SBIR-STTR Award

Tactical battlespace superiority requires high-fidelity, real-time knowledge of current and forecast weather to effectively deliver aircraft firepower and support ground operations. Adverse weather can impair target acquisition, weapon sensor functionality, curtail aircraft support times and lead to loss of the platform through threats such as icing or lightning. PEMDAS proposes a Phase I discipline-wide stakeholder requirements initiative coupled with an extensive deep dive into existing traditional and emerging non-traditional weather data sources. From this, innovative concepts can be developed to provide highly accurate, timely graphical weather products for intuitively displaying real-time and forecast weather to tactical aviators in a manner that quickly builds shared weather Situational Awareness. The emergence of machine-to-machine and data fusion capabilities now allows weather decision products based upon current and forecast conditions such as slant range visibilities, surface and altitude winds, density altitude changes, and icing/cloud layers to optimize situational awareness, leading to faster response times, improved survivability and ultimately more lethal firepower. To ensure widespread DoD use, these decision products must be compatible with modern data systems such as the Aviation Common Mission Server (ACMS)/Improved Data Modem, Tactical Airspace Integration System (TAIS), and comply with modern standards such as Future Airborne Compatibility Environment (FACE) 3.0.

In this Phase 2 effort, PEMDAS Technologies and Innovations (PEMDAS) proposes to fully develop a prototype Weather Collaborative Operating Picture System (WxCOP-PS) using the technologies assessed, and knowledge gained during our Phase I effort. The proposed innovation will deliver complementary (and consistent) graphical weather decision support products to Army aviation stakeholders on the ground and directly into aircraft cockpits to improve individual and shared Situational Awareness (SA). We will leverage our PEMDAS Systems Engineering Framework to design, build, and demonstrate the functionality of a WxCOP-PS that satisfies requirements identified during needs assessment conducted during our Phase 1 effort. In accordance with AR115-10 (Weather Support for the US Army), the WxCOP-PS will leverage weather data from authoritative sources, to generate and deliver tailored graphical weather decision support products to Army aviation stakeholders. We will develop, build, test, and operationalize custom algorithms capable of extracting information from gridded (2D, 3D, and 4D) weather datasets, (2D) image files, and textual weather data to generate optimized product sets, with extremely reduced file sizes, capable of being exploited within the cockpit. The airborne segment will be Future Airborne Capabilities Environment (FACE) compliant and integrate with the Aviation Mission Common Server (AMCS) and aircraft displays. The ground segment will integrate with the Tactical Airspace Integration System (TAIS) and associated Army air traffic management infrastructure such as the Army Mobile Tower System (MOTS). The WxCOP-PS will be designed to reduce workload while increasing individual and shared SA by improving team knowledge of the battlespace weather. WxCOP system attributes include: Tactically relevant weather information Collaborative/common operating weather picture Intuitive tailored graphical displays and user interfaces Ability to operate in austere and data sparse environments Compatibility and seamless integration with existing systems Data throughput needed to support concept of getting graphical weather data into the cockpit