TruWeather Solutions a leading micro weather data and analytics company, and Spire Global a leading global provider of space-based data and analytics, announced that they have signed a letter of commitment to support TruWeather’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant with NASA. This commitment enhances previous agreements that align the strengths of both companies with the goal of enabling safer and more reliable Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) as the emerging industry and air traffic density accelerate in growth. TruWeather will have access to Spire’s weather observational data sets and global predictions to fuel TruFlite V360 micro-weather prediction models and hyper-local weather decision support APIs. Spire will leverage TruWeather’s 35 years of aviation weather operations experience and unique positioning in the unmanned systems market, and most importantly, have access to TruWeather’s last mile weather solutions to address bespoke UAS and AAM weather needs. TruWeather and Spire expect the relationship to result in a comprehensive and reliable end-to-end global weather service focused on increasing global awareness from the stratosphere to urban city building canyons for drones, air taxis and flight control and management systems and service providers.
TruWeather was recently awarded the NASA grant to develop an urban wind hazard service demonstration as part of NASA’s Weather Data Infrastructure initiative. The partnership’s precision micro weather analysis and urban predictions will contribute to decreasing operators’ flight pattern uncertainty and increasing their potential revenue, safety and utilization in urban areas. Future reliability and predictability of drone and air taxi services will depend on better weather services to detect Venturi wind and wake turbulence effects, micro-burst detection, localized fog and cloud icing that pose significant risk to drone and air taxi operations.
“My experience as the National Weather Science and Technology Director informed TruWeather’s decision to partner with Spire and leverage what we believe to be the most promising global weather prediction system in the world. TruWeather only works with the best weather partners to deliver the most advanced pinpoint weather intelligence possible to drone and air taxi operators, UAS Test Ranges, UTM and AAM systems, and federal and local governments worldwide,” said Don Berchoff, CEO of TruWeather Solutions. “TruWeather is aligning sensor and data partners now to address the toughest weather challenge, localized urban wind variances and building induced wake turbulence, and micro-climate icing, and IFR conditions that are sub-grid to weather systems today and must get better for a safe, predictable and reliable drone and air taxi industries.”
TruFlite V360° simplifies decision-making with subscription-based APIs that provide actionable weather insights designed to increase vehicle utilization rates and optimize stakeholder resources and scheduling for the best flight windows. TruWeather is the first weather solution provider to offer a deeply immersive weather experience built specifically for drone pilots and air taxi operations, all focused on helping the pilot meet FAA Part 107 weather minimums and Part 135 weather requirements.
“We believe the combination of Spire’s weather data sets and prediction model with TruWeather’s TruFlite V360 will help ensure that end-users will receive highly accurate forecasting allowing them to make smarter weather-driven decisions,” said Keith Johnson, Vice President and General Manager for Government Solutions at Spire. “We know how critical these decisions can be to mission success and we’re proud to partner with TruWeather, a leader in micro-weather data and analytics, to create what we expect to be one of the most robust global weather prediction systems that can predict the weather of today, tomorrow and the future.”