NATCA Bookshelf

National Office Week in Review: October 3, 2017

A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association

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If CTD fails, there will be 13 analog ASR8s rema ining in the NAS. This will leave 13 ARTS IIE facilities without the ability to transition to STARS and therefor e will not meet NextGen goals. MFD will not be able to realign to CLE as part of S804 as that ASR8 is one of the 13. To say this radar digitizer is important to NextGen ini tiatives is an understatement. It impacts TAMR completion as w ell as Se ction 804 activities. On a personal note, Scott Robillard is in the midst of transferring to A90 from K90 and will b e on hiatus while in training. Jim VanZee from GRR will be replacing Scott in one of the most important and demanding jobs wit hin the team, deployment lead. Both Scott and I have worked cl osely with Jim for five years. NATCA TAMR deployment is in great hands and Jim is a naturally gifted leader. In addition, Bill Spence (BTV) will be moving on in January and Chris Fal cone from MDT will replac e him. I have worked with Bill since 2011, and there is not a more dedicated person for training issues related to terminal than Bill. He will be sorely missed. Chris and Bill will be working together over the next two month s on the transition of duties. C hris has the backing of all on the NATCA TAMR team and we welcome him in this role. TAMR Software/Hardware Report Submitted by Kyle Ness (M98) MSAW/CA Board The Board recently met with the Technical Center Human Factors Branch to discuss the upcoming con troller reaction time human factors study. The objectives of the study are to produce up - to - date and relevant data detailing the time required for controllers to respond to MSAW/CA situations as well as improve recommended parameter settings for the requir ed MSAW/CA warning time that provides controllers sufficient time to respond to genuine alert situations while also minimizing nuisance alerts. The data will also serve as a reference point to design new alert functionality and enhance software safety logi c. MSAW and CA exercise several algorithms to detect safety situations such as General Terrain Monitor (GTM) or Linear Conflict (LINCON). Each of these algorithms is governed by parameters listed in the MSAW/CA Board's Standards and Guidelines document that Automation S pecialists reference when setting adaptation for each terminal facility. These standards establish required look - ahead and warning times which are the number of seconds between the alert activation and when a safety event would occur if no intervention is taken. Too little time and the alert is deficient, too much time and the alert is a nuisance. Excessive and nuisance alarms are consistently one of the foremost complaints amongst terminal controllers and conversely become an impediment to the first priority duty. Using the results of this study, automation specialists will have better tools to reduce false alarms and enhanced safety algorithms can get off the drawing board. The study will initially enter a 'proof of concept' phase by ex ecuting the protocol for a small number of sites followed by a check - in meeting with the board to review the methods and data. Technology such as FALCON and digital audio will allow for much larger sampling when the study moves on to the 'full scale' phase . The study is scheduled to take approximately a year. System Technical Reports Working Group (STRWG ) - Stakeholders are reviewing three requested changes to STARS software. The first is improving scratchpad revert

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