NATCA Bookshelf

In early March, Raytheon and NATCA began reaching out to 804 transitioning sites in an attempt to develop training plans for those transitions. We are working closely with deployment to address scheduling and training concerns for those transitions. TAMR Software/Hardware Report Submitted by Kyle Ness (M98) System Technical Reports Working Group (STRWG) Stakeholders are reviewing a software modification to change preference-set priority and sign-on reporting when a trainee and OJTI sign-on to STARS. Stakeholders also came to agreement on an improved method to alert controllers when safety alerts (CA/MSAW/MCI/MASZ) have been inhibited system-wide via keyboard command. This improvement will more robustly show these indications in the system status area on the STARS display by using color and adding more descriptive text. MSAW/CA Board The Board meeting with Raytheon to discuss expectations and methodology related to proposed software changes designed to reduce nuisance Conflict Alert alarms. The general idea is to define the criteria for successful reduction of alarms while ensuring that reduction does not degrade existing safety performance. Additionally, the group discussed what data should be used to test the software as well as the process to get that data. It was agreed that data collection should focus on dense traffic sites that consistently report excessive alarms with parallel and triple landing runways. NATCA will work with the Board to identify potential sites. Operating Testing and Evaluation (OT&E) Aaron Rose and Mr. Ness attended a software preview at Raytheon's campus in Marlboro, Mass. There are several functions and changes coming in the R9 build and getting an early look at these changes allows the Raytheon software developers to use NATCA feedback and make applicable modifications before a formal build is delivered to the agency. R9 will bring several changes that controllers will see on the glass such as improvements to ATPA, point-out data blocks and coordination lists. A major change will be a new way to move lists on the STARS display – tab lists, SSA, coast/suspend, etc. By using the center trackball button, controllers will not only be able to see the location of all lists on their display but can relocate lists by simply selecting with the middle button and moving the list with the trackball. This not only rectifies a long-held complaint about list overlap but gives controllers a great tool to place lists exactly where they want. The current STARS Tower Display Monitor (TDM) made by General Digital has been declared end-of-life and is due to be replaced by the digital TDM made by EIZO. To ensure the new TDM performance meets or exceeds existing hardware, an OT&E event was held at the Tech Center's mock tower in Atlantic City. NATCA SMEs from MDT, TLH and GEG participated in testing and evaluation and found significant shortfalls of the new TDM when compared side-by-side to the current TDM. SMEs spent two days examining the old and new TDMs at different times of day and with varied light levels. They observed undesirable glare/reflections, blurred text and other anomalies all of which prevents the OT&E from meeting successful exit criteria. Discussions are ongoing with Raytheon and EIZO as to options to resolve these discrepancies with an improved product tentatively to be delivered in May.

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