Santiago Airport, Chile, Adds Runway and New Meteorological System
By Bernard Kirby, VP Sales & Marketing, +1 916.928.1000, bkirby@allweatherinc.com
 To cope with a significant increase in traffic, in 2003, the Airport Authority
at the main airport of Santiago, Chile, decided to add a second runway. Once
in operation, the second runway will also provide sufficient capacity to allow
the first runway to be taken out of service and refurbished.
The main contract for the airport construction was awarded to Besalco Construcciones
S.A., Chile. The contract specified installation of a new, state-of-the-art
meteorological system. After careful analysis of the available systems, Besalco
chose the All Weather, Inc. (AWI) 900
Series AWOS.
The AWI system includes sensors for wind measurement at both ends of the
runway. RVR
(Runway Visual Range) is provided at the primary end and center field
positions. Also at the primary end of the runway are sensors for cloud height
(ceilometer), barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, and rainfall.
Weather data from the field stations is transmitted via UHF Radio data link
to the Central Data Processor, (CDP), located at the Airport Meteorological
Office. At the office, the dual, hot-swap computer system is mounted in a
19" rack together with the various communication devices required. The
data is then made available on the Airport Local Area Network (LAN) via the
AWI AWOS Net Server and StormFront Software. The system also includes a dedicated
remote display in the ATC Tower.
The AWI system is designed to be fully compatible with the meteorological
system that will be installed later on the primary runway. In addition, the
900 Series AWOS meets
all of the requirements and recommendations of the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO), and
the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The system outputs data in METAR, SPECI, and SYNOP codes, as required by ICAO
and WMO. The system also provides
daily, weekly, and monthly CLIMAT reports.
The new runway in Santiago is due to be operational in 2005, with the AWI
AWOS installed and commissioned in July of that year.
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