Raytheon’s [RTN] next-generation Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System II is now operational, according to a company statement.

AWIPS II is a computer system that helps National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters make more precise water and climate predictions as well as dispense quick, reliable warnings and advisories, according to the Jan. 23 statement. The NWS is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

AWIPS II’s open-source, service-oriented architecture will allow the NWS to be more responsive to requirements for future weather products and services, according to Raython’s AWIPS II Program Manger Andrew Nappi.

“The (new) architecture was designed to make the software more maintainable, more flexible, more extendable to enable new science new development, more algorithms to make it quicker for the forecaster,” Nappi said.

The NWS Omaha, Neb., Weather Forecast Office is the first of 135 forecast sites to get AWIPS II, part of a nationwide campaign.

The original AWIPS started to roll out in 1999 and was a “piece-meal approach” with different programming languages, Nappi said. AWIPS II is completely streamlined, using a Java-based language, is HTML-enabled and is completely open source, allowing new capabilities to be added without restructuring the system.

“We’ve developed a couple design patters that allow the operational forecaster to add algorithms, new scientific scripting language, and new capability can be added to the system without making software changes, without having to rebuilt the system,” said Raytheon software architect Frank Griffin.

While AWIPS II will retain a look and feel similar to the original AWIPS, the new system has numerous enhancements, including: Non-proprietary software that can lead to savings on license fees and administrative costs, consistent user interfaces across all applications that enable ease of data manipulation by the forecaster, situational awareness and decision-making visualization, user-configurable panning and zooming capability; and scalability from laptops to servers.