Wednesday, 15 May 2002: 8:00 AM
Update on the FAA’s Weather and Radar Processor (WARP)
WARP is the primary source for weather information at the FAA’s air route traffic control centers (ARTCC) and the air traffic control system command center (ATCSCC). Operational since 1997, WARP was designed to meet the special needs of the air traffic controller and the FAA’s center meteorologists. The first version of WARP, stage 0, was a leased system that provided weather data to the controllers via separate briefing terminals located throughout the centers. WARP stage 1, which became operational in 2001, is an FAA-owned system built to interface directly with other automated air traffic systems. For example, WARP stage 1 provides high-resolution upper level wind forecasts from the rapid update cycle (RUC) model to a special aircraft trajectory model that is part of the FAA’s Free Flight program. The next phase of WARP, which is now undergoing field testing, sends special state-of-the-art NEXRAD mosaics directly to the controllers display system replacement (DSR) consoles enabling them to overlay aircraft positions with the NEXRAD data. In the coming years many other FAA systems will rely on WARP to provide their weather data via the WARP weather information network server (WINS), which will be the cornerstone of WARP stage 3.
Supplementary URL: http://www.faa.gov/aua/ipt_prod/weather/warp/