1.2 SAWS (Stand Alone Weather Sensors), the FAA's Newest Weather Station

Monday, 15 January 2001: 9:00 AM
Timothy E. Parker, Coastal Environmental Systems, Seattle, WA; and G. L. Stringer, D. M. Ellefson, and P. A. Lau

Coastal Environmental Systems has fused the power of their ZENO® 3200 data acquisition system with state of the art sensors and an incredible display to provide the FAA with it’s newest airport weather station. The SAWS unit is composed of three major components:

* SU – Sensors Unit, which includes all the sensors, enclosure, power distribution and telemetry

* CDU – Control and Display Unit, which receives the telemetered data and distributes it to one or up to 7 displays

* SDU – Sensor Display Unit, which is a specially designed active matrix style display that is both daylight readable, but suitable for darker rooms.

This is the first FAA weather station to:

1. Use an Ultrasonic anemometer

2. Display the weather data on an active matrix style screen

The overall system is very flexible and expandable for a wide variety of aviation applications. The system is scheduled to be certified in late summer and delivery begins in the fall. The total number of stations will be near 300 and will be installed in all or most of the Class C airspace airports throughout the USA.

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