Report Bangladesh At Korea

Country Report – Bangladesh (Bangladesh Meteorological Department)

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Murad Ahmed *

Abstract This country report on Bangladesh has been prepared to fulfill the requirement of the training organized by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) on Information and Communication Technology for Meteorological Services to be held in Korea from April 02 – 29, 2006. In this report some brief description of current status of the Information and Communication Technology including Telecommunication network used in Bangladesh Meteorological Department will be presented. Here, needs of training for the improvement of our services especially in the field of ICT will be emphasized.

History of Bangladesh Meteorological Department Bangladesh Meteorological Department was established in December 16, 1971, the day we got independence from Pakistan. Bangladesh Meteorological Department is the authorized Government organization for all meteorological activities in the country. It maintains a network of surface and upper air observatories, radar and satellite stations, agro- meteorological observatories, geomagnetic and seismological observatories and meteorological telecommunication system. The Department has its Headquarters in Dhaka with two regional centres i.e. Storm Warning Centre (SWC), Dhaka and Meteorological & Geo-Physical Centre (M & GC), Chittagong.

Services of Bangladesh Meteorological Department v To observe different meteorological parameters both for surface and upper air all over Bangladesh round the clock. v To prepare and analyse all weather charts and to make interpretation on the basis of analyses. v To provide weather forecasts for public, farmers, mariners and aviators on routine basis and also to issue warnings for severe weather phenomena such as tropical cyclones, tornadoes, nor’westers, heavy rainfall, etc. v Earthquake monitoring, dissemination of related information including Tsunami Warning to the Government and to the public for disaster preparedness and mitigation in the country. v To maintain surveillance of weather radars for probing impending tropical cyclones, nor’westers and tornadoes. v To provide weather forecasts for public, farmers, mariners and aviators on routine basis and also to issue warnings for severe weather phenomena such as tropical cyclones, tornadoes, nor’westers, heavy rainfall, etc.

* Assistant Communication Engineer Bangladesh Meteorological Department

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v Earthquake monitoring, dissemination of related information including Tsunami Warning to the Government and to the public for disaster preparedness and mitigation1in the country. v To maintain surveillance of weather radars for probing impending tropical cyclones, nor’westers and tornadoes.

Meteorological data Communication System Purpose: 1. 2.

National Forecast Aviation forecast

Different Types of Data : 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Real- time Meteorological Data RX/TX Agro. Met, Seismic data Image( Satellite , Radar ) Bulletin, Forecast, Warning Administrative message/ service message to WMO Member countries

Data Type 1. 2.

Local Data International data

Category: • • • • • • •

Synop data (WMO Format ) Pilot Data (WMO Format ) Temps data (WMO ) Format Radar data Aviation data/warning Agro. Met Bulletin/ Warning as per needed

:3 hourly :6 hourly :12 hourly :3 hourly : hourly or may vary : As required

Total Observatories in Bangladesh • • • • • •

Total Observatory in BMD GTS Station Non GTS Station Pilot Baloon Observatory Temps Station Agro. Met Station

: 35 : 10 : 25 : 10 : 3 : 13

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Different way for Electronic Communication • • • • • • • •

Radio Link Telegraphic line Hot line phone/fax Telephone line Fax Weather facsimili receiver (obsolete) RTT ( Obsolete) Satellite data link

Local data Collection/Transmit 1. 2. 3. 4.

Wireless System ( HF transceiver) Teleprinter ( Telegraphic system) Microwave link within Metropolitan Area VSAT Link • Dhaka- Rangpur • Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar (Upcoming Project) • Dhaka- Khepupara (Upcoming Project) 5. Dedicated Phone/Fax line

Teleprinter Network

Bogra

Ishurdi

Sylhet

Chittagong

Cox’s Bazar

NMCC Dhaka

Radio

FFWC

Navy

Legend: NMCC: National Meteorological Communication Centre ZIA: Zia International Airport BAF: Bangladesh Air Force FFWC: Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre

BAF

ZIA

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International Data Exchange 1.

