MeteoStar News
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Alcântara, Brazil - 14 Dec 2009MeteoStar has just been awarded a contract to deliver a new LEADS®/LEADS® On-Line system to the Centro de Lançamento de Alcântara (CLA). This new system will consist of a clustered, high-availabilty LEADS®/LEADS® On-Line solution, which will ingest, process, and visualize numerous local, regional, and national meteorological data types from across the launch facility and Brazil. The CLA is a satellite launching base in the city of Alcântara, located on Brazil's northern Atlantic coast. It is currently operated by the Brazilian Air Force, and is the closest launching base to the equator, giving it a significant advantage in launching geosynchronous satellites. The CLA meteorologists will use their LEADS®/LEADS® On-Line system to support overall launch operations and resource protection for the entire facility. MeteoStar is scheduled to deliver the system in the spring of 2010.
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Brussels, Belgium - 23 Oct 2009MeteoStar has just completed the installation and Site Acceptance Test for the Belgocontrol Weather Modernization Project, also known as Project METAFOR. Belgocontrol is the Belgium national air traffic control agency and is headquartered in near-proximity to the Brussels airport. Belgocontrol meteorological staff provide weather analysis and forecast services for aviation within Belgium and some surrounding airspace. Key services include low level significant weather products, a variety of text forecast bulletins, and an interactive webpage. MeteoStar installed the LEADS®/LEADS® On-Line workstations and servers to support Belgocontrol's critical operational workflow, web presence, training, and general weather environmental situational awareness. The LEADS®/LEADS® On-Line solution integrates weather observation and forecast data from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Czech Republic, and Belgium national forecast centers, as well as European Union Meteorological Satellite (EUMETSAT) direct data. With a single data processing, storage, visualization, and publishing system Belgocontrol is now able to more efficiently and reliably provide for the safety of their responsible airspace and resources. The delivered LEADS®/LEADS® On-Line systems includes advanced data visualization, web services, system monitoring, high-availability redundancy, and data archiving. MeteoStar looks forward to the continuous improvement of the METAFOR system to meet emerging requirements and the further expansion of LEADS® systems into the European market.
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Taipei, Taiwan - 16 Oct 2009MeteoStar has just completed the installation and Site Acceptance Test for the CAF Weather Modernization Project, founded on a MeteoStar LEADS®/LEADS® On-Line solution. The delivered system includes a clustered, high-availablilty LEADS®/LEADS® On-Line installation, which processes CAF radar, satellite, lightning, A/N, GRIB, FGGE, and NetCDF data. A WAFS component was also delivered as part of this project, providing the CAF with key global model data from NCEP and high-level BUFR SIGWX charts. The system will be used by CAF meteorologists to support aviation and resource protection missions throughout the CAF's area of operations. The CAF's primary mission is to provide defense for the airspace in/around Taiwan against any possible form of attack.
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Bogotá, Colombia - 9 Oct 2009MeteoStar has just been awarded a contract to deliver an upgraded LEADS® and LEADS® On-Line system to Aerocivil in Colombia. MeteoStar will upgrade Aerocivil's current LEADS®/GVAR system from version 4.2 to 5.4. This upgrade will include an entire new suite of hardware components, a new WAFS receiver, a new GVAR receiver, and a new LEADS® On-Line web portal for product distribution and access by Aerocivil meteorological and management personnel. Aerocivil is a government agency under the Colombian Ministry of Transport, responsible for regulating and managing all Colombian airspace. Aerocivil is also responsible for controlling all of Colombia's public airports. MeteoStar is scheduled to complete the upgrade in early 2010.
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Englewood, CO - 2 Sept 2009MeteoStar completed its independent audit and officially earned ISO 9001:2008 certification, as dictated by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO 9001:2008 specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product that meets customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.
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Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska - 10 Aug 2009MeteoStar has just been awarded a contract to deliver a 4D-F weather toolkit to the US Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA). The primary focus of this project is proof of concept development of a toolset enabling operational AFWA forecasters in functional and regional forecast centers worldwide to acquire and process both sensed and gridded forecast information from deterministic and ensemble prediction systems and create a forecaster modified layer for specific weather parameters in near real time. The tools developed must accept and visualize gridded data fields, sensed data from meteorological sensors, weather surveillance radars, and meteorological satellites in real time at temporal scales between model time steps. Forecasters would employ advanced human-to-machine graphical interfaces to create a forecaster-in-the-loop (FITL) or forecaster-over-the-loop (FOTL) digital information layer in a fused four dimensional forecast database (4D-F). The 4D-F database is a digital information layer that will be employed for the creation of standard forecast visualizations and provide the authenticated machine-to-machine (M2M) data feed to command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems and populate legacy web interfaces for machine to human communications. The initial proof of concept delivery will take place in early 2010.
