The Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) is a technologically advanced processing, display, and

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

system that is the cornerstone of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...

's (NWS) operations. AWIPS is a complex network of systems that ingests and integrates meteorological,

hydrological Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

, and

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

data, and also processes and distributes the data to 135 Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs) and River Forecast Centers (RFCs) nationwide. Weather forecasters utilize the capabilities of AWIPS to make increasingly accurate weather, water, and climate predictions, and to dispense rapid, highly reliable warnings and advisories. The AWIPS system architectural design is driven by expandability, flexibility, availability, and portability. The system is easily expandable to allow for the introduction of new functionality and the augmentation of network and processing capabilities. AWIPS is designed so that software and data can be migrated to new platforms as technology evolves.

History

AWIPS replaced the Automation of Field Operations and Services (AFOS) system which had become obsolete and was very difficult to maintain. AWIPS was originally developed and maintained by PRC, Inc (later acquired by

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

Information Technology) with installation completed in 1998. Since 2005,

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitali ...

has been NWS’ partner for the operations, maintenance and evolution of AWIPS, providing the integrated mission services required to sustain and enhance system performance. It is a five-year contract with five one-year award terms for a potential maximum 10-year contract. Teaming with Raytheon are Keane Federal Systems, Globecomm Systems Inc., GTSI Corp., ENSCO, Reston Consulting Group, Fairfield Technologies, Centuria Corporation,Centuria Corporation. "Sub Contracts" https://www.centuria.com/our-contracts and Earth Resources Technology. Together they provide software operations and maintenance, software development, hardware maintenance and logistics, commercial off-the-shelf software maintenance, satellite communications, and network monitoring and control.

Evolution

As the architect of the AWIPS evolution,

designed, developed, and released the system's next-generation software known as AWIPS II. AWIPS II, which features a new

service oriented architecture In software engineering, service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an architectural style that focuses on discrete services instead of a monolithic design. By consequence, it is also applied in the field of software design where services are provide ...

(SOA) began roll-out in late 2011. This new system simplified code and consequently strengthened system performance while reducing the maintenance burden. All of this is achieved while retaining a system look and feel that makes the AWIPS evolution appear similar to the user. The AWIPS program office is working in conjunction with the

National Centers for Environmental Prediction The United States National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) delivers national and global weather, water, climate and space weather guidance, forecasts, warnings and analyses to its Partners and External User Communities. These prod ...

(NCEP) to incorporate the NAWIPS baseline software used by the NCEP centers, National Hurricane Center (NHC) / Aviation Weather Center (AWC) /

Storm Prediction Center The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) is a US government agency that is part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), operating under the control of the National Weather Service (NWS), which in turn is part of the National Oceani ...

(SPC) as well as the

Weather Prediction Center The Weather Prediction Center (WPC), located in College Park, Maryland, is one of nine service centers under the umbrella of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), a part of the National Weather Service (NWS), which in turn is ...

(formerly Hydrometeorological Prediction Center) and

Ocean Prediction Center The Ocean Prediction Center (OPC), established in 1995, is one of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction's (NCEP's) original six service centers. Until 2003, the name of the organization was the Marine Prediction Center.Ocean Predictio ...

(WPC and OPC) into the AWIPSII baseline. The commissioning of a new AWIPS site, the first since the Huntsville Weather Forecast Office in 2002, will also be part of this effort at the

Space Weather Prediction Center The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), named the Space Environment Center (SEC) until 2007, is a laboratory and service center of the US National Weather Service (NWS), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), loc ...

(SWPC) in Boulder, CO.

References

{{reflist, 2 *Ferris, Nancy (2000)
"Advanced Weather System"
''Government Executive''. National Weather Service Graphic software in meteorology Computer workstations

History

Evolution

See also

References