Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!bu.edu!transfer!crackers!cpoint!frog!msg!news
From: news@msg.UUCP (Alex Brown)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: Network Temperature Protocol
Summary: Not yet...
Message-ID: <827@msg.UUCP>
Date: 28 Jul 90 11:19:00 GMT
References: <9007240048.AA00668@bel.isi.edu> <8078@ncar.ucar.edu> <13462@ulysses.att.com>
Lines: 32

Steven Bellovin writes:
> Glenn P. Davis writes:
> > You probably don't want to hear this, but there are a number of
> > protocols and formats for weather info defined by the
> > "World Meterological Organization" (WMO).
> 
> I hope we don't have to use ASN.1 to encode them....

These codes were established for manual encoding of weather measurements 
reported by TTY;  most of them are now IA5 (ASCII) strings.  They aren't
easy to generate because many of the measurements are conditions such as
"partly cloudy" which are based on observer judgement.  The FAA is developing
a network of "Automated Weather Observation Systems" that establish 
uniform reporting algorithms.  Although the WMO messages aren't record-
oriented, other equivalent messages used internally in FAA systems are.
Haven't had to describe them with ASN.1 yet, but the day may come, because
the FAA is well underway in developing an ISO-stack real-time network for
air traffic information, weather, and other aviation data. 

BTW, this NTP is an example of how useless a toy protocol for automated data
collection can be.  If we're really serious about automated status or ambient
condition reporting, it should be done right, with Common Management Over TCP
(CMOT) which should eventually line up with ISO Common Management Info Svc 
and Protocol (CMIS/CMIP).  Sorry to have to say it here in the TCP lobby,
but this is the sort of thing that made real-world users nervous looking
at RFCs, leading to calls for the GOSIP mandates that many of you loathe.


-- 
Alex Brown
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