Decision Support Tool Using Gridded Weather Data

ABSTRACT:The weather community has improved the gridded environmental analysis data sets over the years however, the final step of tailoring this data to make it relevant to specific mission profiles has yet to be suitably automated and integrated into decision support tools. For example, weather information provided during mission planning is inadequate or poorly formatted to be useful by planners and commanders, often mission execution decisions are made with little weight given to the weather. PEMDAS proposes a novel approach by developing the Dynamic Weather Impacts System (DWIS) Web-Processing System. DWIS will support decision-makers, mission planners and weather forces by delivering integrated decision aids vice traditional weather data, thus enabling the user to focus on the impacts of predicted conditions and how to mitigate them. DWIS employs concepts which we will prove feasible using todays technology (e.g. enhanced data fusion, faster data processing, more complex algorithms). This enables a dynamic capability to ingest weather information, operational limitations, and cross discipline information (geospatial) at a much higher rate and produce insights that collapse the data-to-decision timeline. Through automation with other C2 tools, DWIS produces a spectrum of knowledge of what is doable and what is not doable for the warfighter.BENEFIT:The Dynamic Weather Impacts System (DWIS) is expected to satisfy the needs of the Air Force by tying together mission planning tools and DoD weather data and generating decision support information based upon mission requirements and forecasted conditions. PEMDAS has the right team to make it a reality and implement it into Air Force weather and C2 systems. We feel the DWIS system is the ideal toolset to unlock the full potential of the Air Forces numerical weather prediction and provide mission planners with the decision support information they desire. While the focus of this development effort will be on meeting the needs of the Air Force, PEMDAS will also seek to address growing commercial applications including aviation weather (private and commercial) and precision agriculture.