Graham Warwick/ATLANTA
AAI SYSTEM Management (AAI/SMI) has introduced a next-generation automated weather-observing system (NEXWOS), aimed at more than 5,000 airports and 1,000 heliports worldwide. The NEXWOS is a commercial derivative of the company's ASOS automated weather-observing system, more than 1,000 of which are being produced for the US Government.
The ASOS was developed to replace human weather-observers at US civil and military airports. The same software is used in the NEXWOS, AAI/SMI says. The system is repackaged to reduce its cost, from more than $150,000 for an ASOS to $50,000 for a typical NEXWOS, the company says. Deliveries are planned to begin in mid-May, following US certification of the system.
The ASOS software has been re-hosted on commercial 386/486-based computers for affordability and to give the user flexibility to add sensors and other features to the system. The hardware has been reduced in size to about one-sixth that of an ASOS, AAI/SMI says. Features include remote maintenance-monitoring and automated weather reporting by both voice and facsimile.
Source: Flight International