ARINCs Role in MDCRS

1
ARINCs Role in MDCRS

• MDCRS Management Team
• September 7, 2006

2
Agenda

• History of MDCRS and where we are today
• Airline Participation
• Overview of MDCRS Data Processing and
  Communications

3
History of MDCRS

• In 1986 Dr. John McCarthy recommended an
  automated aircraft reporting system for
  collecting weather observations.
  
• ARINC fielded MDCRS in March 1991
• FAA funded development of MDCRS server and
  operation of the service
  
• 3 Participating airlines DAL, NWA, UAL
• AAL, FedEx, and UPS participation added.
• Government initiated reimbursement for partial
  costs incurred by airlines in 2003.
  
• SWA joined in 2005.
• Most recent contract between FAA and ARINC
  effective June 2006 with option periods through
  March 2011.
  

4
Airline Participation

• Todays numbers
• 7 participating airlines
• AAL, DAL, FedEx, NWS, SWA, UAL, UPS
• 1500 aircraft report Winds and Temps
• 60 UAL a/c report Turbulence (EDR)
• 25 UPS 757s report Water Vapor
• 100,000 observations per day (3M per month)
• Participating airlines collectively receive about
  30K/month from the Government as cost
  reimbursement
  

5
Airline Participation 1462 aircraft (June 2006)

• American 265
• 737, 757, 767, 777
• Delta 375
• 737, 757, 767, 777, MD88, MD90
• Fed Ex 194
• A300, A320, MD10, MD11
• Northwest 41
• 757
• United 413
• A319, A320, 737, 757, 767, 747
• UPS 124
• 757, 767, MD11
• SWA 50

6
Airline Participation No. of Observations

• 3,291,986 Observations from reporting aircraft
  June 2006
  

7
MDCRS Data Processing by ARINC

8
Content of Typical MDCRS Messages

• Header info contains Aircraft ID, Departure
  Station, Destination Station.
  
• Time of Observation Day, Hour, Minute (6
  char.)
  
• Latitude in Deg, Min, Tenths (6 char.)
• Longitude in Deg, Min, Tenths (7 char.)
• Pressure Altitude, feet (4 char.)
• Wind Direction (3 char.)
• Wind Speed (3 char.)
• Static Air Temperature degrees C (4 char.)
• Roll Angle Flag (1 char.)
• Phase of Flight (when available) (4 char.)
• Turbulence (when available) (4 or 5 char.)
• Icing (when available) (4 char.)
• Water Vapor Mixing Ratio (when available) (4
  char.)
  

9
ARINC Processing

• Recognize ACARS message is a MDCRS message and
  route to MDCRS processor
  
• Decrypt, if necessary
• Remove header, extract raw wx observation data
• Tag with airline and aircraft ID using codes
  supplied by NWS
  
• Validate format
• Convert data to BUFR format
• Batch BUFR messages and send to NWS approx every
  15 min.
  
• Send ACARS messages in ASCII format to GSD-ESL.