Panasonic Avionics Corporation (Panasonic) has expanded its product and service offering and its global communication network with the addition of AirDat’s real-time weather data and superior forecasting technology.
AirDat’s core technology is its Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Reporting (TAMDAR) sensor, a patented device designed to collect sophisticated weather data from the atmosphere during the flight of an aircraft. The data will be transmitted over Panasonic’s global Ku-band aeronautical network and via the Iridium satellite network in real time to the AirDat operations center for analysis, distribution and assimilation into high-resolution models optimized for the real time data stream.
TAMDAR is installed across a network of hundreds of commercial aircraft that are operated by more than a dozen partner airlines. It collects thousands of highly detailed and accurate readings from the upper atmosphere each day. In addition to the existing installed base, hundreds of additional aircraft around the world have been scheduled for TAMDAR installations.
Independent studies conducted by NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) scientists have found TAMDAR data quality and precision to equal or surpass those of weather balloon (radiosonde) data, which is the current global standard.