A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/820602
business case was built on an assu mption that today's robust radar infrastructure could be reduced once ADS - B becomes the primary surveillance source. The Agency seems to have built their business case on an assumption that 100+ secondary radar sources could be removed throughout the NAS. This causes concern in airspace that does not require ADS - B (many Class D or other Approach Controls). NATCA has been pointing toward another option, removing overlapping radar sources completely rather than harming operational capabilities nationwide. There seems to be an awakening to this idea and analysis of the benefits is underway. Terminal Fusion: The Fusion Focus Group continues to track and resolve facilit y reported issues with Fusion. These are largely issues with the underlying surveillance infrastructure, and experts from all f ields are available to assist. Please report any issues to your OSF and our N ATCA SBS group for assistance. It is critical that actual data is recorded for evaluation and resolution. NATCA remains very focused on th e Common Terminal Digitizer (CTD) effort necessary to incorporate numerous ASR - 8 sites into STARS Elite as well as Fusion. SCT issues continue to be a large focus. NATCA SBS is heavily involved in the Surveillance Automation Analysis Team (SAAT), which i s examining long - term alternatives to help improve overall surveillance in the SCT airspace. Their efforts are aimed at mitigating tracking issues in the LA Basin, including the effec t of the new s tadium near LAX. NATCA and the Agency have agreed to mo ve 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 working on a costly Wide Area Multilaterat ion (WA M) 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 phases: 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 n ative format (1 - second update rate). The SCT WAM SRMP was c ompleted March 7 - 8. No additional hazard s from the national safety case were identified. The first phase is moving along rapidly. The first phase radio updates are complete. Coordination with ZLA and SCT on contractor test flights in March/April have been completed, and these "tuning" flight s were completed in early April. The contractor believes regression - tuning flights will be necessary to address ATCRBS performance. A flight inspection to evaluate the service from an a ir t raffic perspective could occur as early as July, and operational use by August 2017.