ASDE-X
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X, or ASDE-X, is a runway-safety tool that enables air traffic controllers to detect potential runway conflicts by providing detailed coverage of movement on runways and taxiways. By collecting data from a variety of sources, ASDE-X is able to track vehicles and aircraft on airport surfaces and obtain identification information from aircraft transponders.
The data that ASDE-X uses comes from a surface-movement radar located on the air traffic control tower or remote tower, multilateration sensors, ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) sensors, the terminal automation system, and from aircraft transponders. By fusing the data from these sources, ASDE-X is able to determine the position and identification of aircraft and vehicles on the airport surfaces, as well as of aircraft flying within 5 miles (8 km) of the airport.
Controllers in the tower see this information presented as a color display of aircraft and vehicle positions overlaid on a map of the airport's runways/taxiways and approach corridors. The system essentially creates a continuously updated map of all airport-surface operations that controllers can use to spot potential collisions.
Consisting largely of commercial off-the-shelf products, ASDE-X was designed as a solution for the smaller of the top-tier airports, and is especially helpful to controllers at night or in bad weather when visibility is poor. The Federal Aviation Administration also plans to enhance ASDE-X with visual and audio alarms that will alert controllers to possible collisions.
The first ASDE-X was activated for operational use and testing at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in June 2003, and declared ready for national deployment in October 2003.
Airports with ASDE-X installed as of March 2007:
- General Mitchell International Airport, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Theodore Francis Green State Airport, Providence, RI
- Orlando International Airport, Orlando, FL
- William P. Hobby Airport, Houston, TX
- Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, St. Louis, MO
- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Seattle, WA
- Bradley International Airport, Hartford, CT
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, GA.
Airports where the FAA plans to install ASDE-X, as of March 2007:
- Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (Baltimore, MD)
- Boston Logan International Airport (Boston, MA)
- Chicago Midway Airport (Chicago, IL)
- Chicago O’Hare International Airport (Chicago, IL)
- Charlotte Douglas International Airport (Charlotte, NC)
- Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport (Dallas, TX)
- Denver International Airport (Denver, CO)
- Detroit Metro Wayne County Airport (Detroit, MI)
- Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood Airport (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
- George Bush Intercontinental Airport (Houston, TX)
- Honolulu International-Hickam Air Force Base Airport (Honolulu, HI)
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York, NY)
- John Wayne-Orange County Airport (Santa Ana, CA)
- LaGuardia Airport, (New York, NY)
- Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (Las Vegas, NV)
- Los Angeles International Airport (Los Angeles, CA)
- Louisville International Airport-Standiford Field (Louisville, KY)
- Memphis International Airport (Memphis, TN)
- Miami International Airport (Miami, FL)
- Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport (Minneapolis, MN)
- Newark International Airport (Newark, NJ)
- Philadelphia International Airport (Philadelphia, PA)
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (Phoenix, AZ)
- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (Arlington, VA)
- San Diego International Airport (San Diego, CA)
- Salt Lake City International Airport (Salt Lake City, UT)
- Washington Dulles International Airport (Chantilly, VA)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- ASDE-X Fact Sheet by the Federal Aviation Administration, dated March 2, 2007.
- FAA Deploys System To Prevent Airport Runway Collisions, from the Washington Post
