Satellite delivery of meteorological forecast data for aviation(SADIS)

摘要

The SADIS project was sponsored by the International CivilAviation Organisation (ICAO) through the UK Civil Aviation Authority tothe Met Office. ICAO saw the need to rapidly disseminate forecast dataon a global basis as a need to improve air safety and flight planning.The SADIS system uses satellite technology to distribute high-quality,up-to-date meteorological information to aviation users over a largeproportion of the globe. The hub station equipment is installed at theMercury Communications Earth Station at Whitehill in Oxfordshire and hasdedicated land lines linking it to the UK Met Office in Bracknell.Bracknell is one of only two World Area Forecast Centres (WAFCs) in theworld, the other being in Washington. The VSAT terminals, so farsupplied to customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Far Eastand Australia, receive the SADIS data for display on forecasterworkstations. Two thirds of the worlds population lie within thefootprint of SADIS, which spans the globe from Western Ireland toWestern Australia. This coverage is provided at C-band by the globalbeam of Intelsat 604 located in geostationary orbit at 60° E. To aidthe Met Office in collecting meteorological data, the SADIS network alsocontains 2-way VSATs which enable aviation meteorological collectingcentres to send their own locally-sourced meteorological data back tothe UK for re-transmission over the SADIS broadcast network