News
ARCHITECTURE
The IPSM LEADS system has a proven and flexible system architecture that is designed to support a variety of customer installations. The figures below illustrate the system's high level architecture, and break it down into three layers: view, process, and store. Each of the layers has interchangeable parts and is isolated from the other layers using open and flexible interfaces. This architecture design allows IPSM to adapt the LEADS solution based on your existing network architecture and data sources to interface with current and future systems.
VIEW
The VIEW Layer is the point were meteorologists, environmental analysts and customers view and interact with LEADS data. IPSM has continuously upgraded and refined all our user interfaces. We use subject matter experts, along with feedback from our existing customer base, to ensure that the end user experience meets our expectations.
PROCESS
The Process layer is the heart and soul of the LEADS Solution. It is the “Engine” that powers the rest of the system. In this layer we have data ingest and decode combined with a set of services and key components that integrate into the other View and Store layers. Data decoders are the beginning of the process layer.LEADS takes the raw data and decodes it into formats that it can use to perform data fusion, geo-location, and storage of data for use by other layers. IPSM not only supports standard date types, but also has the framework in place to instantly add custom decoders to decode unique customer data types.
| RADAR | |
| NIDS | NEXRAD Level III format from the US National Weather Service |
| SIGMET | Open radar from SIGMET |
| DWID | Digital Weather Intelligence Data Program for the United States Air Force |
| Rainbow | European format |
| BUFR | Common format supported by EEC radars and many others |
| SATELLITE | |
| GINI | US GOES satellite format |
| McIDAS | Man Computer Interactive Data Access System |
| HRPT | Polar orbiter format |
| PIC | Format used with E S and S satellite systems |
| HDF-4/5 | HF is the NASA-prescribed format for standard data products that are derived from EOS missions. |
| MetPro | MetPro was acquired by IPS MeteoStar. Satellite data format. |
| LRIT | The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) low-rate information transfer |
| HRIT | The NOAA high-rate information transfer |
| OTHER | |
| NetCDF | NetCDF (Network Common Data Format) is a set of software libraries and machine-independent data formats that support the creation, access, and sharing of array-oriented scientific data. |
| Aircraft | Aircraft messages that include PIREP, AIREP, ACARS/AMDAR, DROPSONDE, and recon data |
| BUFR | BUFR (Binary Universal Form for the Representation of meterological data) is a WMO standard binary code for the exchange and storage of data. BUFR is primarily for observational data including satellite data. The standard allows for local extensions which are typically used within a specialized group. |
| CSV | CSV (Comma-Separated Values) is a file type that stores tabular data. |
| Lightning | Supported lightning types include USPLN, NLDN, and Vaisala. |
| WMO | World Meteorological Organization (WMO) format for alpha-numeric messages |
| PDCS | Point Data Collection System ingests surface obs and environmental data |
| GRIB Ver 1/2 | GRIB (GRIdded Binary) is a WMO-standard mathematically concise data format. |
STORE
The datastore layer contains a complete relational database structure that is used to store raw and processed data from within the LEADS system. It also exposes this data to other systems, and allows for unique applications and sharing between LEADS and other systems. IPSM believes in open source software solutions and contributes back into these open source communities. Our experience has shown that large enterprises sometimes prefer larger established database vendors. Thus, we offer the relational database in two flavors: Oracle 10g and PostgreSQL. IPSM engineers have isolated these two databases using a SQL adapter layer that allows for the seamless interchange of either solution.