History[edit]

In response to a governmental aviation safety initiative in the early 2000s, NASA, in partnership with the FAA, NOAA, and private industry, sponsored the early development and evaluation of a proprietary multifunction in situ atmospheric sensor for aircraft. The predecessor to Panasonic Weather Solutions, AirDat (formerly ODS of Rapid City, SD), located in Morrisville, North Carolina and Lakewood, Colorado, was formed in 2003 to develop and deploy the Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Reporting (TAMDAR) system based on requirements provided by the Global Systems Division (GSD) of NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratories (ESRL), the FAA, and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).


The TAMDAR sensor was originally deployed in December 2004 on a fleet of 63 Saab SF340 aircraft operated by Mesaba Airlines in the Great Lakes region of the United States as a part of the NASA-sponsored Great Lakes Fleet Experiment (GLFE). Over the last twelve years, equipage of the sensors has expanded beyond the continental US to include Alaska, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, Europe, and Asia. Airlines flying the system include Icelandair, Horizon (Alaska Air Group), Chautauqua (Republic Airways), Piedmont (American Airlines), AeroMéxico, Ravn Alaska, Hageland, PenAir, Silver Airways, and Flybe, as well as a few research aircraft including the UK Met Office BAe-146 FAAM aircraft. Recently, an installation agreement has been reached with a large Southeast Asian airline as well. The TAMDAR system has been in continuous operation since its initial deployment in December 2004.


In 2014, TAMDAR data began being implemented in the national mesonet program consisting of NOAA and its partners.^[3]


In October 2018, Panasonic Weather Solutions was acquired by FLYHT Aerospace Solutions, which has integrated TAMDAR with its AFIRs hardware package for airplanes (providing real-time data transmission via satellite connection).^[4]