A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/832092
Second Level Engineering and LEIDOS have generated r ecommended adaptation changes. These and minor changes to MEARTS are to be evaluated at HCF mid July. HCF intends to restart Fusion by the end of July 2017. Efforts to continue deploying 3NM Fusion in MEARTS at other sites have been postponed until key site issues are fully resolved. Surveillance Portfolio Analysis Work Group Eric Labardini and James Keith (NATCA AJV - 7) have been working closely with the Agency's multifaceted analysis of post 20 20 radar infrastructure needs. Th e ADS - B business case was built on an assumption that today's robust radar infrastructure could be reduced once ADS - B becomes the predominant surveillance source. The Agency 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 operat ional 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 wi th 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. NA TCA 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 issues continue to be a large focus. NATCA SBS is heavily involved in the Surveillance Automation Analysis Team (SAAT), which is 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 effect of the new s tadium near LAX. NATCA and the Agency have agreed to move forward wi th raising the LGB radar si te. 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. Current target date for completion according to W estern Service Area is October to November 2017. Meanwhile the SAAT team has been working 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 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 STAR S to allow for WAM in Native format (1 second update rate).