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SADISOPSG/14-WP/09
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International Civil Aviation Organization
WORKING PAPER / SADISOPSG/14-WP/09
20/03/09

SATELLITE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM OPERATIONS GROUP (SADISOPSG)

FOURTEENTH MEETING

Bangkok, Thailand, 15 to 17 July 2009

Agenda Item / 4: / Operation of the SADIS
4.1: / SADIS management report

SUMMARY OF THE SADIS MANAGEMENT REPORT

(Presented by the SADISProviderState)

SUMMARY
This paper presents the concise summary of the 2008-09 SADIS Management
Report containing the key issues of the SADIS programme that have taken place during the past 12 months.

1.INTRODUCTION

1.1In response to Conclusion 7/1 of the SADISOPSG, the SADIS Provider State is expected to provide the SADIS Management Report to the Secretary two months prior to the annual SADISOPSG meeting in view of its placement on the ICAO SADISOPSG website and to prepare, for the consideration of the annual SADISOPSG meeting, a concise summary of the complete management report highlighting the mains issues and developments taken place during the past 12-month period.

1.2A copy of the 2008-2009 SADIS Management Report was provided to ICAO on 19March 2009. A concise high-level summary of the main issues relating to the SADIS programme between April 2008 and March 2009 is listed below.

2.CONCISE SUMMARY OF THE 2008-2009 SADIS MANAGEMENT REPORT

2.1The number of operational SADIS systems has increased slightly overall from the previous period. A decrease in the number of users within the EUR and MID regions has tended to offset an increase in the number of users within the AFI and ASIA regions. At present, in the region of 150 users access SADIS in over 90 States via SADIS 2G, SADIS FTP or a combination of the two. The SADIS Status of implementation spreadsheet, available via the SADISOPSG homepage, now lists States in alphabetical order according to their ICAO region.

2.2Four States had their SADIS services suspended during the past 12 months (as endorsed by the SCRAG) due to non-payment of outstanding debts. Three of these States were in the MID region, and one in the ASIA region. One of the States in the MID region had their service reinstated in lieu of settled debts.

2.3The SADIS 1G service was withdrawn from service on 5th January 2009 in line with the requirements of the SADISOPSG. The SADIS 2G infrastructure now benefits from IP connectivity links to supply the quality controlled OPMET data from the SADIS Gateway to Exeter for onward promulgation to the satellite uplink facility. The SADIS FTP infrastructure has remained largely unchanged, although a programme of enhancements to the service is ongoing. Further details will be presented to SADISOPSG/14.

2.4Apart from a failure with a SADIS 1G uplink modulator switch in April 2008, and a power outage at the Met Office in the same month (affecting all services), there have been no major planned or unplanned outages affecting SADIS services. A small number of outages to the supply of quality controlled OPMET data had affected the SADIS 1G and SADIS 2G services in 2008, although downstream impacts were minimised by promulgation of non-quality controlled OPMET data from the Met Office message switch.

2.5SADIS Operational Administrative Messages have been issued as necessary through the reporting period These messages have been made available for viewing on the SADIS satellite broadcast(s), the SADIS FTP service, and the Met Office SADIS web site. In addition to these standard means of communication, the Met Office has an email notification mechanism that can be set-up for a user upon request.

2.6There have been no international SADIS seminars held during the period of this management report. However, the Met Office has provided training to the WMO Aviation Seminar of the WMO Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology (CAeM), held in Oman in July 2008. The next WMO Aviation seminar is expected to take place in Alanya, Turkey in October 2009.

2.7The SADIS Gateway team at NATS has completed installation of an ISDN connection to the SADIS satellite uplink station at Whitehill, and continues with the procurement and testing of an ISDN connection between the National Weather Service Telecommunications Gateway (NWSTG) and NATS. Once operational, the ISCS data feed from NWSTG will provide a fully resilient data backup service for SADIS in the event that the Met Office in Exeter experiences an outage. Further information will be provided at SADISOPSG/14.

2.8Daily OPMET traffic on SADIS has increased by around 20% over the period of this management report, both in terms of the daily data volume and the number of bulletins transmitted. The impact of ICAO Annex 3 Amendment 74 has clearly shown a significant increase of long TAF (FT) bulletins and a corresponding decrease in short TAF (FC) bulletins. A significant increase in the number of METAR (SA) bulletins has also been observed.

2.9WAFC London and WAFC Washington have continued to prove the resilience of their backup capability by performing routine SIGWX backup tests. Details of these tests and future test dates, is available via the WAFSOPSG website.

2.10The SADISProviderState has conducted a third round of SADIS software evaluations on behalf of the SADISOPSG. Six out of seven commercially-available packages assessed by mid-March 2009 were fully compliant with the revised software requirements endorsed by SADISOPSG/13. A further two evaluations may be completed in time for SADISOPSG/14.

2.11The NetSys SADIS Transcoder, an alternative to the SADIS 2G MegaPAC technology, passed acceptance tests conducted at the Met Office. Following the endorsement of the SADIS Technical Development Team, the NST is now offered as part of a total NetSys SADIS 2G workstation solution. Further information is contained within the SADIS User Guide or direct from the vendor.

2.12VADOS Systems, suppliers of the SADIS 2G VadEDGE technology, has developed an IP-only router solution for the SADIS 2G service. The VadEDGE 4100-series is a lower-cost solution to the 4200-series, and offer outputs in TCP/IP or UDP-multicast (X.25 output is not supported by the 4100). The VadEDGE 4100 passed acceptance tests conducted at the Met Office. Following the endorsement of the SADIS Technical Development Team, the VadEDGE 4100 is now offered as a SADIS 2G solution.

2.13A fourth edition of the SADIS User Guide was endorsed by the SADISOPSG in May 2008, following editorials by the Secretary based on information from the SADISProviderState. The 4th Edition of the SUG removed reference to the SADIS 1G service, as well a number of other revisions. The latest version of the SUG is available via the SADISOPSG homepage. Paper copies have not been circulated.

3.ACTION BY THE SADISOPSG

3.1The SADISOPSG is invited to review the key highlights of the SADIS Management Report, related to the SADIS programme during 2008-09, contained in this working paper.

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