

• Accept pre-planned schedule from NMS for an entire day.

• Accept changes from NMS to pre-planned schedule as often as once per hour.

• Accept flight schedules from participating airlines.

• Match airline flight number and aircraft tail number.

• Assign higher or lower priority to aircraft based on reporting capabilities.

MDCRS Formatting and Distribution

ACARS

CentralProcessor

ARINC Packet

NetworkNADIN IINADIN II

ARINC Data Network Service

NOAA/NWS“Gateway”

MDCRS Server

BUFRMessages

BUFRMessagesACARS

BUFRMessages

NOAA/OARESRL/GSD

Airline

Computers

AirlineAirline

Computers

• Remove message headers• Extract raw wx data, validate format• Remove airline and flight IDs• Convert to binary (BUFR) format

GTS

NOAA/OAR RUC Dev

NOAA/OAR AMDAR

Page

NOAA/NWSNCEP

NOAA/NWS NOAAPORT

E-AMDAR Formatting and Distribution

Quality Management System

Goals:1. Identify data which are suspect in meeting performance targets2. Report aircraft with problems back to air carrier for engineering review and

correction3. Flag/black list suspect data for operational users4. Provide trend analysis for sensor performance for use by numerical weather

prediction (i.e., characterizing representative errors/bias correction) and retrospective analysis

5. Provide on-going assessment of contract performance measure attainment

Methodology: Data are compared with a reference, which typically is a model (e.g., RUC, GFS) or other observing system (e.g., radiosonde), and statistics are generated for each aircraft including bias and standard deviation from the reference analysis for a given time period. Format, temporal and spatial checks are also applied to data to identify any formatting problems.

Quality Management System

Additional Inter-comparisons: - Model: NOAA/GSD, EC/CMC, US Navy FNMOC- Observations: NOAA/GSD (Radiosondes and GPS-Met)

Temperature Biases to BG - NA Area August 2011

-0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6

1000

925

850

700

500

400

300

250

200

Pre

ssur

e in

Hpa

Temperature Biases in Degrees C

CRJ

TAMDAR

ACARS

Sondes

Brad Ballish/NCEP

Feedback to Air Carriers:E-AMDAR: KNMI http://www.knmi.nl/samenw/geoss/eumetnet/E-Amdar/QEvC/loc5939/images/index.htmMDCRS: NOAA/NCEP http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/qap/

Data Portal

Access, metadata and visualization:

NOAA Gateway – BUFR, FTP PullNOAA GTS (follow-on, June 2012) – BUFR, satellite pushNOAA AMDAR – Java Viewerhttp://amdar.noaa.gov/java/NOAA MADIS – Comma Separated, LDM pushhttp://madis.noaa.gov/SMN Web or Hydro-Met Application, SMN WAN

Archive and Metadata:

• Data can be accessed retrospectively from the NOAA AMDAR and MADIS sites. Formal archive of AMDAR data is being coordinated within the US and with WMO.

• Metadata standards are being coordinated by WMO as part of WIGOS. Aircraft type and series and their associated statistical performance against a reference is a target minimum metadata standard.

David R. Helms

Office of Science and Technology

NOAA National Weather Service

email: david.helms@noaa.gov

Questions?

Provision of AMDAR Data for the Region