HRS Harris Corp.

Harris Corporation Demonstrates Enhancements to Its Automated Weather Forecasting IR&D During 49th Annual ATCA Meeting WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), a leading systems integrator and prime contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), today unveiled the latest technical innovations for automated, short-term ceiling and visibility forecasts and several other aviation forecasting tools -- all a result of the company's fuzzy logic-based research and development activities. Harris is demonstrating the technology upgrades during the Air Traffic Control Association's (ATCA) 49th Annual Conference and Exposition (Harris Booth #301) being held October 31 - November 3 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington D.C. Focused on improving the forecasting skills for critical Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) weather conditions, the recent IR&D enhancements have produced results that have consistently demonstrated significant improvement over the persistence and guidance forecasts in current use, as well as over forecasts from the National Weather Service. "Aviation safety and operational efficiency in the National Airspace System (NAS) depend heavily on accurate and timely forecasting of weather conditions that influence aviation traffic," said Tom Hicks, Automated Weather Forecasting IR&D principal investigator, Harris Government Communications Systems Division (GCSD). "These technology upgrades to our automated weather tool improve upon already significant advancements in short-term ceiling and visibility forecasting capabilities announced last year." The forecast system prototype is designed to produce automated ceiling, visibility, wind and weather forecasts for 1,335 terminal locations throughout the continental United States, a marked increase over the 465 locations reported just last year. The fuzzy logic-based forecasting system utilizes the latest observed conditions and multiple numeric weather forecast models as input. Forecasts are generated upon arrival of each new surface observation (METAR) and are therefore always current. Real-time verification statistics for more than a four-year period indicate that the fuzzy logic-based ceiling and visibility forecasts have shown improvement not only over guidance forecasts from numerical models, but over official National Weather Service forecasts as well. During the ATCA annual meeting, Harris also is demonstrating a prototype fuzzy logic tool for automated forecasting of potential thunderstorms -- a tool that produces graphical histograms of convective impact at user-defined points of interest and that includes time of onset/ending and intensity of thunderstorm activity for the specified point. Harris also will feature an automated terminal-area forecast system that combines fuzzy logic tools and the convective histogram tool into a single, automated, graphical product that continually updates and graphically depicts aviation weather forecasts for zero through eight hours. Harris has a long history of providing advanced weather data processing solutions and decision-making tools for the aviation community as part of the FAA's Weather And Radar Processor (WARP) and Operational And Supportability Implementation System (OASIS) programs. Harris GCSD, one of four divisions within Harris Corporation, conducts advanced research studies, develops prototypes, and produces and supports state-of-the-art, assured communications(TM) solutions and information systems that solve the mission-critical challenges of its military and government customers, while serving as the technology base for the company's diverse commercial businesses. Harris Corporation, which also provides tactical radio, microwave, broadcast, and network products and systems, serves customers in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit http://www.harris.com/ . Sound interesting? Find great jobs at Harris: http://www.careers.harris.com/ DATASOURCE: Harris Corporation CONTACT: Sleighton Meyer, Government Communications Systems Division, +1-321-727-6514, or , or Tom Hausman, Corporate Headquarters, +1-321-727-9131, or , both of Harris Corporation Web site: http://www.harris.com/

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