A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/660202
analytical results are extremely promising. As a first look, we analyzed data recordings from the OR9 radar immediately after the modification for a little ove r 24 hours comparing that with the same time period from the previous week. o Even with a 12% increase in total beacon reports, there was a 98.85% reduction in false beacon targets! This wil l provide huge benefits to the transition to STARS in April. • Surveil lance - Automation Analysis Team (SAAT): A new team has been stood up, hea ded up and sponsored by AJM - 2. SAAT has been assembled to analyze terminal area surveillance and automation operations for improvements and to help address performance issu es and propo se solutions. Our purpose is to take a strategic look at surveillance and automation system integration and improvements, determine/validate underlying causes of operational performance issues, analyze alternatives and recommend solutions to include system design changes and changes to surveillance infrastructure, and to help transition recommende d solutions to implementation. Our initial focus is on SCT issues with surveillance performance from the current radar and automation infrastructure. Additionally, a new NFL stadium is planned to be built in Inglewood which will further impact the radar - based infrastructure as evidenced by the FAA's preliminary assessment o f the proposed stadium design. A combination of any of the following alternatives are under co nsideration: radar site changes including relocations, tower raises or temporary systems; Wide Area Multi - Lat (WAM); STARS Fusion enhancements; and ADS - B. • Common Terminal Digitizer (CTD) Testing : The CTD is an integral part of the back end of the TAMR Segm ent 2 waterfall to digitize the remaining ASR - 8 radars, as a STARS system only accepts a digital radar feed. In - plant DTE testing of the CTD system has completed at the Telephonics facility , including regression testing of both the Sunhillo and Intersoft E lectronics builds. CTD First Article shipment to WJHTC was completed on February 19, with installation and checkout completing the following week. This system will be used f or onsite DTE and OTE testing. DTE is currently scheduled to co mmence April 19. The two keysites for the CTD are Roc kford (RFD) and Roanoke (ROA). As the first keysite, RFD will also be utilized for additional "delta OTE" testing and AT User Evaluations including side - by - side comparison of the analog ASR - 8 feeding the ARTS2e with the CTD - digitized ASR - 8 feeding the TAMR system, this currently targeted for October of this year. • STARS/TAMR Phase 1 Update submitted by Jimmie White - PHL o Prototype Trackb all Prototype: Trackb alls a re in key site at PHL and TPA. PHL trackballs are out of testing due to annoying tapping sound from one and a co unter spill ruined the second. Replace ments will take up to 8 weeks. TPA trackballs are going over well with the controllers with a lot of positive feed back. o S6R4 OT&E : This is the first phase of combining al l a ir t raffic soft ware into one single baseline. Phase 2 will begin im mediately following this test. After three weeks of testing, every thing is on track for success. In week one, there was a type 2 (automatic fail) Discrepancy report (DR) generated on an initial tag u p of data blocks on departure. When multiple radars are in competing position to start a track, sometimes the result was to paint each radars response at once, resulting in the same data block being generated sep arately by each radar source. T he result was a super bright data block on each departure until the radar til e set priority was