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In flight weather mapping remains an area out of the reach of many operators of single and light twin engine aircraft. Those systems that exist tend to be heavy, costly or both. Data link systems that transmit the data from ground based weather sensors to the aircraft are in work, but require dedicated ground based transmitters and special receivers in the aircraft. This paper will propose a simple method of transmitting ground based weather radar data to the aircraft. The system sends image data over the existing voice channel of VOR navigation stations. These transmitters already installed and require only the addition of inexpensive equipment. The aircraft needs only a processor and display unit that could cost less than $1000.

For tens of thousands of light aircraft, a graphical weather avoidance system is not available either because of structural or economic constraints. A Datalink system that transmits weather radar graphical data to a display in the aircraft offers a good solution. Many current proposals are however either quite costly to implement either on the ground, in the aircraft or both. We present here the results of experiments conducted to develop a system that uses the audio channel of a receiver commonly installed in the aircraft as well as ground stations already part of the National Airways System. The experiments cover the channel requirements, tradeoffs between image resolution and bandwidth, and the effects of noise.