The Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) is a technologically advanced processing, display, and

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

system that is the cornerstone of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

's (NWS) operations. AWIPS is a complex network of systems that ingests and integrates

meteorological Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agriculture ...

hydrological Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

, and

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

data, and also processes and distributes the data to 135 Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs) and River Forecast Centers (RFCs) nationwide. Weather forecasters utilize the capabilities of AWIPS to make increasingly accurate weather, water, and climate predictions, and to dispense rapid, highly reliable warnings and advisories. The AWIPS system architectural design is driven by expandability, flexibility, availability, and portability. The system is easily expandable to allow for the introduction of new functionality and the augmentation of network and processing capabilities. AWIPS is designed so that software and data can be migrated to new platforms as technology evolves.

History

AWIPS replaced the Automation of Field Operations and Services (AFOS) system which had become obsolete and was very difficult to maintain. AWIPS was originally developed and maintained by PRC, Inc (later acquired by

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

Information Technology) with installation completed in 1998. Since 2005,

Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...

has been NWS’ partner for the operations, maintenance and evolution of AWIPS, providing the integrated mission services required to sustain and enhance system performance. It is a five-year contract with five one-year award terms for a potential maximum 10-year contract. Teaming with Raytheon are Keane Federal Systems, Globecomm Systems Inc., GTSI Corp., ENSCO, Reston Consulting Group, Fairfield Technologies, Centuria Corporation,Centuria Corporation. "Sub Contracts" https://www.centuria.com/our-contracts and Earth Resources Technology. Together they provide software operations and maintenance, software development, hardware maintenance and logistics, commercial off-the-shelf software maintenance, satellite communications, and network monitoring and control.

Evolution

As the architect of the AWIPS evolution,

designed, developed, and released the system's next-generation software known as AWIPS II. AWIPS II, which features a new

service oriented architecture In software engineering, service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an architectural style that focuses on discrete services instead of a monolithic design. SOA is a good choice for system integration. By consequence, it is also applied in the field ...

(SOA) began roll-out in late 2011. This new system simplified code and consequently strengthened system performance while reducing the maintenance burden. All of this is achieved while retaining a system look and feel that makes the AWIPS evolution appear similar to the user. The AWIPS program office is working in conjunction with the

National Centers for Environmental Prediction The United States National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) delivers national and global weather, water, climate, and space weather guidance, forecasts, warnings, and analyses to government agencies and private users. The centers f ...

(NCEP) to incorporate the NAWIPS baseline software used by the NCEP centers,

National Hurricane Center The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is the division of the United States' NOAA/National Weather Service responsible for tracking and predicting tropical weather systems between the IERS Reference Meridian, Prime Meridian and the 140th meridian ...

(NHC) / Aviation Weather Center (AWC) /

Storm Prediction Center The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) is a US government agency that is part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), operating under the control of the National Weather Service (NWS), which in turn is part of the National Oceani ...

(SPC) as well as the

Weather Prediction Center The Weather Prediction Center (WPC), located in College Park, Maryland, is one of nine service centers under the umbrella of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), a part of the National Weather Service (NWS), which in turn is ...

(formerly Hydrometeorological Prediction Center) and

Ocean Prediction Center The Ocean Prediction Center (OPC), established in 1995, is one of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction's (NCEP's) original six service centers. Until 2003, the name of the organization was the Marine Prediction Center.Ocean Predictio ...

(WPC and OPC) into the AWIPS II baseline. The commissioning of a new AWIPS site, the first since the

Huntsville Huntsville is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the 100th-most populous city in the U.S. The Huntsville metropolitan area had an estimated 525,465 ...

Weather Forecast Office in 2002, will also be part of this effort at the

Space Weather Prediction Center The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), named the Space Environment Center (SEC) until 2007, is a laboratory and service center of the US National Weather Service (NWS), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), loc ...

(SWPC) in Boulder, CO.

References

{{reflist, 2 *Ferris, Nancy (2000)
"Advanced Weather System"
''Government Executive''. National Weather Service Graphic software in meteorology Computer workstations Raytheon Company products

History

Evolution

See also

References