ARINC Meteorological Data Collection and Reporting System (MDCRS) Communications Segment of NOAA’s AMDAR Program

1. ARINC Meteorological Data Collection and Reporting System (MDCRS)Communications Segment of NOAA’s AMDAR Program January 14, 2007

2. Introduction to ARINC • ARINC has provided information and communications services for the airlines and others since 1929. • We operate one of the most flexible and sophisticated private networks in the world to ensure mission-critical communications for more than 700 transportation industry companies and government agencies, including: • Approximately 100 airlines worldwide • FAA and National Weather Service • For the commercial aviation industry, we provide a global air/ground communications network with voice and data services for airline operations control and air traffic control. • Headquarters in Annapolis, MD, with offices and facilities to serve customers in 140 countries.

3. Communications Management Unit (CMU) • Air Traffic Services Unit (ATSU) • AIMS • Aircraft router • AOA Aircraft Conditioning Monitoring System CMU/ATSU/AIMS Printer Multi-functional Cockpit Display Unit VHF Data Radio (VDR) Flight Management System Central Maintenance Computer • VHF Digital Radio (VDR) • Digital, multimode radio • Voice: 25 kHz, 8.33 kHz • Data: ACARS, VDL/AOA-ATN VHF Antenna Air-Ground Communications Services • Airlines use VHF air/ground data link service to communicate air traffic control, airline operational control, and airline administrative control between ground-based organizations and the cockpit.

4. Air-Ground Communications Services • HF/VHF Voice • VHF Data Link ACARS/VDLM2 • SATCOM • HF Data Link (HFDL) Virtual 100% assurance of message delivery

5. Typical Data Link Applications Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) Taxi From Aircraft Link test/clock Update Fuel/crew information Delay reports Out To Aircraft PDC ATIS Weight & balance Airport analysis V-speeds flight Plan-hard copy Load FMC Departure From Aircraft Engine data Ascent Weather reports To Aircraft Flight plan Updated weather En route From Aircraft Position reports Weather reports Delay info/ETA Voice request Engine info Maintenance info To Aircraft ATC oceanic clearances Weather reports Re-clearances Ground voice request (SELCAL) Take-off From Aircraft Off Approach From Aircraft Provisioning Gate requests ETA Special requests Engine info Maintenance infoDescent Weather reports To Aircraft Gate assignments Connecting gates Passenger & crew ATIS Landing From Aircraft On Taxi From Aircraft In Fuel info Crew info Fault data (from central maintenance computer)

6. History of MDCRS • In late 1980s the concept of an automated aircraft reporting system for collecting weather observations was developed. • FAA and NWS funded implementation and operation of the Meteorological Data Collection and Reporting Service (MDCRS). • ARINC fielded MDCRS in 1991 • 3 Participating airlines; Delta, Northwest, United • American, FedEx, and UPS participation added. • Southwest joined in 2005. • ARINC has continually provided the service under contract with the FAA.

7. Importance of MDCRS • MDCRS is an important data sources for aviation weather forecasts. • Data show temperature inversions that forecast ceiling and visibility at airports in the LA basin. • Useful in forecasting wind gusts & LLWS in terminal areas. • Used in RUC model for aviation forecasts. • Benefits to the airlines • Accurate wind forecasts enable efficient routing and fuel savings • Greater predictability of weather hazards • Improved forecasting of local conditions, freezing levels, icing, phases of precipitation, wind shear profiles and turbulence, potential for fog. • More accurate forecasts of temperature, wind, clouds, and storms. MDCRS has become an extremely useful data source enabling a significantly better understanding of atmospheric conditions. (American Meteorological Society, Feb. 2003)

8. Airline Participation • Today’s numbers • 7 participating airlines • American, Delta, FedEx, Northwest, United, UPS, Southwest • 1500 aircraft report Winds and Temps • 60 UAL a/c report Turbulence (EDR) • 25 UPS 757s report Water Vapor • >100,000 observations per day, >3M per month. High resolution 3-D meteorological data from commercial aircraft have been shown to improve the accuracy of forecast, from short term (1 hour or less) to 1 week time projections.

