The exact nature of the WIMS products will be determined after the atmospheric awareness specification has been performed. Some hazards are best represented by icons, whilst others are better represented by coloured areas on the screen, as in current onboard weather radar displays.
It is planned to define the WIMS so that they can provide information both at regular time intervals and in response to a request from an aircraft.
The following WIMSs will be developed:
| Name | Purpose |
| WV WIMS | forecasted meteorological parameters used for Wake Vortex predictions |
| CAT WIMS | Clear Air Turbulence nowcasting and forecasting |
| ICE WIMS | warns of in-flight icing hazards |
| CB WIMS | warns of hazard "thunderstorm" for en-route flight and in the terminal area |
The Weather Processor will establish the link between the WIMS and the aircraft. Two Weather processor configurations will be developed:
- a Central Weather Processor (CWP) will deal with en-route support, hence covering a large scale, will collect WIMS products and will perform dedicated processing for any aircraft cruising in the area.
- Local Weather Processors (LWP) will deal with the airport terminal area, will collect data from a local, high-resolution observing network to operate local WIMS and will communicate high-resolution weather data to aircraft during the take-off, approach and landing phases of flight.
In order to uplink the data from the ground WIMSs to the aircraft onboard weather system, existing weather protocols will be upgraded and communication means will be defined.
The CWP will also be exploitable by weather consultants in the national weather services, ATC, airport operators and other users.
In the final stage, weather information systems will be operated at distributed weather or research centres.
The outcome of this WP will be a mock-up of a CWP and of a LWP, as well as the set-up of infrastructures which are needed for the tests. The result will be a quantified evaluation of both systems’ performance in operation during the field campaign.
Leader:
DLR