Aviation News Item: 00296

23rd Sep 2009

Source: ubmaviationnews.com

The FAA has introduced a new surveillance system in Colorado to allow air-traffic-controllers to track aircraft not covered by radar in remote, mountainous regions. "The new system, called wide-area multilateration (WAM), lets us see aircraft we couldn't see before due to the rugged terrain," said Randy Babbitt, FAA Administrator. It is comprised of a network of relatively small sensors deployed in remote areas. The sensors send out signals that are received and sent back by aircraft transponders. No other aircraft equipment is required. System computers are able to determine the precise location of aircraft by triangulating the time and distance measurements of those signals. Controllers are able to see those aircraft on their screens as if they were radar targets. The FAA and the Colorado department of transportation are sharing the cost of WAM, which began initial operations on September 12 at Yampa Valley-Hayden, Craig-Moffat, Steamboat Springs and Garfield County Regional-Rifle Airports. WAM is being used in the short-term while the FAA rolls out automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), the satellite-based surveillance system that is to be fully deployed nationwide by 2013. WAM will then serve as a backup to ADS-B in the event of a GPS outage and provide an additional source of traffic-broadcast to properly equipped aircraft.

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