Source Code Systems, Inc.

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WxShell

The WxShell (Weather Shell) application was designed, built, and maintained for M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory to support their work for the FAA in developing a prototype Terminal Doppler Weather Radar. The twin primary goals for the product, robust real-time operation and flexible configuration, were not only met, but exceeded to an extent that even SCS had not imagined. The initial prototype was deployed for real-time operation at a remote field site just 6 weeks after work began. It collected and displayed multiple simultaneous views of real-time radar returns, geographic and political elements/boundaries, and various ranging and analysis aids. It also provided considerable interactivity including panning and zooming, data picking, and display selection using the mouse or keyboard. Thanks to a highly modular and extremely flexible design which included user programmability and user-defined datasets, the system was rapidly adopted to purposes other than those for which it was originally designed including, scientific analysis of various weather related data products, a medical imaging study, real-time displays for air traffic controllers, and a TDWR demonstrator for trade shows and the lobby of the FAA headquarters in Washington. Along the way, it picked up modules to display air traffic, runway hazard zones, a multitude of different scientific and ATC-oriented weather products, animations, movie loops, control panels, and more. Additional functionality was incorporated as well; essentially complete support of UNIX csh (C shell) syntax, multi-threading, transparent inter-process communication and control, event generators and handlers, point-to-point and broadcast communications functionality, and more. At any given time, dozens of instances of WxShell might be involved in the operation and analysis of a single TDWR:
	Relatively simple, but highly interactive displays located at the radar-protected airport provided FAA personnel with real-time weather data, projections of future weather activity, and alerted them to weather-related approach, runway, and departure hazards.

	Displays located at M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory and at the radar field site provided the same information to Lincoln personnel and could be configured to be slave to a particular airport display -- permitting analysis of how the ATC workers configured their displays for various operational situations.

	Additional displays located at MIT/LL and the radar field site provided analysis of raw data feeds and/or complex intermediate algorithm products used to develop the determinations of future weather and current hazards.

	Finally, because the software had been ported to a variety of platforms, (Apollo, Sun, SGI, SunView, X-Windows, etc.) it was widely used by researchers to display, manipulate, and analyze various data and algorithm products for off-line scientific studies and as a tool for creating images for their presentations and papers.

Most of a decade after the project for which this "application-specific" software's original application was terminated, the system continues to serve Lincoln Laboratory researchers.

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