ATM Systems

[Bandit at 9 oclock]

We will shortly be in the market for a new ATM system - anyone have any recommendations ?

[DirtyPierre]

Go for an ATC system that has or will have significant ATC involvement in it's design. Otherwise you'll get some engineer's wetdream which in reality is an ATC's nightmare, e.g. RAAF ADATS.

[London Mil]

SATCA. I understand there may be a couple gathering dust.

[Bandit at 9 oclock]

Do you mean SATCA is good, or not so (hence "gathering dust") ?

[Bandit at 9 oclock]

How do you find TAAATS ?

[BDiONU]

We will shortly be in the market for a new ATM system - anyone have any recommendations ?
NATS iFACTS, you'll be reading all about it (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/6426371.stm) in the next day or two. Its exciting ;) Not sure what definition of 'being introduced soon' they're using though ;)

BD

[DirtyPierre]

TAAATS after some initial problems works quite well. Must remember there is a substantial ATC involvement in its development, which is ongoing all the time.

Basically its the Eurocat 2000 with Oz modifications. I think Sweden have the same system. Fiji use some of it as well.

USA decided to go for a some other system. Don't know if it is any good.

Go to http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/aboutus/facilities/centres/brisbanecentre.asp
for a look at Oz ATC

[Spitoon]

I hate to be boring about this but I doubt that anyone can give you an answer. The best thing to do is write down what you need to support your operations (not easy to do!). Then go visit some similar units and see what their kit does that you hadn't thought of. Ask the users - both controllers/support staff and engineers/technicians - at these other units what is good and what is bad about their kit, and refine your original list.

Beware of turnkey solutions of off-the-shelf products. Think about future growth - will the kit be expandable? And ask how long will it be supported for.

And remember KISS - it's true!

[Bandit at 9 oclock]

I am unclear what iFACTS means in the context of the NERC/NAS system. Is the NERC HMI and FDP being replaced, or is it a deployment of an alert server which connects to the current system ?

[BDiONU]

I am unclear what iFACTS means in the context of the NERC/NAS system. Is the NERC HMI and FDP being replaced, or is it a deployment of an alert server which connects to the current system ?
In essence its a plug into the existing system which gives MTCD, vastly improved Trajectory Prediction and Met info.

BD

[BEXIL160]

In essence its a plug into the existing system which gives MTCD, vastly improved Trajectory Prediction and Met info.


So not really "the biggest step forward in ATC since Radar" then? :rolleyes:

BEX

[BDiONU]

So not really "the biggest step forward in ATC since Radar" then? :rolleyes:
BEX
LOL!!! Nowhere near IMHO but nice bit of hyperbole!

BD

[japanac]

It depends how large your AoI is, and what kind of services you want your system to support (APP,ACC, TWR or only ACC). You should check Indra Aircon 2100, in Spain Madrid or Barcelona. Maastricht UAC took Indra as a supplier for new FDPS and Maastricht has average 5000 flights per day.
good luck

[Scott Voigt]

Shoot, the old NAS is still chugging along here and Atlanta Center quite often does over 11,000 in a day not including all the VFR's <G>... Not bad for a system which was begining design in the 60's and ran on 80K of core memory <G>...

regards

Scott

[BDiONU]

Shoot, the old NAS is still chugging along here and Atlanta Center quite often does over 11,000 in a day not including all the VFR's <G>... Not bad for a system which was begining design in the 60's and ran on 80K of core memory <G>...
No NAS II yet for you then Scott? UK still uses the Mark I version (OK significantly 'improved' over the years) for over 2 million movements a year and support is planned until at least 2017.

BD

[Scott Voigt]

WE are working on ERAM right now and should have it rolled out at the first facility by 2009. That will replace all the hardware and software for the data processing. It will also change some of our radar interface and display... You will be able to customize your radar much more and write macros for our sector so that for things that normally take multiple entries for what you do constantly, such as change altitude for aircraft, put electronic point out on another sector then hand off to another sector, you can make the macro and do it with one two clicks <G>. We like that one <G>... Lots of intersting stuff coming in the near future if the contractor doesn't bug it all up. We are hoping... The design team did some neat stuff on it before the FAA kicked all the controllers out of the process...

regards

Scott

[songbird29]

As Japanac has said above, much will depend on the size of your Area of Interest. Many of the replies to your question refer to very large systems. I draw your attention to a supplier of medium sized systems, with very good advanced technical tools. Advise to go to this link for getting an insight:

http://www.airport-int.com/categories/implementation/phased-implementation-the-key-to-success.asp

[Bandit at 9 oclock]

Advise to go to this link for getting an insight:

http://www.airport-int.com/categorie...to-success.asp

Interesting, but I doubt they would pre-qualify here. I hear the South Africans are happy with their system; any comments from users ?