A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/675504
o ZHU - Resuming GIM - S implementation testing on site. IOC not scheduled yet. o ZKC and ZFW – Site Kickoff meetings are being coordinated for end of June. • MEARTS Fusion: o SBS Article 48 work group is pursuing a change to increase the update rate o f the Juneau WAM configuration. Currently at 12 seconds, the sys tem would initially be sped up to 6 seconds provided it passes an Operational Eval. ZAN currently operates in an En Route Fused display mode with a 3 - second skip scan function. With a faster update rate from WAM, the display rate would also increase. o Unre lated to Fusion, ZAN has reported numer ous Call Sign Mismatch issues. Flight Standards has found that 99% of these are attributed to seven carriers, and they are r eaching out to those operators. Changes to MEARTS to disable the alerts are being pursued. • Spac e Based ADS - B: o April 6, Eric Labardini participated with representatives from FedEx, JetBlue, American Airlines, United, and ALPA in meetings with Senator Schuster's office and the Senate Appropriations Committee on Space - Based ADS - B. All participants shared the same message, that the Agency's two - phased approach to implementing Space - Based ADS - B and Reduced Oceanic Sep aratio n is lengthening the time lines unnecessarily to 2021 or later, adding cost, and causi ng serious operational concern. If the approach we re more like that of other countries that plan to have a reduced oceanic separation standard in 2018, then these issues could be avoided. The U . S . - controlled oceanic airspace could become a bottleneck compared to surrounding countries if the approach is not modified quickly. • Terminal Fusion: o Several STARS ELITE sites have found that the Tower Display Workstation (TDW) has a problem with the Fused display target symbol wh en ranged out to 60nm or more. This is a hardware limitation and options are few except to try and add ress through software changes. The SBS Article 48 work group has asked TSLE to investigate reducing the pixel size adaptation parameter and plans on a limited operational eval to determine acceptability. Testing begins soon. o The Surveillance Automation Analysis Team (SAAT) continues its work analyzing long - term solu tions for SCT TRACON airspace. The current focus of the team is on the impact of the stadium to be built in Inglewood and its impact on the surveillance systems in the LA basin. The stadium is proposed just two mile s from LAX and its two radars. There are likely to be significant radar reflection issues in an already congested and challenging with similar problems. The planning stage for the stadium is nearing its final stage an d any mitigation proposals from the Agency need to be completed quickly. • Vehicle ADS - B: o The vehicle ADS - B team is currently working on finalizing transmit maps for HOU, STL , and FLL. o An upcoming outreach will take place at PDX the week of June 13th.