FAA Completes ATC Modernization
<B>FAA Completes ATC Modernization</B>
The Federal Aviation Administration on July 14 dedicated the 20th and final piece of equipment in its $1.05 billion program to replace computers and display systems at the agency's major air traffic control centers.
U.S. Department of Transportation secretary Rodney Slater and FAA administrator Jane Garvey presided at ceremonies at the Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center, where the new equipment is now operational. Slater said installation of new Display System Replacement hardware and computers at the agency's 20 ARTCC facilities marks the completion of the first major phase in the total modernization of the nation's air traffic control system.
Garvey told an audience of media, air traffic controllers and technicians that controllers who handle long-distance flights "now have modern tools that can be upgraded as necessary to help deal with the strong growth in air traffic."
The DSR replaced 20- to 30-year-old radar screens with modern color displays and upgraded data processing technology. Built by Lockheed Martin Corp., the DSR has greater speed and capacity than the system it replaced and it raises the bar on safety through increased reliability, availability and maintainability, according to a FAA spokesperson.
Most important, the spokesperson said, is that the DSR provides an "open architecture" that can accommodate the software upgrades and new technologies that will become available as the ATC system evolves. Such software upgrades include weather display enhancements to improve safety, and technology tools to deal with growing air traffic. The major components of DSR consist of commercial off-the-shelf parts that can be purchased without the need for specially designed products tailored to FAA specifications.
The DSR will work in conjunction with new host computers, which were installed earlier, and replaced "rooms full of older, far less capable hardware no longer supported by the manufacturer," the agency spokesperson said. The host computers process incoming data and provide it to the new DSR multicolor displays that in turn provide controllers with a "lighter, brighter work environment and far more capable tools for managing the growing volume of high-altitude traffic across the country."
Controllers at the Washington ARTCC control airspace in the District of Columbia and parts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
The first DSR, installed at the Seattle ARTCC, became operational in December 1998. Nationwide, the integrated DSR system controls an average of 123,287 aircraft per day or 45 million aircraft a year.