WARP Selectable Mosaic Generator: Weather Improvements for Air Traffic Controllers

The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Weather and Radar Processor (WARP) system has been operationally providing weather information to critical systems in the National Airspace System (NAS) since 2002. The WARP system provides the capability to simultaneously and continuously receive, process, generate, store, and display aviation-related weather information and radar products from external sources and to disseminate this information to other NAS subsystems. The primary purpose of WARP is to improve the timeliness and quality of weather information delivered to Air Traffic Control Specialists (ATCS) at the Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC), Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC), and Combined Center Radar Approach Control (CERAP) sites to support the tactical and strategic decision-making process. A secondary WARP mission is to provide Weather Specialists and Meteorologists at the Center Weather Service Units (CWSU) with the ability to assimilate weather information rapidly, to interactively perform analytical functions, and to create weather products.

WARP provides layered reflectivity mosaics to Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) User Display Systems (UDS). A new mosaicking algorithm, Selectable Mosaic Generator (SMG), has been developed and deployed to address known limitations of the Baseline Mosaic Generator Optimal Mosaic. The SMG was tested and evaluated at the William J. Hughes FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ. This presentation will highlight the benefits of SMG to Air Traffic Control including non-weather echo removal, improved resolution, increased coverage, better accuracy, reduced latency, and the ability to select selectable layers with 1,000 ft granularity.