9. Airline Participation – No. of Observations • 3,291,986 Observations from 1,462 aircraft – June 2006

10. Content of Typical MDCRS Messages • ACARS Header info contains Aircraft ID, Departure Station, Destination Station. • Time of Observation – Day, Hour, Minute (6 char.) • Latitude in Deg, Min, Tenths (6 char.) • Longitude in Deg, Min, Tenths (7 char.) • Pressure Altitude, feet (4 char.) • Wind Direction (3 char.) • Wind Speed (3 char.) • Static Air Temperature – degrees C (4 char.) • Roll Angle Flag (1 char.) • Phase of Flight (when available) (4 char.) • Turbulence (when available) (4 or 5 char.) • Icing (when available) (4 char.) • Water Vapor Mixing Ratio (when available) (4 char.)

11. Computers Airline NADIN II BUFR Messages MDCRS Data Processing by ARINC ACARS ARINC Data Network Service NOAA/OAR RUC Dev NOAA/OAR ESRL/GSD NOAA/OAR AMDAR Page Central Processor NOAA/NWS NCEP ARINC Packet Network NOAA/NWS“Gateway” BUFR NOAA/NWS NOAAPORT Messages ACARS GTS • Remove message headers • Extract raw wx data, validate format • Remove airline and flight IDs • Convert to binary (BUFR) format MDCRS Server

12. More than 100,000 Observations per Day • Some regions provide few observations and some provide more than are necessary. • Adding aircraft to improve coverage in data-sparse regions will increase data overall. • 86% of soundings come from 51 airports; 13 airports account for 31% of soundings. • NOAA Objective - Minimum 1 sounding/2 hours from 100 geographically dispersed airports.

13. Optimization Concept • NOAA desires a minimum of 1 sounding every 2 hours from 100 geographically dispersed airports. • Model for implementing an optimization system • 2 soundings per hour from 25 major airports • 1 sounding per hour from 15 airports • 1 sounding every 2 hours from 60 smaller airports • 1,700 soundings per day from 100 airports (assuming 18 hours of operation each day). * Sounding collection tuned to more fully reach 100 airport/2 hour goal. * Better data coverage and cost effectiveness. • Enable selection of specific aircraft to provide only essential data to meet needs of forecasting agencies. • Reduce number of meteorological reports being transmitted from aircraft without degrading forecasting capabilities.

14. Top of Climb (TOC) Top of Descent (TOD) Taxi Take-Off Departure En Route Approach Land Taxi 60 sec interval to ON 6 sec interval to 90 secs from OFF 20 sec interval to 510 secs to TOC 3 min. interval to TOD Typical ARINC 620 Reporting 91 samples during a typical 2:15 flight • Aircraft must be able to accept commands from the ground to configure reporting.

15. Requirements of an Optimization System • Send uplink message in ARINC 620 format to enable or disable reporting from aircraft based on a/c departure or destination airport and scheduled time of departure of arrival. • Command reporting “On” for ascent, descent, en route, or for more than one phase of flight. • Accept pre-planned schedule from NOAA for an entire day. • Accept changes from NOAA to pre-planned schedule as often as once per hour. • Accept flight schedules from participating airlines. • Match airline flight number and aircraft tail number. • Assign higher or lower priority to aircraft based on reporting capabilities.

16. Summary • Commercial aircraft are an important source meteorological observations for NOAA through the MDCRS program. • U.S. airlines have been participating in MDCRS for 20 years. • Currently about 1,500 aircraft operated by 7 carriers provide over 100,000 observations a day. • While more data are received from many areas, some areas are not well covered. • More aircraft can be added. • Optimization systems can be used to select aircraft and flights that provide the most useful data and potentially more cost effective.