Delivery of weather image information to a mobile platform using satellite broadcast

This paper focuses on recent work in the delivery, of weather information to a mobile platform using satellite communications. A weather satellite imaging system for a meteorological research aircraft is described, which receives 4 km/pixel resolution imager)! transmitted by polar-orbiting weather satellites at 137 MHz. The system uses a personal computer with receiver and decoder boards and imaging software as well as a novel low-profile ''electrically small'' (16 inches square) patch antenna for the aircraft. The system could also be used in the marine environment to receive weather information not readily available in remote areas by other means. Reception of higher resolution (<1 km/pixel) imagery available from a variety of geostationary and polar orbiting satellites in-flight during field experiments is a current research objective. Investigation of the retransmission of images from a ground receiving station or the Internet using satellite communications facilities is currently in progress.