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TAMR Software/Hardware Report submitted by Kyle Ness (M98) Operational Testing and Evaluation (OT&E) – The next few months are going to be busy with testing events. OT&E for S6.R9 Drop 2 was cancelled in January due to the government shutdown and has been rescheduled to begin in late March. S6.R8 testing is scheduled for three weeks in May followed by another round for S6.R9 in June. An early user assessment is also scheduled early in June at Raytheon Marlborough to preview the S6.R10 build content before it goes to OT&E in late 2019. S6.R7 went to keysite at PCT, LIT, and AZO in February and a bug related to displaying emergency airports was discovered. The bug fix was delivered, and the build will be tested at the Tech Center in late March before going back to keysite. Ness participated in an improvised test event at the Tech Center designed to demonstrate prototype ERAM/STARS adaptations in order to bring stand-alone ARTS 1E and STARS LITE towers into nearby TRACONs. The prototype adaptations were based on ZOA, NCT, and RDD, and revealed several options to successfully bring the LITE and 1E towers into the STARS G4 system without significant operational or procedural changes. Program Trouble Report Working Group (PTRWG) – The PTRWG held a two-day meeting in February. The agenda for the first day was to continue cleanup efforts that began in late 2018 and review more PTRs for closure based on age and validity of the problem/improvement. The second day was largely an effort to integrate Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSAS) PTRs to the rankings. Paul Carrol (NATCA TBFM) assisted, and in all, over 75 PTRs were reviewed by stakeholders. The March meeting continues housekeeping activities and ranking of recent problems reported from the field and test events. MSAW/CA Board – ARCON, a subcontractor to Raytheon, presented reports outlining two refinements to the Conflict Alert algorithm designed to reduce nuisance alerts. Reports demonstrate air traffic scenarios with and without the algorithms enabled. Initial results look promising, but more data needs to be presented in order to make a better determination if the results are valid enough to continue development. Over the last year, there have been Conflict Alert events reported to the Board because Conflict Alert did not activate when the controller believed it should have. When the data from such events was examined, it was determined the proximity and motion of the aircraft were on the very fringe of activating the alarm. ARCON reviewed the data and presented a report advocating a change to vertical convergence rate (VCR) to better detect these conflicts. However, adjusting this parameter will likely result in increased nuisance alerts. The Board is reviewing the report as well as ARCON's proposal to introduce a suppression algorithm to counter increased alerts created by the VCR adjustment. Software Planning Board – STARS will transition to the LINUX operating system in 2021. This presents an end stop for the S6 software baseline before it transitions to the new OS and S8 baseline. This presents a significant constraint to an already aggressive build plan affected by the shutdown. Stakeholders are nearing final agreement on a re-plan. Keysites for S6.R8 will be Fargo, Fayetteville, Denver, and SCT. System Technical Reports Working Group (STRWG) – Three proposals related to Air Traffic are under review. One improves a flight plan modify filter to either freeze or drop tracks depending

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• SAFETY AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT