Austro Control Signs Final Acceptance For Saab’s Nation-Wide Wide Area Multilateration System

Defence and security company Saab has announced that Austro Control, the Austrian Air Navigation Service Provider, has formally signed the final acceptance for its nation-wide Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) system. 

Saab’s WAM system provides terminal and en route surveillance for all of Austria, covering six Terminal Maneuvering Areas, the entire Austrian FIR, and an additional zone of 40NM of high density airspace. Austro Control is using the WAM system to complement their existing Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) infrastructure, to enable some SSR infrastructure to be retired, and to add surveillance of areas not previously covered by SSR due to the region's mountainous terrain.

The initial WAM contract was signed in 2011 and installation was completed in early 2013. Since then, tiers of airspace have incrementally gone operational with coverage today spanning the country’s entire upper airspace and down to ground level in the Salzburg TMA. Five additional TMAs will go operational this year.

”Nation-wide WAM projects like Austria present a multitude of integration challenges, which is where we excel. It’s not enough to have great technology, you need to be committed to making it work for your customers”, says Anders Carp head of Saab business unit Traffic Management.

”Our nation-wide WAM project is an excellent solution in terms of surveillance as well as business performance. Saab was committed to making sure the system met our needs and high standards. With endurance and solution orientation we were able to meet the challenge of successfully integrating WAM with the other elements of our surveillance chain. Austro Control has invested a lot but we are proud of the result”, says Werner Langhans, Director Engineering Services at Austro Control.

Saab’s multilateration solutions use multiple low-maintenance, non-rotating sensors to triangulate aircraft locations based on transponder signals to provide air traffic controllers with precise aircraft position and identification information regardless of weather conditions. With a higher update rate and greater positional accuracy than traditional radar, Saab’s multilateration provides effective surveillance for increased safety, capacity and efficiency of airspace. By employing advanced processing techniques, Saab uses the minimal number of sensors for a less complex, lower lifecycle cost solution. Additionally, each multilateration sensor deployed supports ADS-B, providing an infrastructure that is ready for today's surveillance needs and tomorrow's avionics.