Participants in the 2011 Unidata GEMPAK Training Workshop were the first class given the opportunity to test-drive CAVE (the Common AWIPS Visualization Environment). The UPC was testing a single-server standalone EDEX installation providing data for twenty CAVE workstations simultaneously.  Although AWIPS2/CAVE is a 32 bit Java application, the UPC continues testing stability and usability on 64 bit systems.   This single-server/multiple-client AWIPS2 configuration shows promise for University computer lab settings.

According to NCEP Central Operations (NCO) Chief of Systems Integration Michelle Mainelli, in the month of June, NCEP Central Operations, NWS/Office of Science and Technology, and Raytheon Technical Services successfully established a data flow connection between NCEP's Central Computing System and NCEP's Primary Data Flow Server in our AWIPS II Testbed (NTBN) located in the Camp Springs, MD World Weather Building.

"The purpose of this direct connection is to ensure the timely arrival of model, satellite, and observational data to our AWIPS II system," says Mainelli. "The GFS, NAM, and RUC operational model data (in GRIB2 format) are now automatically being sent to NTBN. In order to optimize processing and registration to the database, it was necessary re-write the National Center Perspective (NCP) GRIB decoder."

Testing and refining the GRIB decoder to ensure efficient data processing will continue into early July, says Mainelli.

According to Michelle Mainelli, NCEP Central Operations (NCO) Chief of Systems Integration Michelle Mainelli, Raytheon Technical Services has integrated the NCEP National Center Perspective into the AWIPS II Baseline release. Version OB11.5 of the software was officially released in May 2011.

"The OB11.5 version has been delivered and installed on NCEP's AWIPS II Test Bed for testing, and we expect to receive another update, OB11.6, by mid-June," says Mainelli. "NCO has dedicated significant time in testing and evaluating an automated flow of non-Satellite Broadcast Network (SBN) data into AWIPS II. Unfortunately, the current solution does not meet the timeliness requirements for gridded model data. NCO and the NWS/Office of Science and Technology have agreed to pursue a more direct connect approach to accessing data on the AWIPS II systems. We hope the new approach will help alleviate the data delivery timeliness issues we are currently experiencing."

In the month of April NCEP Central Operations (NCO) delivered an updated version of the AWIPS II National Center Perspective (NCP) and an initial version of NSHARP to both the NWS Office of Science and Technology and Raytheon Technical Services, reports NCO Chief of Systems Integration Michelle Mainelli.

"The NCP will be baselined in the primary AWIPS II software in May and released to test sites across the NWS by late May or early June," says Mainelli. "This version of the software will be the first release to include the full NAWIPS migrated code and functionality."

AWIPS II development and integration testing continued during March, according to Chief of Systems Integration Michelle Mainelli. NCEP Central Operations (NCO), with the assistance of Raytheon Technical Services (RTS), focused on integrating decoders and EDEX updates to the latest AWIPS II baseline code. "Our updates to the baseline are expected to be released to the National Weather Service by mid-April," says Mainelli. "We are anticipating the incorporation of the National Center Perspective to be baselined in May. Once that piece is merged, follow-on releases of the NAWIPS functionality in AWIPS II will be delivered by the AWIPS Program."

"Over the past few weeks, NCO has been focused on working with NWS Office of Science and Technology and RTS in establishing an automated data flow for non-SBN data into our NCEP Test Bed," Mainelli continues. "We are planning on completing a test of data synchronization with a limited set of data, and plan the complete addition of all data types available at the World Weather Building on the NCEP AWIPS II Test Bed by April 8."