Sensis Precision Runway Monitoring at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is Now Operational

The highly accurate multilateration surveillance from the Sensis Multistatic Dependent Surveillance (MDS) system is providing controllers at DTW with the precise aircraft position information needed to simultaneously separate aircraft on approaches to DTWs closely spaced parallel runways. PRM-A enables more flights to land per hour for increased throughput at the airport. For PRM-A, Sensis Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X) system at DTW was expanded with additional MDS sensors in a Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) configuration. Sensis MDS uses multiple sensors to triangulate aircraft positions based on transponder signals to provide positive location and identification in all weather conditions. The data from Sensis MDS provides accurate, one-second surveillance updates needed to track aircraft on final approach to DTW from approximately 30 nm from the airport down to the surface. At DTW, MDS provides surveillance for parallel approaches to runways 4L/22R, 4R/22L and 3R/21L. In addition, the system is compatible with Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B). DTW demonstrates that there is now a proven, in-use multilateration alternative to E-SCAN PRM for airports that want to cost-effectively increase throughput and airport revenue by maximizing the use of closely spaced parallel runways, said Marc Viggiano, chief operating officer of Sensis Corporation. In addition, this deployment illustrates the flexibility of ASDE-X to serve as the surveillance platform for additional airport safety and efficiency advancements. Precision Runway Monitoring (PRM) surveillance is required for simultaneous approaches where parallel runways are spaced from 3,400 to 4,300. By using PRM, the throughput of an airport can be increased without the expense of building additional runways. Further, Sensis MDS is being used around the world for challenging surveillance applications, including surface, terminal, en route and special use airspace. In addition to Detroit, Sensis is deploying MDS for PRM at Sydney Airport in Australia.