A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/778317
purchased all systems and they are installing in parallel with the legacy analog system that is currently feeding data to the ARTS IIE. At three (3) sites, to p rotect the TAMR waterfall from a small CTD waterfall slip, the PO is installing older, refurbished, TDX - 2000's as a means of digitizing the ASR8. The TDX - 2000 is End Of Life (EOL) and the vendor stopped supporting the equipment when the contract was awarde d to the CTD vendor. Test week 1 at RFD ASR8; Bi5 Beacon system: Heavy winds and poor weather present. As the day progressed, the weather got worse. In the morning, due to the lack of traffic, the NATCA test team of three (3) SMEs and a test lead joined AJV - 7 (FAA Terminal Requirements) and contract support to accomplish some basic fault testing and to evaluate basic items like tracking and altitude display. No issues noted. This was AJV - 7's first view of the system so some of the time was spent on basic education. In the Afternoon of day 1 of testing, the Test Team SMEs and AJV - 7 gathered in the RFD TRACON. (Ops combined to the tower). The facility was configuring for a surveillance approach into RFD by B767. The weather and wind had become much worse fro m the morning. Tim Austin, RFD FacRep, was setting up the RADS on the ARTS IIE for the surveillance approach. Due to weather, he switched the ASR8 from LP to CP. The ARTS IIE and ASR8 transitioned to CP and showed no ill effects. The STARS system, however, showed a much different result. The targets started to appear to flicker and became random and then failed. Within three minutes, the CTD had completely failed and a red banner on the STARS system appeared for a sensor failure. The CTD team was able to restor e the system in about 30 minutes. The SMEs duplicated the crash three (3) more times. As the weather moved off to the east, the system stopped crashing during an LP/CP switch. The fact that the system operated completely differently with weather present than it did without weather, makes NATCA doubt the validity of the tests that were run in the morning. Due to the unexpected complete system failure, the CTD PO has until Wednesday, January 18th to determine the reason for the failure. Without complete und erstanding of the reason for the failure and those issues being addressed to the satisfaction of NATCA and AJV - 7, the suitability call during the week of January 23rd will be canceled. Currently, the system cannot be deployed. Without the test event and su itability call that was scheduled for the week of January 23rd, the TAMR waterfall is in jeopardy. Other major activities by the NATCA TAMR team includes: ALO Joint Site Survey (JSS); This activity is when the vendor surveys and develops the equipment order for STARS equipment. Y90 Contractor Acceptance Inspection (CAI). The Y90 STARS G4 ELITE system is installed and the FAA has purchased the equipment from the vendor. LEX Initial Operatin g Capacity planning telcons. IOC scheduled for Feb 17th. 3 SMEs are scheduled to be on hand for 3 days to assist the site through the transition from ARTS IIE to STARS. AGS Site Implantation Review (SIR): The SIR is the activity where the PO reviews all si te prep work to ensure the site is ready for equipment delivery and installation of STARS. Common Terminal Digitizer (CTD) Discrepancy Review Board (DRB). Bi - Monthly, all DRs on the CTD are reviewed and ranked so that they can be addressed via hardware or software.