A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/617391
o And two r adios a t each of the nine ASSC sites ASSC: · On Monday, December 7th, the ASSC SRMP reconvened for the sixth time. Due to the Agency's direction to integrate non - cooperative radar, the panel was able to mitigate the high risk down to an ac ceptable level. All other existing risks remained the same or were mitigated down as well. The SRMD is now in the process of being updated, and then it can be sent out for review. · Due to the addition of SMR (surface movement radar) the agency has reque sted the team reevaluate the RU (remote unit) constellations at ASSC sites. Rather than the 18 that were in the initial baseline, the agency's goal is to reduce that RU number to roughly 10 per site. The team is doing some analysis to determine the best app roach moving forward so they can provide controllers with the best product possible. · Meanwhile out at SFO, installation of ASSC continues in the new tower that is scheduled to commission October 2016. The team is confident they can have the system ready to go by that commissioning date. Unfortunately, the Program office continues to state that the new tower at SFO will commission with ASDE/AMASS. This remains a hot topic of discussion within the program. Schedules are being coordinated between the A SSC team and SFO tower to finalize a timeline to achieve ASSC IOC in October 2016. As soon as that timeline is firmed up, the team can schedule CLE to follow right behind SFO. Dan Hamilton will be reaching out to all sites on the ASSC waterfall list in the upcoming weeks. CLT WAM: · To date , Fusion has not been operatio nally suitable a t CLT Approach. The two radars available provide inadequate overlapping coverage, which leads to stitching, target jump or other anomalies. In order to reach Fusion, CL T will require an additional surveillance source. SBS is pursuing a solution used in ERAM and MEARTS call ed W ide Area Multilateration (WAM). Through multi - Radio triangulation, an aircraft's transponder location can be foun d to a high degree of accuracy. B y design, the WAM system in CLT will also provide sensor update to the automation system every 2.3 seconds. · Multiple flight tests by the vendor have taken place and Air Traffic will examine airspace coverage during a Flight Inspection planned for the first week of February. · An informal assessment took place on December 8 and the results looked very promising. Participants included CLT NATCA, O SF, NATCA SBS, and many others. Technical issues continue to be overcome, but the lengthy, bureau cratic approval process for an SRMD looms on the horizon. · WAM may be a solution for other sites, but it is only intended to open the doo r to Fusion and thus ADS - B use. ADS - B adds another layer of surveillance with equal accuracy and even faster up date rates. GIM - S: · Ground - based Interval Management with Spacing . · ZLC Orientation meeting too k place on the 3rd of December. Bi - weekly meeting now scheduled to start in January. Waiting for the site to determine which cornerpost(s) will be imple mented in the first adaptation. IOC tentatively scheduled for April 2016. · ZMP standing down on any future work until ZAU TMU staffing can support participation. · ZDV adaptation delivered to the facilities support string. Waiting to get