Weather Information Display System (WIDS) for Air Traffic Control
 WIDS (top) at a simulated TRACON controller position |
Adverse weather conditions affect the National Airspace System (NAS) in many ways including flight safety and system effectiveness. Providing terminal controllers with advanced weather information could mitigate some of these effects. Although previous research has discussed controller weather information needs and optimal weather displays (Ahlstrom & Della Rocco, 2003), no empirical data exists on weather needs for terminal controllers (Ahlstrom, 2004). Furthermore, guidelines for weather display designs and controller benefits for tactical operations are lacking (Ahlstrom, Keen, & Mieskolainen, in press).
To answer these questions, researchers at the Research Development and Human Factors Laboratory (RDHFL) designed a weather information display system (WIDS) prototype for empirical evaluation of weather displays. The WIDS can display different sources of graphical weather information including precipitation levels, adverse winds (wind shear and microburst), storm cell movements, and a short-term (10-20 minute) forecast display of future storm cell locations. For research purposes, the WIDS was designed to display traffic and weather data in isolation or in combinations. Traffic data and weather information can be displayed simultaneously on the controller situation display, on an auxiliary display, or in any combination thereof.
The WIDS is a framework to guide display design as well as evaluating operational suitability. Our goal is to develop controller weather displays that provide the safe, efficient, and effortless operations needed to handle adverse weather conditions in the terminal domain.
References
Ahlstrom, U., Keen, J., & Mieskolainen, A. J. (2004). Weather Information Display System (WIDS). Journal of Air Traffic Control, 46(3), 7-14.
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