Unisys
NOAAPORT Ingest System

Updated November 2007

Overview:

The Unisys NOAAPORT Ingest System is a fully integrated, turn-key system that accepts and processes the complete product set found on the National Weather Service NOAAPORT GOES, NWSTG, NWSTG2, and OCONUS satellite data channels. Unisys offers its own Commercial Weather Data Channel (Unisys NOAAPORT channel) which can also be used with the NOAAPORT Ingest System (see channel descriptions below).

The Ingest System will be able to read in data from both the old HDLC data stream using EF Data receivers and the new DVB-S data stream using a DVB receiver (Novra S75 recommended).

The system will output the NOAAPORT data as a raw NOAAPORT packet stream, or as familiar WMO bulletins that can be further processed or displayed by Unisys Product Manager or user software.

The hardware is an Intel based server using robust industry standard operating systems (Intel Solaris or RedHat Linux) which supports standard TCP/IP and NFS/SMB data transfers via a LAN/WAN to a user file server(s) or display client(s).

Unisys is the only company to provide a Unisys NOAAPORT channel with commercial weather data to supplement and complete the weather data offered on NOAAPORT.

Unisys NOAAPORT Ingest System Description:

The Unisys NOAAPORT Ingest System is an Intel based server with hardware and software installed to receive the two types of NOAAPORT feeds:

  • DVB data stream - The latest addition to NOAAPORT is a DVB-S data stream. This uses a standard DVB type receiver (Novra S75 recommended) and transmits the data via a multicast TCP stream to the Ingest System via a dedicated network or null LAN. A single DVB receiver can process all the NOAAPORT channels.
  • HDLC data stream - This was the original method which has been phased out by NWS but the Unisys NOAAPORT channel still uses this format. Access to the Unisys channel will require an EF Data receiver to translate the feed into a digital synchonous feed which is processed by a synchronous data card (provided in systems requiring HDLC access).

In addition, the Ingest System requires a C-Band capable satellite dish (size varies with location, roughly 3.5 meters in diameter), an LNB and cabling.

The cables hook up the the satellite receivers (EF Data or Novra) which broadcast a digital data stream to the Ingest computer. The ingest software will process each NOAAPORT channel, assembling packet data into a stream and send the data over a reliable TCP/IP socket connection to a set of client process (up to 8). The client can receive the data as either raw NOAAPORT frames or as WMO bulletins in a format similar to the old Family of Services (FOS) feed. The latter format is available for legacy product managers.

To manage the data, a product manager can be attached to the socket datastream to database and archive the data for future use. The Ingest System supports streaming output to the following product managers:

  • Unisys Product Manager (supplied)
  • LDM (Local Data Manager available from Unidata)
  • User developed product manager either accepting WMO style products or raw NOAAPORT frames.

Unisys Product Manager

The Unisys Product Manager is the default product manager and is bundled with the NOAAPORT Ingest System.

The Product Manager filters products based on WMO headers and save the output to user defined files on the local hard drive of the Ingest System. The default setting divides data by channel (nwstg, nwstg2, goes, oconus, unisys) and then by data type. It organizes text data into data and text directories based on whether its observations and model output or manually generated text messages such as watches and warnings. Data go into hourly or multi-hour collections. Binary data goes into directories based on type such as model for GRIB data, BUFR and sat (satellite imagery). Model data is organized by model and grid type with all data going into a single file for easier file manipulation. High resolution 1km satellite imagery is resampled into lower resolution 4km images for easier processing.

File names are based on time and data type. Since all files include a timestamp in the filename, it allows the system to archive several days worth of data (depending on hard disk size).

To process real-time data such as severe weather warnings, the Product Manager trasnmits a Product Arrival Notification (PAN) message sent via UDP datagram to a set of user defined clients at the time the product has been received. The message contains date/time information, WMO header and location on disk of the product (filename, byte offset and size).

All product manager processing is user configurable. The product manager supports user defined data output, filenames and directory structures.

Archiving of the data is done automatically with the time stamped file names. The product manager uses a separate scour process to remove data off the server. This is users configurable by directory and by file size and/or age.

Unidata LDM Support

The NOAAPORT Ingest System supports output to the Local Data Manger (LDM) software system available from Unidata ( www.unidata.ucar.edu). Unisys does not provide the LDM software with the system and its up to the customer to download, compile and set up that system. LDM provides product manager functionality comparable to the Unisys Product Manager. In addition, it provides a store and forward function for distributing data in multiple computers/clients.

Status Monitoring

The Ingest System provides a full set of tools to monitor the ingest process as well as the satellite signal. Tools are provided to configure the satellite receivers.

System Documentation

Contact Information

UNISYS WEATHER INFORMATION SYSTEMS
2476 SWEDESFORD ROAD
MALVERN, PA 19355
CONTACT BOB BENEDICT
TELE 610-648-3568
EMAIL robert.benedict@unisys.com

NOAAPORT Information

NOAAPORT Data Streams

  • GOES Channel: The GOES data stream consists of imagery data from the GOES East and West satellite including visible (VIS), infrared (IR), and water vapor (WV) images for the Eastern/Western CONUS, super-national composites, and Northern Hemisphere (NH) composites.
  • NWSTG Channel: The NWS Telecommunications Gateway (NWSTG) data stream consists of a variety of text and binary data including the entire Family of Services:
    • Domestic Data - observations, text model output,
    • Public Products - advisories, watches, warnings and forecasts
    • International Data - non US data sources, mostly observational data
    • Binary Data - a superset of the old Hi-Res data stream with GRIB/BUFR data from all the major NWS models as well as model data from ECMWF and UKMET.
    • Radar Data - it includes a substantial subset of the Nexrad Radar data stream
    • NLDN - lightning data
    • Graphical Data - a set of products in Redbook and GIF formats.
  • NWSTG2 Channel: This is a secondary channel to the primary NWSTG channel to provide additional products. The majority of this channel will be new GRIB products from NCEP.
  • OCONUS/DCP Channel: The OCONUS data stream consists of a set of satellite imagery, GRIB data and other data for non-CONUS regions. This includes data over the Pacific and Atlantic plus specialized data for Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. In addition, the DCP data stream will include additional often non-operational/research oriented data sets.
  • Unisys Channel: The Unisys Commercial Weather Data stream consists of products not provided by the NWS on NOAAPORT as well as value added products. This includes Unisys national and regional radar mosaics, DIFAX, aviation NOTAMs, MTSAT, Meteosat amd GOES satellite imagery and other third party products. The data on this channel are compressed and encrypted and access is enabled on a product by product basis for each customer.

NOAAPORT Data Information

NOAAPORT Ingest Status