The Graphical Weather Service (GWS) provides a graphical representation of weather information that is transmitted to aircraft and displayed on the cockpit display unit. The service is derived from ground-based Mode S sensors and offers information to all types of aircraft, regardless of the presence of on-board weather avoidance equipment. The general aviation community has been very pro-active in evaluating this technology, as they have already participated in field evaluations in Mode S stations across the U.S. The service is provided through one of two types of flight information services (FIS) systems. Broadcast only systems, called FIS-B, include a ground- or space-based transmitter, an aircraft receiver, and a portable or installed cockpit display device. They allow pilots to passively collect weather and other operational data and to display that data at the appropriate time. They can display graphical weather products such as radar composite/mosaic images, temporary flight restricted airspace and other NOTAMs. In addition to graphical weather products, they can also show textual information, such as Aviation Routine Weather Reports (METARs)/Aviation Selected Special Weather Reports (SPECIs) and Terminal Area Forecasts (TAFs).
Two-way FIS systems are request/reply systems, that is, they permit the pilot to make specific requests for weather and other operational information. An FIS service provider will then prepare a reply in response to that specific request and transmit the product to that specific aircraft for display in the cockpit.
No comments:
Post a Comment