Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FAA Deploys System To Prevent Airport Runway Collisions

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2003 18:28:23 -0500

FAA Deploys System To Prevent Airport Runway Collisions
24 More Are Slated for Rollout

By Don Phillips
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 31, 2003; Page E02

The Federal Aviation Administration yesterday certified a new airport
surface-detection system designed to prevent runway
and taxiway collisions -- a project that, unlike most major FAA
technical efforts of the past, was within budget and completed
in just over three years.

The ASDE-X -- for Airport Surface Detection Equipment -- officially went
into service at Milwaukee's General Mitchell
International Airport at 9:30 a.m. Twenty-four more systems are
scheduled for deployment over the next four years. In
addition, ASDE-X technology will be used to update nine older
surface-detection installations, including one at Dulles
International Airport.

While it "turned out to be a little more complex system than originally
planned," Transportation Department Inspector General
Kenneth M. Mead said, the final product is a "needed safety improvement"
that he expects to reduce the number of potentially
disastrous runway incursions. NASA considers the system accurate enough
to use for tests on the turbulent wakes left by
planes, which can cause problems for aircraft landing or taking off
behind them.

The ASDE-X integrates several systems to give air traffic controllers a
real-time view of all aircraft and vehicles on airport
grounds or flying in the vicinity. At its heart is a process called
"multilateration," in which sensors are placed strategically around
the airport grounds to report the location of aircraft and vehicles
equipped with radio transponders.

A backup surface-detection radar can spot anything without a transponder
down to the size of a Dodge minivan, the vehicle
used as the test standard. The information from the multilateration
sensors and the radar is combined in a computer that gives
controllers a video map of all objects at or near the airport. The
system is designed to learn from its mistakes, adapting to false
targets such as buildings and trees.

The system was intended to be a lower-cost alternative to the expensive
ASDE-3. As it was developed, however, it became a
replacement for the ASDE-3.

The ASDE-X is the product of a collaboration between a team of
relatively young FAA employees who used a businesslike
procurement process and a small company in Syracuse, N.Y., called Sensis
Corp. Raytheon Co. was a major subcontractor.

"They really took advantage of the acquisition-management system put in
a few years ago," said Bill Voss, director of the
FAA's terminal business unit, who was in charge of the project overall.

Three years and 19 days elapsed from the signing of the initial contract
to yesterday's official commissioning. That represents a
five-month delay from the original schedule. However, almost all other
major FAA projects in the past decade have been
delayed three to seven years -- longer than the entire development
period of the ASDE-X.

In addition, the system gained such a reputation for quality and
reliability during its development that the Dallas-Fort Worth and
Louisville airports decided to buy systems upfront rather than wait for
FAA deployment. Other airports, including Seattle's, are
considering a similar move.

Ironically, Mead testified yesterday to a House aviation subcommittee
that while the FAA is making progress in procurement
reform, the agency is still plagued by cost overruns and delays. The
ASDE-X used some of the procurement reforms that
Mead called for.

Vincent Capezzuto, in charge of the project as deputy surveillance
sector leader, gave credit for the unusually short
development time to a fixed-cost contract with penalties for delays.

Sensis, which grew from about 270 employees to 400 during the
development effort, earned $1.6 million on the $27 million
project. Raytheon, however, lost $539,000 because most of the five-month
delay was due to problems with the company's
surface-detection radar.

Capezzuto said that rather than waiting for memos to go up and down the
chain of command, the ASDE-X team met monthly
with top FAA officials to give a project update and immediately resolve
problems and disagreements and prevent
foot-dragging. The team also worked closely with air traffic
controllers.

In 2000, the House Appropriations subcommittee on transportation had
expressed disgust with the FAA's failure to show any
enthusiasm for the project, which the subcommittee had forced into the
FAA budget over the agency's objections the previous
year.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), then chairman of the subcommittee, had taken
a leading role in pushing runway incursion
solutions, and he was growing frustrated by what he considered FAA
foot-dragging.

For fiscal 2001, the subcommittee cut the planned budget for the ASDE-X,
saying Congress "cannot responsibly provide
additional first-year funding for this program until the agency
demonstrates the long-term commitment of resources and the
leadership needed to carry it to fruition."

That language was included in the final conference report on
transportation appropriations on Oct. 5, 2000. Six days later, on
Oct. 11, Capezzuto's team let the contract for the project.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44417-2003Oct30.html

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---

From: Don Root <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2003 19:19:26 -0800

> 24 More Are Slated for Rollout

Air Bags? Foam Rubber pads?
How do you prevent runways from colliding?

---

From: Rick Parrish <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 2003 22:07:07 -0600

Easy - cover them in concrete so they can't move.
-rick

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