A n important kick-offfor the aviation weath-er business was the so-

called “Hattara” (Cloudlet) proj-ect. The goal was the completerenewal of Helsinki-Vantaa Air-port's weather observing systemon the initiative of the FinnishMeteorological Institute (FMI).The mission was to develop an“automated tool for the observa-tion, communication, controland registration of data”. FMIdefined the requirements thatthe new system should meet,and Vaisala developed a solutionbased on the Company's knowl-edge of marine weather stationtechnology.

Because of its novelty, thenew system was sturdy andpricey, and the negotiations werelong and thorough. The systemwas delivered in October 1975.Hattara was one of the first auto-mated airport weather observingsystems in the world, and thus asource of great pride for bothVaisala and the customer. Thenew system was proudly exhibit-ed at important internationaltrade shows, such as the Ameri-can Meteorological Society'sAnnual Meeting. Today, theHelsinki-Vantaa Airport boastsits fourth generation Vaisalaweather observing system, andthe partnership between the twopioneers continues to be asstrong as ever.

Learning the tricks ofthe trade

“After the Hattara project, twomore important deals were won– from Medina and Taif airportsin Saudi Arabia, both deliveredin the late 1970s,” remembersHarry Alm, the now-retired Re-gional Manager of the area. Dur-ing the early stages of the airportweather observing systems busi-ness, competition was fierce and

the market extremely heteroge-neous, as everybody was busydeveloping different kinds of da-ta logging systems and sensors tomatch. It was not until thebreakthrough in microprocess-ing technology and the develop-ment of relevant applications formeteorological measurementthat the market started to findshape and direction.

One important lessonlearned by Vaisala from the first

steps in the field was that it wasbeneficial to become indepen-dent from other suppliers of me-teorological sensors. Thus, in themid 1980s, the decision was tak-en to start the in-house develop-ment and manufacture of visibil-ity and cloud height sensors, thekey sensors for aviation measurement at airports. Just astoday, only the best was goodenough – the best sensor perfor-mance and reliability within theindustry. With the developmentof the ceilometer and RunwayVisual Range (RVR) systems,Vaisala started to claim its posi-tion as the market leader in avia-tion weather.

The Vaisala MIDAS Auto-mated Weather Observing Sys-tems (AWOS) series became thestar Vaisala Aviation Weather so-lution. It has seen three phasesbefore reaching its current config-uration as MIDAS IV: MIDAS360, 400 and 600. Dubai Interna-tional Airport could be men-tioned as another significant ear-ly project, as it was the first majortwo runway system realized withMIDAS 400. This was in 1984.The collapse of the SovietRegime in the early 1990s alsogenerated a lot of business forVaisala, as old airport systems,particularly in Eastern CentralEurope, required renewal butwere left without product sup-port. For example, MIDAS 600

12 167/2005

Vaisala Aviation Weather Celebrates its 30th Anniversary

Marikka MetsoEditor-in-ChiefVaisalaHelsinki, Finland

Vaisala Aviation Weather celebrates 30 years of business in 2005. Many thingshave changed since the early days; the operations of our customers havedeveloped significantly with the increasing volume of air traffic around theworld. Despite the changes, accurate and reliable weather observing andforecasting continue to be key factors in ensuring passenger safety and theefficient flow of air traffic.

based multi runway systems weredelivered to both Prague andBratislava International Airports.

From field to automationAs flight traffic increased, air-ports became more and morebusiness-like. Airport authoritiesquickly understood that it wasimportant to generate as muchtraffic as possible to bring inmore business. Following ICAOrecommendations was, and stillis, key in meeting the safety cri-teria. Having the most advancedequipment meant less opera-tional down time and a higherairport category - both of whichincrease airport revenues. Forthe airport authorities, theICAO recommendations servedas a helpful tool for evaluatingthe performance of the airportweather observing system.

“Before automation, it wascommonplace to perform obser-vations on-site, quite literally: atairports, this meant that a Metobserver had to make live obser-vations of weather phenomenavisible to the naked eye,” Almpoints out. Although RVR tech-nology had been around forsome time already, data process-ing was a true challenge beforethe invention of the micro-processor. After this, the devel-opment was from visual percep-tion to automation and from la-bor-intensive to cost-efficient.

Investing in continuity Today, Vaisala Aviation Weatheris one of the oldest and most ex-perienced solution providers inits field. Two business acquisi-tions in the past nine years, in-cluding the German JenoptikImpulsphysik GmbH and theU.S. Artais Weather Check Inc.,have further strengthenedVaisala's position in the market.

Most of the older MIDASsystems have been upgraded toMIDAS IV, reflecting customerloyalty and continuity in

Vaisala's business. One of thefirst two runway MIDAS IV de-liveries was for Gardenmoen Air-port in Oslo, Norway, in 1997.

Investment in continuousproduct development, innova-tion and improvement is a highpriority for Vaisala. But evenmore important than the abilityto manufacture leading hightechnology is Vaisala's under-standing of how to best cater forindividual and varying businessrequirements. “A growing num-ber of customers opt for Vaisalanot only as their trusted equip-ment provider but also asprovider of a wide range of ser-vices which facilitate day-to-dayoperations and introduce con-siderable cost-savings,” explainsHannu Katajamäki, Manager ofthe Vaisala Aviation WeatherBusiness Unit.

Customer firstWhen venturing into the worldof aviation weather, Vaisala hadthe advantage of knowing many

of the “new” customers in thisniche through the Company'sother activities in the meteoro-logical field. Vaisala's ability toproduce reliable and accuratemeasurement systems was al-ready known. This trust hassince been rewarded many timesover, as Vaisala's philosophy hasalways insisted on the same fun-damental – the customer is inthe driving seat. Investment insolid, long-term partnerships isan investment in the future.During its 30 years of opera-tions, Vaisala Aviation Weatherhas built a solid customer baseof its own that now in turn ben-efits other Vaisala operations.

“I would like to thank all ourcustomers for the past 30 yearsof successful partnerships. Welook forward to many moreyears of learning from you andyour operations, as each projectand customer is different. Beingreceptive to continuous learningis beneficial to business – yoursand ours,” says Katajamäki. ●

167/2005 13

Vaisala’s former ManagingDirector Yrjö Toivola, PekkaKostamo, Ilkka Ikonen and FinnishMeteorological Institute’s PerttiValkovuori examining the Hattarasystem in 1976.