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Wallops Island, VA - 19 May 2009MeteoStar meteorologists just completed a highly successful visit to the NASA-Wallops Island Launch Facility, supporting the TACSAT-3 mission. Successfully launched on 19 May, TACSAT-3 is the third in a series of U.S. military reconnaissance satellites managed by the USAF. MeteoStar's support for this mission was two-fold: Weather Office Augmentee and Blasts & Toxics Meteorologist. The MeteoStar Weather Office Augmentee worked hand-in-hand with the Wallops Island Launch Weather Officer to provide timely and accurate weather updates to Launch Control, Range Safety, and the NASA Program Manager throughout the planning and countdown phases of the mission. The MeteoStar Blasts & Toxics Meteorologist provided numerous weather forecast inputs to the Risk Assessment Center, which used that data to produce toxic plume and blast output visualizations. These plume and blast model outputs determine where the rocket exhaust plumes will drift and how long it will take for them to disperse. At the core of all these support operations were the latest versions of MeteoStar's LEADS® and LEADS® On-Line software. Products from these systems were used across all aspects of weather operations for TACSAT-3, providing integrated weather tools for all levels of launch support and decision-making. MeteoStar looks forward to continuing our long, solid working relationship with NASA-Wallops Island, and congratulates them on a successful launch!
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Bogotá, Colombia - 27 Apr 2009MeteoStar, in cooperation with our Colombian partners at Unicom Ltda., have successfully completed the installation of a new LEADS® and Magellan satellite reception and visualization system and the Colombian Air Force (FAC) operations center. The new system is receiving GOES-12 GVAR data, processing the data into imagery, and then exporting images for use on the FAC's weather website. The installation was an overwhelming success and MeteoStar looks forward to continued business with the FAC in the future.
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Englewood, CO - 27 Mar 2009MeteoStar's newest South American customer, the Fuerza Aérea Colombiana (Colombian Air Force), just completed a rigorous 3 week training course at the MeteoStar factor in Colorado. 5 FAC students attended 15 days of classes, focusing on the basics of satellite meteorology, and cloud type observations and identification. Additionally, all of the satellite meteorology training was then integrated to a LEADS® Basic Users Course, where students used the MeteoStar LEADS® system to apply these new skills in simulated operational scenarios. This training, as part of the FAC's recent purchase of a LEADS®/Magellan GOES-12/GVAR Satellite Reception System, will be followed by system installation and administrator's training in Bogotá, Colombia in mid-April.
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Englewood, CO - 22 Jan 2009MeteoStar, in cooperation with our partner GEC Lt.d. of Taiwan, has officially been selected as the weather data integrator and visualizer for the Taiwan Air Force (CAF) weather modernization project. MeteoStar will deliver a LEADS® 5.4 system, including our state-of-the-art LEADS® On-Line web portal, to consolidate and update the CAF's current weather systems. The CAF will use their new LEADS®/LEADS® On-Line solution to integrate various radar, satellite, NWP, lightning, and A/N data types, in order to generate forecast products for CAF operations. The system is scheduled for installation this summer.
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Phoenix, AZ - 21 Jan 2009MeteoStar made another successful showing at the 2009 AMS show in Phoenix, Arizona. Visitors, business partners, and clients stopped by the booth throughout the week to check out demos of the latest LEADS® and LEADS® On-Line capabilities, and also saw the latest additions to our aviation, radar, and model products. MeteoStar networked with existing and potential customers, and forged new business relationships, keeping us poised as the industry leader for weather data integration and visualization. Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed -- the show was an overwhelming success!
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Englewood, CO - 5 Jan 2009The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has just completed the review of MeteoStar's application to become a Qualified Internet Communications Provider (QICP). MeteoStar is now listed as a certified QICP on the FAA website. The QICP certification process was established by the FAA to allow weather vendors the ability to provide meteorological data via the public Internet. Established standards must be met in order for a weather vendor to receive QICP approval. Three standards must be met in order to receive QICP approval and status: network infrastructure reliability, accessibility, and security. The FAA grants QICP approval based on system integrity and transmission of data (e.g. accuracy, timeliness) only, not the quality of a vendor's weather content and/or data.
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