Introduction Forecast Research Facility Demonstration Systems Development Aviation Modernization International Publications Visitors Acronyms and Terms Contact The Editor Design: Wilfred von Dauster

Objectives The Systems Development Division provides technical expertise in support of the laboratory's development of real-time meteorological workstations. It produces the basic system design, and implements many portions or all of the design. Major components of a workstation are the interactive display and user interface, the database management, on-demand and scheduled applications, and real-time communications with the FSL Central Facility. The division employs advanced software development techniques, and regularly evaluates new workstation technology for possible operational utility. A major focus of the division is the development of the FX-Advanced workstation, which includes the Local Data Acquisition and Dissemination (LDAD) system. The systems developed within SDD are used in forecasting applications by many domestic and international agencies, such as the U.S. Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration, National Weather Service, and the Taiwan Central Weather Bureau. The division comprises two branches and one science advisory group: Advanced Display System Branch – Designs and develops interactive display systems (Figure 45) for operational use and prototype systems for operational demonstration. Data Acquisition and Dissemination Systems Branch – Utilizes object-oriented technology to develop local data acquisition and advanced weather dissemination for modernized Weather Forecast Offices. Dissemination decision support systems offer easy-to- interpret information of rapidly evolving weather events for emergency preparedness agencies that typically lack meteorological expertise. Scientific Applications Group – Develops and implements scientific software systems designed to improve weather forecasting by taking advantage of opportunities offered by recent advances in meteorological observations and information systems. Figure 45. An image showing D3D's volume rendering of Eta model forecasted wind speed. The data displayed range from mild winds (colored blue and very opaque) to strong winds (colored red and less opaque). This allows the viewer to observe a range of values for a specific parameter, in contrast to viewing numerous discrete cross section levels and/or isosurface values to investigate the data.