Commercial Solutions for Weather Forecasting

Orbital Micro Systems proposes a study on the use of its WeatherLock technology for advanced weather forecasting capabilities for the warfighter. WeatherLock is a novel weather forecasting technology that enables forecasting models to be continuously updated by satellites in near real time. This allows for forecasting errors to be corrected for as the model is running, leading to more accurate forecasts. WeatherLock technology relies on precipitation signatures detected by passive microwave instruments as the "locking" mechanism that drives the error correction in the model. Passive microwave instruments are well suited to this task as they can retrieve temperature, humidity, and precipitation rate/phase even in the presence of cloud cover. The WeatherLock technology is based on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model developed by NCAR, however the concept is extensible to be run on other platforms such as the 557th Weather Wing's GALWEM model provided by the UK Met Office. In this study, we will seek to identify a path to a minimum viable prototype to be demonstrated in tandem with OMS' other efforts to launch a fleet of low cost, high performance passive microwave satellites. In addition, the study will seek to incorporate data from JPSS and MetOps satellites.