A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/746805
transition because there is no way to digitize the ASR8 radars, which is needed within STARS. TAMR is trying to find more TDX2000 radar digitizers but as of now none are available. The week of Oct . 24 Scott Robillard (K90), Tim Samsel (NCT), Doug Peterson (D10), and Hugh Wyckoff (TLH) attended an onsite CTD operational test in R ockford (Oct 26 - 27). The test did not go as planned and a new issue has surfaced dealing with the ability to reset high voltage on the offline channel . T his reset produces false targets and false weather on the MDM (Main Display Monitor). The issu e has now been elevated to the vendor and deemed operationally significant. It will have to be fixed prior to a suitability call for use of the CTD in the National Airspace System. From Oct . 18 - 20 , Aaron Rose and Tim Samsel (NCT) attended a meeting for offshore automation. Offshore includes Guam, San Juan, Hawaii, and Alaska Centers. Discussions revolved around requirements in the transition from Micro - EARTS to a combination of STARS and ERAM. Jim McAllister is the NATCA Article 114 representative on the offshore project. TAMR transitioned two more facilities : Charleston, W.Va. on Oct . 3 and Bismarck, N.D. on O ct. 9 . Congratulations and welcome to the club. Mr. Rose worked closely with NATCA Safety ERC reps. Committees throughout the cou ntry receive numerous ATSAPs from facilities that have transitioned to STARS. Many of the new ATSAP reports are due to adaptation during the cutover to STARS. Mr. Rose helped answer CAR (Corrective Action Requests) reports with assistance from the TAMR p rogram office and the OSF (Operational Support Facilities). San Francisco moved into their new tower on 10/16/16 with no major issues. TAMR Systems Engineering Update submitted by Kyle Ness (M98) The S6R3d software build was declared suitable for key site activity. NATCA SMEs from SCT and TPA were involved in the testing of the build in late September at the Tech Center and were very thorough in their testing and evaluation. Fortunately, significant discrepancies discovered during operational testing t hat may have delayed the release were attributable to simulation and were discarded. The build will soon key site at Potomac and Denver TRACONs and will eventually be available to the TAMR facilities on the S6R3 baseline. Work continues on a solution for Predicted Track Line (PTL) behavior in the R27 and R4 software builds. Short - range sensors that occasionally deliver a bad report may cause PTLs to move irregularly and work is being done to mitigate the behavior. NATCA will evaluate a prototype resolutio n the first week of November. NATCA SMEs from TPA, RSW , and PHL attended the PTR (Program Technical Report) prioritization meeting at William J. Hughes Technical Center to evaluate and rank STARS software fixes and improvements. The team reviewed roughly 25 new and existing trouble reports and improvements including , but not limited , to AT Coach, Surveillance , and Conflict Alert. Work continues to resolve issues in the field. N90 has been running an improved version of AT Coach on their training string wi th some success, however simulated aircraft