2. 3.

GTS Link • Satellite data link (Dedicated) • Analogue line (leased from BTTB) • Speed 2.4 kbps (2 way) • Protocol X.25 SADIS System • Aviation warning and forecast charts received Satellite receiving System(NOAA, GMS)

Local data Network

Teleprinter

Wireless

NMCC

Phone/Fax

Data accumulated and punched

MAC Meteorological Application Centre

Send to service provider

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CMSS Connection Diagram

BAF

ZIA Printer

Chittagong

ZIA (PRT)

50 Baud

New Delhi (Data )

50 Baud

Teleprinter 2.4 kbps

Satelite Link leases from BTTB

PRT LAN

Telegraphic Adapter

CMSS

Printer (50 Baud)

DMP

BTV

Legend CMSS: Computer Message Switching System DMP: Dhaka Metropolitan BTV: Bangladesh Television

Communication Server Description • • • • • •

Operating System Software

HP UNIX 4.0 CMSS (Computerized Message Switching System) Receives Unicode data and decode it to WMO format. Switching operation to some local interfaces Error detection in WMO format Store 5 day data and then automatically erase the old data

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Ethernet Ethernet BMD SWC WDP1 Primary Server Local Host

Printer

WDP2 Secondary Server Local Host

ZIA Teleprinter

CCU1 Communicatio n Control Unit

CCU 2

Telegraphic adapter

Server for Radar image

Cyclone Warnin Processo g r

BAF Teleprinter Machine

Data Management Processo r

Data Analysis Processo r

Chittagon Teleprinter g Machine

Wireless LAN (WLAN) Fig: Point to Point Radio Link BMD Headquarter

ZIA Airport

Prime Minister's Office Monitoring cell

BTV Control room

FFWC

Network in different media

Radar Image

Satellite Image

Media Converter (Cable to Optical media)

BMD Web page

Different warning bulletins

Router Path Selector

Multiplexerx Demultiplexer

BTV Product

SADIS Product

Real time Meteorological data

Micro wave Antenna

Optical Fiber

Ethernet product

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Bangladesh Meteorological Department’s Network

Need for Future Development 1. We now use Dhaka – New Delhi GTS link having speed of 2.4 Kbps. This speed is sufficient for today but not for tomorrow when huge sized multimedia and animated meteorological information would be regular practice. So, WMO has advised to increase the speed to 64 Kbps and WMO also is looking for foreign donor to undertake this huge task. The requirements of this are: • Server • Modem • Router • TCP/IP protocol • Necessary operating system and • Specialized software But our manpower is not trained enough to adapt to the new technology. So we need foreign training and expertise to train our manpower. KOICA would be a great help for us regarding the matter. 2. Bangladesh Government has decided to implement E-Governess in all the country. In this circumstance, Bangladesh Meteorological Department would need to implement computer network in entire organization. It is a huge task for us and we need foreign as well as local expertise to design and implement this network.

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3. The High Frequency (HF) Transceiver we use in our 35 observatories is not suitable enough to collect data because of Noise, Interference (cellular phone, radio linked internet etc) and ground clutter causes weak signal and interruption of the data reception/sending problem. We have plan to replace this with GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) technology. We need training and develop our man power to adapt this new technology.

Acknowledgement I am greatly indebt to Mrs. Parveen Sultana, Communication Engineer, NMCC, Bangladesh Meteorological Department to provide me much needed information and cooperation to prepare this country report in such a limited time.

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Country Report – Bangladesh (Bangladesh Meteorological Department)

Submitted to Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)

For the Training on Information and Communication Technology for Meteorological Services to be held on April 02 – 29, 2006 Korea

Submitted by Murad Ahmed Assistant Communication Engineer Communication Division Bangladesh Meteorological Department

Korea International Cooperation Agency March 30, 2006