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What Exactly Does XM Weather Show Us?

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • WxWorx employs an extensively redundant system for collecting, processing, and distributing XM Satellite Weather data, utilizing dual collection points, delivery methods, and connections to ensure rapid transmission (under 30 seconds to cockpit) with no single point of failure.
  • The system processes Nexrad radar data every five minutes using proprietary algorithms to create comprehensive composite images, combining all elevation scans and recent history to provide a "worst-case" view of atmospheric conditions.
  • WxWorx automates the mitigation of false radar echoes (Anomalous Propagation) and emphasizes that its weather products are intended for situational awareness, not tactical decision-making, requiring pilots to adhere to established safety rules.
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WxWorx on Wings, the weather products that XM Satellite Weather downlinks from satellites to our cockpits, is provided to XM by Baron Services’ WxWorx. The weather products are collected at two distinct collection points, one located at WxWorx’s headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama, and the other inside the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, North Carolina. The two collection points are part of the redundancy that WxWorx has carefully built into its system.

Continuing the effort at redundancy, the weather data is delivered by both satellite and high speed internet to the collection centers. “In most cases,” explained Bob Baron, founder, CEO and president of Baron Services, “we have double redundancy.” As soon as WxWorx receives the information the data stream is automatically sent to XM over a dedicated line and two internet connections. Again, the object is to have no single point of failure. The transmission goes to XM Satellite Weather’s operation center and is inserted into its uplink to both of its satellites and broadcast over all its relay stations on the surface of the earth.

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