The Remote Oceanic Meteorology Information Operational (ROMIO) Demonstration

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Next Generation (NextGen) Weather Technology in the Cockpit (WTIC) program is sponsoring the Remote Oceanic Meteorology Information Operational (ROMIO) demonstration. The ROMIO demonstration has the purpose of 1) evaluating the feasibility and benefits of uplinking two convective weather products into the flight deck of commercial aircraft that fly transoceanic routes to southern, international destinations, and 2) to develop and demonstrate operational strategies for using these two convective products. The ROMIO demonstration began in July 2018 and continues for about 9 months. An important part of the demonstration is to solicit feedback from pilots, Airline Operations Center (AOC) dispatchers and Oceanic Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC) controllers to ascertain the benefits associated with providing near real-time, rapidly updated graphical information on convective structures. Participants in the ROMIO demonstration include the FAA, the weather research community, three airlines (Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and American Airlines), and two airline inflight entertainment communications (IFEC) providers (Panasonic and Gogo). Each airline has trained a select number of airline line check pilots to participate in ROMIO.

The convective weather products, called the Cloud Top Height (CTH) and the Convection Diagnosis Oceanic (CDO), are computed from satellite infrared data, lightning data and global numerical model results over the domains scanned by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) East and West satellites. The two products update and uplink at 15 min intervals, using the latest available data. The CTH and CDO products are displayed in the flight deck on a tablet and on a web browser at the Oceanic ARTCC and at each AOC. The products are for supplemental use only.

We will report on the status of the ROMIO demonstration with a primary focus on preliminary findings, user feedback and lessons learned.

Disclaimer: This research is in response to requirements and funding by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the FAA.