BMKG Launches Locally-developed AWOS iRMAVIA

By Office of Assistant to Deputy Cabinet Secretary for State Documents & Translation     Date 2 April 2019
Category: News
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Head of the BMKG Dwikorita delivers a press statement at the launching of AWOS iRMAVIA, at BMKG Headquarters, Jakarta, Tuesday (2/4). (Photo by: BMKG PR)

Head of the BMKG Dwikorita delivers a press statement at the launching of AWOS iRMAVIA, at BMKG Headquarters, Jakarta, Tuesday (2/4). (Photo by: BMKG PR)

To conclude the Commemoration of the 69th World Meteorological Day, Head of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Dwikorita Karnawati launched Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) iRMAVIA at the BMKG Headquarters, Jakarta, Tuesday (2/4).

She asserted that AWOS iRMAVIA is Indonesia’s locally-developed system, made by the nation’s children who work for the BMKG. For the record, iRMAVIA is coined from two words “iRM”, which is an abbreviation of Bidang Instrumentasi Meteorologi (Meteorological Instrumentation Subdivision) that developed the system, and “Avia” which is taken from the word Aviation.

According to Deputy for Instrumentation, Calibration, Engineering and Communication Networks Widada Sulistya of the BMKG, AWOS is a fully configurable airport weather system that provides real time information on airport weather conditions including the temperature, dew point, barometric pressure, wind speed and wind direction, visibility, and cloud ceiling height.

Such information will be transmitted to aviation meteorological station and navigation service for guides before landing or takeoff.

Also on that occasion, Dwikorita said that the total number of AWOS in Indonesia which is only 180 units compared to 297 airports in Indonesia is still far from ideal. “So far, we obtained AWOS from other countries so the price is higher and we have faced many difficulties in the maintenance, particularly to acquire the spare parts,” she added.

Therefore, the BMKG is now developing AWOS iRMAVIA and it is expected that it can meet market demand in Asia-Pacific region through cooperation with industrial partners and universities.

The development of AWOS iRMAVIA consists of several stages. In the first stage, the process focused on the planning of the system and interface. The second stage covers system improvement, automatic encoding, and implementation preparation. In the final stage, the BMKG developed the system including the implementation and evaluation.

“In the first stage, the BMKG has been developing flexible use of data and sensors. In addition, the Agency also made interface with 3 display features, tower view, observer pressure view which will support the flight safety,” Widada said adding that data development and observation in the database will be conducted in the final stage.

“The system is a milestone for Indonesia towards self-sufficiency in the provision of aviation safety supporting equipment aimed to minimize the number of weather-related aviation accidents,” Widada concluded. (EN/ BMKG PR/ES)

 

 

Translated by : Rany Anjany Subachrum
Edited by : Muhardi/Mia Medyana

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