A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/770043
SAFETY AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT TERMINAL AUTOMATION MOD ERNIZATION REPLACEMENT (TAMR) Aaron Rose (NCT) is the TAMR Article 114 Representative for NATCA. His re port to the membership is below: The holiday season has arrived and work as you can imagine started to slow down. Not because there was n o work but because the decision - makers are on leave. Dec isions coming from above this ti me of the year are always slow. One aspect that needed and received attention was Southern Califor nia TRACON tracking issues. Mr. Rose , with the help of TSLE (Second Level Engineering) from the Tech Center , traveled to SCT t he week of Dec. 12th to assist with new adaptation. SCT controllers Mike Sanders, Mike Smith, and Matt Morter reviewed tracking issues side by si de with old and new adaptation. They reported a huge improvement to the overall trac king in the Los Angeles Bas in. The new adaptation was loaded on the operational string the night of Dec. 15th. Initial reports from the o perational floor are promising. As of today , the reports of bad trackin g have diminished drastically. Mr. Rose is coordinating daily with SCT to ensure th e new adaptation is up to par. Mr. Rose has coordinated with Jason Grider (NATCA) about ATO Operational Contingency Group. TAMR will meet with this grou p in the beginning of January. With the introduction of FUSION in the terminal world, LRRs (l ong range radar) need to be optimized to work wi thin the terminal environment. NATCA TAMR is working with Western ERC to have all LRRs optimized starting with QPK in Colorado and Q PL in the Washington, D.C. area. This needs to be done without degrading E n route tracking. AJW is the Agency's surveillance group responsible for radar sensors. Mr. Rose is working closely with Joe Yannone (NATCA Engineer), Eric Labardini (NATCA Art 114 SBS) , and Mike Ragucci (NATCA Western ERC) on radar issues that continue to p l ague Centennial Tower and PCT. TAMR Art 114 meeting was held in Atlantic City, N . J ., on Dec. 7 th and we d iscussed Section 804 and how it is impacting TAMR deployment. Site rules, which can change adaptation on a local level, were also discussed . W e will be working hard to implement these rules int o the STARS baseline software. Money has been earmarked for this effort and the benefits to both the O SF and facilities are immense. Having to keep track of 130 individual ru les is overwhelming to the OSF. Topics also included advancements to communications between programs and what worked well in 20 16 and how to improve in 2017. I would like to thank all the hard working individuals on the NATCA TAMR team that ensure the program continues on time and under b udge t. TAMR Systems Engineering Update submitted by Kyle Ness (M98) Mr. Ness was at the FAA T ech C enter the week of Dec . 6 - 8 to attend a number of meetings , including the STARS Software Planning Board to discuss content for the S6R9 build scheduled for 2018. This software build is the first beyond the planned 'merge' and will incorporate over 40 software fixes and enhancements that will benefit all terminal STARS facilit ies. Among these features are: ATPA processing of VFR Flights,