A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/808779
MEARTS Fusion: CF started Fusion operations on February 22, 2017, a significant ach ievement after years of effort. Unfortunately, a number of latent radar issues have resulted in a pause in Fusion operati ons just days after th e start. Second Level Engineering and LEIDOS have analyzed most of the trouble tickets submitted. Recommended adaptation changes have been delivered to HCF, and they are working to evaluate the effectiveness. Staffing shortages within the facility are del aying that effort. Efforts to continue deploying 3NM Fusion in MEARTS have been postponed until key site issues are fully resolved. Terminal Fusion: The Fusion Focus Group continues to track and resolve facility reported i ssues with Fusion. These are lar gely issues with the underlying surveillance infrastructure, and experts from all fields are available to assist. Please report any issues to your OSF and our NATCA SBS group for assistance. It is critical that actual data is recorded for evaluation and re solution. NATCA remains very focused on the Common Terminal Digitizer (CTD) effort necessary to incorporate numerous ASR - 8 sites into STARS Elite as well as Fusion. SCT issue s continue to be a large focus. NATCA SBS is heavily involved in the Surveillanc e Automation Analysis Team (SAAT), which is examining long - term alternatives to help improve overall su rveillance in the SCT airspace. Their efforts are aimed at mitigating tracking issues in the LA Basin, including the effec t of the new stadium near LAX. NATCA and the Agency have agreed to move forward wi th raising the LGB radar site. This was thought to be one of the easier solutions to put in place, but the Agency cannot seem to get out of their own way to do so. Meanwhile , the SAAT team has been wor king on a costly Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) design. Agency and s tadium proponents have completed negotiations over funding and announced that a shared cost agreement allowing WAM deployment to move forward. WAM in the LA Basin area will be in three phas es: update nine existing ADS - B r adios to support WAM via Virtual Radar (CLT configuration), add eight new r adios to supplement the WAM coverage (still using VR), then update STARS to allow for WAM in Native format (1 second update rate). The SCT WAM SRMP was Co mpleted March 7 - 8. No additional hazards from the national safety case were identified. The first phase is moving along rapidly. The first phase rad io updates are complete. Coordination with ZLA and SCT on contractor test flights in March/April has bee n completed, and these "tunin g" flights are nearly complete. A flight inspection to evaluate