J12.3 APPLYING AWIPS TECHNOLOGY TO THE PROTOTYE AVIATION 

 COLLABORATION EFFORT (PACE) 

Dennis M. Rodgers * 

NOAA - Forecast Systems Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado 

1. INTRODUCTION 

Adverse weather conditions, especially those

associated with thunderstorms, contribute

significantly to disruptions in air traffic operations.

The effects extend to every sector of the flying

community and take the form of delays, reroutes, 

trip cancellations, and a reduced margin of

operating safety. Weather that adversely impacts 

aviation operations also increases demands on

FAA Air Traffic resources. 

 

In 1978, the FAA and NWS established the 

Center Weather Service Unit (CWSU) Program,

placing NWS meteorologists in FAA Air Route

Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs). This NWS 

meteorological support is designed to improve

aviation safety and enhance the efficient flow of 

air traffic by the continual forecasting and 

monitoring of adverse weather. The effectiveness 

of this meteorological support is dependent upon 

the CWSU forecaster maintaining a close

coordination with traffic managers whose

decisions affect the flow of traffic through the

National Airspace System. FAA personnel need

the best available weather information to facilitate 

their mission of supporting aviation operations.

The CWSU program has developed slowly, and 

not until the latter quarter of the 90’s did the

CWSUs begin to receive newer technology that

would enable the meteorologist to provide higher 

resolution forecasts and advisories to air traffic 

decision makers. 

Further progress toward achieving a more 

weather-responsive air traffic system is reliant

upon a joint FAA and NWS commitment that 

places increased emphasis on emerging science 

and technology applied to aviation weather 

forecasting. The FAA is actively working 

*Corresponding author address: Dennis M. 

Rodgers, NOAA/OAR/FSL/AD R/FS5, 325

Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305-3328; email: 

rodgers@fsl.noaa.gov 

toward establishing a more definitive set of 

requirements for weather forecast information.

Weather information needs of the ARTCC Traffic 

Management Unit (TMU) are described in a 1999

document (FAA, 1999), forming the basis for a

formal requirements document anticipated to be

completed by 2003. When completed and

mutually agreed upon by the NWS and FAA, the

resulting weather requirements document will 

provide a starting point from which the NWS can

launch appropriate initiatives aimed at satisfying

these requirements. 

2. PACE 

The Prototype Aviation Collaboration Effort 

(PACE), located at the Fort Worth (TX) CWSU, is 

designed as an operational test bed for 

demonstrating the effective employment of 

developing science, technology, and computer

communication interfaces in providing weather 

support for the TMU. Fort Worth ARTCC and

FAA Southwest Region Headquarters officials 

have agreed to allow the use of their facility in the

CWSU workspace to conduct PACE activities.

PACE, initiated by NWS Southern Region

Headquarters, is a coordinated interagency effort 

involving the Fort Worth CWSU, Fort Worth

Warning Forecast Office, NWS Southern Region

Headquarters, FAA Southwest Region

Headquarters, and the Forecast Systems 

Laboratory. Additional participants may include

adjacent CWSUs, and the Aviation Weather 

Center. 

The primary goal of PACE is to establish

procedures to generate automated guidance 

products, share common data sets among

operational units, and demonstrate how the

employment of collaborative forecasting

methodologies can lead to improvements in

aviation forecast products. This process will 

begin with the development of thunderstorm 

forecast products formatted for use by the TMU. 
Initial PACE exploratory development will be 

directed to prototyping graphical thunderstorm 

forecast products combining the National 

Convective Weather Forecast (NCWF, Mueller, 

et. al., 2000), the Convective SIGMET, and the 

Collaborative Convection Forecast Product 

(CCFP, Phaneuf and Nestoros, 1999). The 

NCWF provides an analysis of convective 

hazards with a 1-h forecast of storm positions 

updated every 5 minutes; the Convective 

SIGMET is a 2-h forecast of significant 

thunderstorms updated hourly; and the CCFP 

produces forecasts of significant thunderstorms at 

2, 4, and 6 hours, updated every 4 hours. By 

combining these products in a graphical display, 

the TMU could be provided with an automated, 

frequently updated 0-6 hour thunderstorm 

forecast. 

3. FX Connect 

FX Connect (FXC) is a real-time 

meteorological display system with collaborative 

capabilities, and is a main component of the 

PACE prototyping environment. A unique feature 

of FXC is that it can accommodate the interaction 

of forecasters at different locations through a 

graphical user interface. When connected to an 

AWIPS server, FXC allows the display of D2D 

data and imagery over which graphics may be 

created, manipulated, and viewed by remotely 

located collaboration participants. Although the 

AWIPS data base is the primary and most 

extensive source of data, FXC can also obtain 

data (in image form) from Web servers and 

integrate data from other sources. Details of FXC 

architecture may be obtained in Grote and 

Golden, 2002, in this volume. 

FXC features include the conventional 

capabilities of: 

• Display of diverse data sets (images, 

observations, and text); 

• Interactive display manipulation (zoom, 

pan, toggle overlays, overlay color); 

• Interactive display generation (cross 

sections, time series, time/height, model 

soundings); Extensive manual graphic 

and annotation tools; 

• Display procedures. 

Advanced capabilities of FXC include: 

• Slide creation and presentation; 

• Chat capability; 

• Internet access to WWW products 

• Display of radar data from any WSR-88D 

radar; 

• Creation and display of JPEG images; 

• Independent or collaborative mode of 

operation. 

FXC will be used in PACE to explore 

methodologies for promoting an efficient 

exchange of meteorological information and 

collaboration in the development and production 

of new briefing products for TMU decision 

makers. One of the key features of FXC is the 

ability to annotate meteorological displays. This 

feature plays a crucial role in enhancing 

communications between collaborators also in 

supporting prototyping and routine briefing 

product generation. 

4. References 

Grote, U.H., and C. Golden, 2002: Extending 

AWIPS to Remote Collaboration. Preprints, 

Interactive Symposium on AWIPS, Amer. Meteor. 

Soc., Boston, MA, paper 7.3. 

Mueller, C.K., C.B. Fidalego, D.W. McCann, D. 

Meganhart, N. Rehak, and T. Carty, 1999: 

National Convective Weather Forecast Product. 

Preprints, 8th Conference on Aviation Range, and 

Aerospace Meteorology, American Meteorological 

Society, Boston, 230-234. 

Phaneuf, M.W. and D. Nestoros, 1999: 

Collaborative Convective Forecast Product: 

Evaluation for 1999. (Available from the author at 

CygnCom Solutions,Inc.)