A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/806148
agency with feedback and ideas on how to improve the product. We will see if they heed our advice ; another test is scheduled at the end of April . More on CTD in the deployment report. Mr. Rose spent many an hour prepping fo r CFS. Providing weather photos to NATCA National, creating a TAMR PowerPoint, and coordinating wit h Raytheon on what to display. Of course you are reading this after CFS, so I will take this time to thank all the TAMR SMEs who helped out at the Raytheon b ooth and Scott Robillard (K90), Scott Kendrick (North TX OSF), and Kyle Ness (K98) for presenting at the TAMR Breakout session. STARS and Common Terminal Digitizer (CTD) Deployment Update Submitted by Scott Robillard (K90) The TAMR waterfall continues fo rward replacing all ARTS IIE systems and legacy STARS systems within the NAS. Part of the TAMR program, as funded by Congress, is to deploy the C ommon Terminal Digitizer (CTD). This piece of equipment will digit ize 41 ASR8 radars in the NAS. The STARS plat form requires a digital signal and unf ortunately the ASR8 is analog. This part of the program has experienced issues, to say the least. However, we seem to have turned a corner. During the week of March 13 - 17, 2017 NATCA TAMR sent two SMEs to RFD to work w ith the PMO and vendor to optimize the CTD. A major software drop that corrected issues within the software was optimized and tested. This is the first time NATCA attended an on site optimization. The results were extremely encouraging. With the help of the N ATCA SMEs, the vendor and PMO w ere able to simulate how software changes would affect the deficiencies in the system. This will allow for reduced software build time, more predictable results and, hopefully, will return the CTD to a deployment schedul e that meets the t imeline of the TAMR waterfall. Jim VanZee (GRR) and Ross Costa (RSW) worked hand - in - hand with RFD FacRep Tim Austin and the membership to facilitate activities. The dedication and innovation of Jim, Ross , and Tim should be commended. For each of the high level activities below, the TAMR SMEs have dedicated many hours of telcons, travel, and one - on - one site support. It should not go without mentioning that each of the SMEs on the NATCA TAMR Core team is supported by the membership in their own facility. Without the greater membership supporting the SMEs, this level of accomplishment would not be realized. CMH Initial Operating Capacity (IOC) 2/25/2017 P50 Initial Operating Capacity (IOC) 3/12/2017 CPR Equipment Delivery (ED) : CPR moved o ne step closer to N extGen by becoming the next site on the ARTS IIE waterfall to have their STARS equipment delivered in preparation for install. CMI Contractor Acceptance Inspection (CAI) : The G4 STARS ELITE equipment has been installed and accepted by t he FAA for CMI. Next it will be adapted for transition to replace the ARTS IIE.