JFK and LAX airports now operating with Sensis ASDE-X

Seventeen of the 35 airports to receive the technology through the FAAs ASDE-X program are now operational. ASDE-X provides air traffic controllers with increased situational awareness of traffic on the airports runways and taxiways and an advanced conflict detection and alerting capability to improve runway safety. ASDE-X combines surface movement radar, multilateration and Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) to provide air traffic controllers with highly accurate, real-time position and identification information of all aircraft and vehicles on the airport surface. By integrating multiple sensor technologies, the system delivers a comprehensive picture of ground operations, increasing controller situational awareness and improving airport safety in all weather conditions. The system also features advanced runway conflict detection and alerting technology, Safety Logic, which uses complex algorithms to alert controllers of potential aircraft or vehicle incursions. At JFK, the ASDE-X system has been augmented with additional multilateration surveillance coverage of the gate and ramp areas to provide highly accurate aircraft and vehicle location and identification information to the Sensis Aerobahn airport automation and management tool. Sensis Aerobahn is being used by the FAA, the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey and authorized airlines at JFK for improved situational awareness of ground operations at the airport. ASDE-X is a highly flexible surveillance platform that can be easily adapted to provide data to other airport efficiency systems, such as Aerobahn, said Marc Viggiano, chief operating officer of Sensis Corporation. The system will also serve as the surveillance backbone for the upcoming Runway Status Lights deployment that will further increase runway safety. Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) identified that the ASDE-X system at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport alerted controllers of a runway incursion between two aircraft both cleared to take off from the same runway. The controller cancelled the take off clearance for one of the aircraft after receiving the alert, averting the potential collision. The system was installed at Charlotte in 2007; the FAA projects that all 35 airports will have ASDE-X installed by 2011.