FAA Baselines Sensis Technology to Digitize Surveillance Data for Air Traffic Control
TDX-2000 Designated Solution for Digitizing Legacy Analog Radar Data
DEWITT, NY - April 29, 2003 - Sensis Corporation today announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has baselined the Target Data Extractor (TDX) 2000 in order to establish product configuration control within the National Airspace System (NAS).
FAA terminal radar approach control facilities today operate several versions of air traffic control systems, some dating back several decades, which are facing obsolescence and technical limitations. To address this, the FAA is upgrading air traffic controllers’ terminal automation systems with new digital automation equipment. The analog ASR-7 and ASR-8 radar systems that feed surveillance data to the current automation systems are incompatible with the replacement digital automation system. Eventually, these older radar systems will be replaced with modern digital radar. Through this transition period, which will extend into 2008, the FAA is leveraging Sensis TDX-2000 technology to transform the analog data from the ASR-7 and ASR-8 radar systems into digital target reports compatible with the new digital automation equipment.
“For nearly a decade, we have been supporting the FAA’s need to integrate new and legacy systems with a comprehensive suite of integration products,” said Marc Viggiano, president of Sensis Air Traffic Systems. “The baselining of the TDX-2000 is a testament to the product’s performance and a validation of its use for air traffic control.”
The TDX-2000 is a high performance radar processor which transforms primary and secondary analog radar data – from virtually any air surveillance radar – into digital target reports or track messages suitable for integration into modern control centers. The system includes an embedded Sensor Data Processor that dramatically reduces false readings from obstructions such as weather, bird flocks, road traffic and ground clutter for an improved surveillance picture. There are currently fourteen TDX-2000s in the NAS. As sites with a TDX-2000 receive the upgrade to an Airport Surveillance Radar, model 11(ASR-11), the FAA and Sensis will likely re-deploy the units at other legacy analog radar sites until the ASR-11 installation across the NAS is completed.
“Sensis is dedicated to supporting the FAA in its mission of continually improving the safety and efficiency of the NAS,” said Viggiano. “The TDX-2000 provides a highly accurate, easily deployable solution to assist the FAA in implementing their Modernization Program.”
Since introducing the TDX, Sensis has delivered more than 75 units to numerous government and military agencies around the world. The FAA is one of Sensis’ largest TDX customers with deployments around the country including feeds to Northern California Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility in Mather, California; the Atlanta Large TRACON in Peachtree City, Georgia; and the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove, in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, for Philadelphia International Airport.
