Surveillance and navigation
Overview
The basis of our nation’s air traffic control system, and much of Lincoln Laboratory’s focus in surveillance and navigation, has involved ensuring an accurate and timely picture of the airspace. This includes the precise location and identification of aircraft and the current and future weather phenomena that affect their flight. Our air traffic surveillance work has also focused on the airport surface, addressing runway incursions that have become a significant safety concern as air traffic has increased. More recently new issues such as the integration of unmanned air vehicles into civil airspace and issues related to homeland security have become very important.
Runway Status Lights ›Runway incursions present a persistent problem in airport ground operations. The FAA is pursuing a wide range of activities to improve runway safety. One of the leading safety technologies, called Runway Status Lights (RWSL), is being developed and tested by Lincoln Laboratory.
Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) ›
TCAS has had extraordinary success in reducing the risk of mid-air collisions by alerting pilots directly in the cockpit that a collision with another aircraft is imminent. TCAS is now operating in all commercial airline aircraft to reduce the risk of midair collisions. Lincoln continues to investigate improvements to the TCAS threat logic.
Unmanned Air Vehicle Airspace Access ›
The integration of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into civil airspace requires new methods of ensuring collision avoidance. Concerns over command and control latency, vehicle performance, reliability of autonomous functions, and interoperability of sense-and-avoid systems with TCAS and Air Traffic Control must be resolved.
Homeland Protection Support/ERSA ›
The Air Traffic Control mission area teams were very helpful in a Laboratory-wide effort to support Enhanced Regional Situation Awareness (ERSA). ERSA is an integrated sensing and decision support system developed for the complex and busy airspace surrounding the National Capital Region.
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