Frankfurt Airport Expands Use of Sensis MDS to Include Precision Runway Monitoring

DEWITT, NY – March 31, 2003 – Sensis Corporation today announced that Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide (Fraport), owner and operator of Frankfurt Airport in Germany, will be deploying Sensis’ airport surveillance system, Multistatic Dependent Surveillance (MDS) for precision runway monitoring. Fraport is currently deploying MDS at Frankfurt Airport for surface area surveillance, and based on the success of initial testing, Fraport will now be expanding the implementation to include evaluation of MDS for enhanced terminal surveillance and Precision Runway Monitoring (PRM). DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH, the corporation responsible for Germany’s air navigation services, will also participate in the field trail.

“The selection of MDS for precision runway monitoring at Frankfurt is a testament to the flexibility of the product,” said Marc Viggiano, president of Sensis’ Air Traffic Systems Division. “It demonstrates how easily the MDS system can be scaled from surface surveillance to terminal area surveillance – providing higher quality surveillance performance than the older electronically scanned PRM currently used at some airports.”

MDS, a transponder multilateration system, interacts with an aircraft or airport vehicle’s transponder to determine position and identity. The system uses low-cost, non-rotating sensors to detect and track the movement of aircraft or vehicles based on their transponder signals. With precision comparable to global positioning systems, a higher update rate than traditional airport surveillance radar, and consistent surveillance performance regardless of weather conditions, the MDS system provides significant benefits. MDS can enable the use of capacity increasing separation standards not currently available to the air traffic controllers. Further, through its compatibility with developing concepts such as Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B), multilateration provides a bridge to future technologies.

At Frankfurt Airport, Sensis is currently working with Thales ATM, the prime contractor, to deploy MDS for surface area surveillance. As a result of the success of this initial system deployment, Fraport has contracted Thales ATM and Sensis to install MDS on the East edge of the Frankfurt parallel runways for evaluation of MDS in precision runway monitoring for enhanced wide area surveillance.

“The higher update rate and accuracy will provide a much better situational awareness for the air traffic controller,” said Fraport project manager Michael Huhnold. “Based on the success of the trials, all necessary steps toward on operational system will be taken.”

For precision runway monitoring, the distributed sensor architecture of MDS – leveraging sensors located throughout the surface and terminal areas – will enable highly available and reliable approach and departure surveillance for increased throughput. Additionally, the simultaneous 360º coverage and the fusion of information from the multiple sensors will ensure accuracy even during the rainy weather frequently experienced during Frankfurt’s winter season.

The Frankfurt Airport PRM implementation will be completed in October 2003.