A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/905671
ASSC with ADS - B only SRMP will take place on Nov . 14 & 15. This Panel is pertaining to deploying ASSC at up to 50 sites that do not currently have any type of Surface Surveillanc e. FMA in Fusion: The SRMD allowing the combined use of FMA and Fusion re ached final approval on Nov. 1. Operational start of FMA use of Fusion is now pending a Notice allowing this operati on, planned for November 2017. The change in procedure is not anticipated to require additional controller training as these facilities are already trained on both FMA and Fusion. GIM - S: ZDV was briefed on some upcoming changes to GIM - S that are roll ing out with TBFM release 4.8. In lieu of these changes, ZDV may h old off on any adaptation changes for the time being. MEARTS Fusion: 3nm Fusion in MEARTS is a complex undertaking requiring multiple Tower, Approach, and En route sectors to come online wi th Fusion at the same time. The lessons learned in this undertaki ng will help the effort with future MEARTS and ERAM sites. ZAN has bee n on Fusion since August 2015. HCF has been on Fusion since Aug. 1, 2017. Plans are being made for the continued deploying 3NM Fu sion in MEARTS at ZSU and ZUA. Due to the significa nt impact of the September hurricanes on Puerto Rico (ZSU), the focus for the time being will be on ZUA (Guam). Surveillance Portfolio Analysis Work Group Eric Labardini and James Keith (NATCA AJV - 7) have been working closely with the Agency's multifacete d analysis of post 20 20 radar infrastructure needs. The 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 overlap ping 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. An SRM Panel was held Aug. 1 - 3 to analyze the risks associated with partial or co mplete removal of radar syste ms in a post 2020 environment. The conclusions of the Panel were that partial removal actually resulted in highe r risks than complete removal. This assumes that complete removal would only occur where the effects were minimiz ed by other overlapping radar sources nearby. 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 fiel ds 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 the Common Terminal Digitizer (CTD) effort necessary to incorporate numerous ASR - 8 sites into STARS Elite as well as Fusion. The CTD