A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/687483
ADS - B IOCs have been completed at all En Route (ERAM and MEARTS) facilities. 75 of 155 Terminal sites have reached their ADS - B IOC and 72 are operating on Fusion. The remaining Terminal sites are ARTS 2E site s awaiting an upgr ade to the ELITE (STARS) build. The Terminal ADS - B/Fusion tra nsition proceeds in this order: Kickoff meeting, ADS - B Flight Inspection, ADS - B IOC, Fusion Operational Suitability Demonstration (OSD) , and Fusion Operations. The most recent a nd upcoming Terminal events: - ADS - B/Fusion kickoff meeting took place a t Chattanooga (CHA) on May 17. - ADS - B flight inspection for Greensboro (GSO) took place on May 11. ASDE - X Tech Refresh: System enhancements continue to be developed with NATCA input. D eployment of these enhancements continue s to go smoothly. ASSC: - Site acceptance testing of the ASSC system in SFO's n ew tower completed on May 25th. - SFO OT&E (operational testing and evaluation) starting the week of July 11th. - ASSC continues on schedul e with discussion of moving waterfall dates to the left on some production sites. CLT WAM: Congratulations to Charlotte Approach (CLT) , which transitioned to operational use of Fusion on May 24. CLT had to overcome significant obstacles preventing the use of Fusion and leveraged a unique solution to do so. As of this morning, CLT is the first Terminal site to use Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) as an airspace - wide surveillance source. Partnering with the Surveillance Broadcast Service (SBS) Program Office and SBS Article 48 Work Group, CLT Management and CLT NATCA dedicated their resources and exp erience to make this a success. This achievement represents another tool available within the NAS allowing Terminal facilities nationwide to overcome Fusion challe nges. One of the primary objectives of Fusion is to allow a Terminal facility to utilize ADS - B. However, some sites are prevented from reaching operationally suitable Fusion performance due to a lack of sufficient overlapping surveillance sources, or the surveillance sources present are challenged by less than o ptimal environmental variables. WAM has been introduced as a highly accurate, fast update source that lends itself well to the one secon d Terminal Fusion display rate. Per the direction of the SBS A rticle 48 Work Group, WAM also allows CLT to explore additional contingency modes and lessen the dependence on th e existing radar infrastructure. WAM can be used as a sole source for Fusion or FMA (but not Fusion and FMA) at CLT w ithout effect on traffic f low. This is truly an achievement to be proud of and is a great example of the strong, collaborative spirit present between the Agency and NATCA. The effort was spearheaded on the PO side by the SBS Article 48 Work Group and co - leads Bobby Nichols, Survei llance Group Manager, and Eric Labardini, NATCA SBS Article 48 Representative. NATCA SBS team members Andrew Stachowiak and Craig Bielek, NATCA CLT representatives William Agee and Kevin Walker, OSF Keith Duffy, FLM