This paper will discuss the utilization of the public Internet and a private Intranet for the collection and delivery of dynamic, mission-critical aviation weather products to end customers. The acceptance of Web-based technologies (i.e., browsers, the JAVA programming language, Dynamic HTML, etc.) by end-users has lead to an explosion of Web-based technologies in solving real-world weather-related applications. Many of these applications are prototype in nature. In contrast, the author will present an on-going business-driven implementation that has deployed a Web-based infrastructure for collecting, storing, and re-distributing aviation related weather data (e.g., Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR), Terminal Weather Information for Pilots (TWIP), real-time Runway Visual Range (RVR), one-minute Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS), and Northwest Airline Turbulence Plot data.) Data is collected from various sources (government as well as commercial) and delivered in "raw" form as well as in a "value-added" form suitable for consumption by browser-based technologies. The author will address some of the benefits (e.g., rapid development and deployment, ease of delivery, platform independence) as well as some of the difficulties (e.g., dynamic rapidly evolving standards, competing Web-based technologies, GUI presentation issues) in applying Web-based technologies to the problem domain. The future is even more promising given the rapid development of Intelligent Agent technologies. Application of Intelligent Agent technologies will place in the hands of the user, the capability to collect and act on data based on user defined parameters.
The paper will also address the benefits of using web-based technology for the distribution and display of weather products: 1) fast, early deployment of prototypes to evaluate their usefulness and operational value; 2) cost efficient communications; 3) platform independence; and 4) low cost software.