Weather Environment Simulation Technology (WEST) renders real time views of weather phenomena

New technology earns R&D 100 award

San Antonio -- September 16, 1996 -- The Weather Environment Simulation Technology (WEST) developed by analysts at Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI^®) has been named one of the world's 100 most significant technical accomplishments of 1996 by R&D Magazine. The WEST software creates compelling, real-time views of weather phenomena from meteorological data.

Principal Investigator Bruce C. Montag, a manager in the SwRI Aerospace Electronics and Training Systems Division, and the other R&D 100 winners will be honored at the 34th Annual R&D 100 Awards Ceremony October 14 in Philadelphia. "WEST improves military training systems, flight simulators, and television broadcast weather graphics in several ways," says Montag. "It provides real-time, 30-frames-per-second video imagery, renders a viewpoint-independent flight path so that any viewing situation is possible, and creates photo-realistic views of hurricanes, windshear, and other weather phenomena." For example:

• WEST could significantly improve military training systems, allowing flight crews to retain operational readiness. WEST can also enable mission rehearsal simulators to provide a more complete view of missions, allowing military commanders to exploit area weather conditions to their advantage.
• WEST simulation improvements can provide better simulation training to commercial airline pilots, preparing them for difficult weather situations and unforeseen circumstances such as windshear.
• WEST's virtual view of worldwide weather conditions can also give television news organizations and world wide web content providers a competitive edge with its compelling, informative weather content.

Major elements of WEST include a digital weather source database, a weather editor, a weather data handler, an image generation module, and a weather feedback module. The system's weather source database is derived from Geostationary Orbiting Environmental Satellite imagery, Doppler radar data, and gridded numerical forecast data.

"We will continue to enhance the WEST process to take advantage of next-generation computer hardware and higher resolution weather data sources as they become available," says Montag. Major advancements are also planned to support multi-spectral simulation at radar, infrared, and ultraviolet frequencies.

WEST, which holds U.S. Patent No. 5,409,379 and related continuation patents, is a registered trademark of Southwest Research Institute.

SwRI has won 17 R&D 100 awards since 1971, including another 1996 R&D 100 award for the "rich-burn/lean-burn engine," a unique natural gas-fueled engine.

For more information about WEST, contact Maria Martinez, Communications Department, Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, Texas 78228-0510, Phone (210) 522-3305, Fax (210) 522-3547.

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