SBIR-STTR Award

Proposed is the innovative solution for the development of a unified information structure for a system of automated information tools and methodology to efficiently provide output to oceanographic and meteorological forecast models. Involved is the development of metadata fields using sets of automated information tools. The metadata bases will use existing algorithms for browsing, visualization, and diagnostic analysis. New rules, based on the manual identification/analysis system, will be developed. The metadata fields portraying specific oceanographic/ meteorological features will be updated as new information becomes available. From the sequential analysis of specific systems, information on past movement, shape, and intensity can be shown. From this information, using diagnostic analysis rules, the driving physical forces affecting these systems can be inferred, providing what may be a major breakthrough in oceanographic and meteorological forecasting.

During phase I of this exploratory research project, the team of gulf weather corporation (GWC) and the mississippi state university center for air sea technology (CAST) confirmed that the present manual methodology employed by the navy for analysis and interpretation of oceanographic and meteorological satellite imagery is being rapidly overwhelmed by the volume, type, sophistication, and increasing requirements for products derived from the imagery. The only practical long-term solution to the problem is the use of automated analysis tools for interpretation or assisting analysts in interpreting satellite imagery. A number of these tools are now available or being developed. A generic user-friendly metadata database system based on a preliminary object-oriented software was designed and a portion of the system tested. This phase II proposal provides details on the recommended design of the metadata database system, and the work and funding required to complete the system under phase II.