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ASR-9 Processor Augmentation Card (9-PAC) phase II scan-scan correlator algorithms

April 26, 2001
  |
Project Report
Author:
Robert D. Grappel
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-298
Topic:
algorithms
R&D area:
R&D group:

Summary

This report documents the scan-scan correlator (tracker) algorithm developed for Phase II of the ASR-9 Processor Augmentation Card (9-PAC) project. The improved correlation and tracking algorithms in 9-PAC Phase II decrease the incidence of false-alarm tracks and increase the detection of real aircraft. The tracker processing for 9-PAC Phase II defined in this document builds upon the prototype 9-PAC Phase II tracker describedin ATC-245. Tracker algorithms from Mode S (ATC-65) are also used in Phase II. This document describes the three main processing tasks of the tracker: initialization, input/output, and the actual correlation/tracking. The tracker itself is further broken down into four main functions: report-to-track association, report-to-track correlation, track update, and track initiation. Each of these functions is described in detail and is further broken down into sub-functions. In addition to the algorithm descriptions, the 9-PAC Phase II tracker system requirements are reviewed, and main data structures used in the 9-PAC Phase II tracker are defined.
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Summary

This report documents the scan-scan correlator (tracker) algorithm developed for Phase II of the ASR-9 Processor Augmentation Card (9-PAC) project. The improved correlation and tracking algorithms in 9-PAC Phase II decrease the incidence of false-alarm tracks and increase the detection of real aircraft. The tracker processing for 9-PAC Phase II...

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ASR-9 Processor Augmentation Card (9-PAC) phase II scan-scan correlator algorithms

An assessment of the communications, navigation, surveillance (CNS) capabilities needed to support the future Air Traffic Management System

January 10, 2001
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Project Report
Author:
Steven D. Thompson
…
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-295
Topic:
air traffic control
R&D area:
R&D group:

Summary

The purpose of this study was to assess the Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) capabilities needed to support future Air Traffic Management (ATM) functionality in the National Airspace System (NAS). The goal was to determine the most effective areas for research and technical development in the CNS field and to make sure the decision support tools under development match future CNS capabilities. The requirements for future ATM functions were derived from high level operational concepts designed to provide more freedom and flexibility in flight operations and from the Joint Research Project Descriptions (JRPDs) that are listed in the Integrated Plan for Air Traffic Management Research and Technology Development. This work was performed for the FAA/NASA Interagency Air Traffic Management Integrated Product Team.
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Summary

The purpose of this study was to assess the Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) capabilities needed to support future Air Traffic Management (ATM) functionality in the National Airspace System (NAS). The goal was to determine the most effective areas for research and technical development in the CNS field and to...

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An assessment of the communications, navigation, surveillance (CNS) capabilities needed to support the future Air Traffic Management System

An operational concept for the Smart Landing Facility (SLF)

January 1, 2001
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Conference Paper
Author:
Steven D. Thompson
…
Published in:
20th AIAA/IEEE Digital Avionics Systems Conf., 14-18 October 2001, pp. 6.C.2-1 - 6.C.2-8.
Topic:
air traffic control
R&D area:
R&D group:

Summary

This paper describes an operational concept for the Smart Landing Facility (SLF). The SLF is proposed as a component of the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) and is envisioned to utilize Communication, Navigation, Surveillance and Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) technologies to support higher-volume air traffic operations in a wider variety of weather conditions than are currently possible at airports without an Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) or Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON). In order to accomplish this, the SLF will provide aircraft sequencing and separation within its terminal airspace (the SLF traffic area) and on the airport surface. The SLF infrastructure will provide timely and accurate weather and other flight information as well as traffic advisories. The SLF will provide a means to coordinate with nearby TRACONs or Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) to ensure proper integration of its traffic flows with those of adjacent airspace.
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Summary

This paper describes an operational concept for the Smart Landing Facility (SLF). The SLF is proposed as a component of the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) and is envisioned to utilize Communication, Navigation, Surveillance and Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) technologies to support higher-volume air traffic operations in a wider variety...

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An operational concept for the Smart Landing Facility (SLF)

Comparison of active TCAS slant range measurements with interpolated passive position reports for use in hybrid surveillance applications - measurements from the June 1999 Los Angeles Basin flight tests

October 17, 2000
  |
Project Report
Author:
Steven D. Thompson
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-294
Topic:
surveillance
R&D area:
R&D group:

Summary

Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) hybrid surveillance is a technique that makes use of both active surveillance data from the interrogation reply sequence and passive position estimates received from Mode S extended squitters. This technique allows TCAS to use passive surveillance once the data have been validated by comparison with active data. The maximum allowable range difference for validation specified by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is 200 meters. Data from twenty encounters recorded during flight tests conducted in the Los Angeles Basin in June 1999 were analyzed. The results show that the ICAO specified limits were never exceeded and serve to validate the 200 meter limit.
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Summary

Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) hybrid surveillance is a technique that makes use of both active surveillance data from the interrogation reply sequence and passive position estimates received from Mode S extended squitters. This technique allows TCAS to use passive surveillance once the data have been validated by...

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Comparison of active TCAS slant range measurements with interpolated passive position reports for use in hybrid surveillance applications - measurements from the June 1999 Los Angeles Basin flight tests

The Beacon Target Detector (BTD) algorithms deployed in the ASR-9 Processor Augmentation Card (9-PAC)

September 5, 2000
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Project Report
Author:
Gabriel R. Elkin
…
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-288
Topic:
surveillance
R&D area:
R&D group:

Summary

This project report describes the Beacon Target Detector (BTD) algorithms implemented in the ASR-9 Processor Augmentation Card (9-PAC). The BTD function combines replies that arise from the same aircraft to form beacon targets, and sends these beacon targets to the 9-PAC merge process where they are combined with primary radar targets. The 9-PAC BTD algorithm was designed to solve two problems with the ASR-9 Array Signal Processor (ASP) BTD: identifying and removing false beacon targets due to reflections, and preventing merging or splitting of targets due to reply overlap and garble. The BTD reflection processing algorithm marks each beacon target as either real or false, and provides this information to the 9-PAC merge process. Discrete Mode 3/A reflection false targets are identified when duplicate code reports satisfying stringent conditions are located. In order to find non-discrete Mode 3/A code reflection false targets, the BTD builds an automated, dynamic reflector database based on the geography of real and false targets with discrete Mode 3/A codes. This report supersedes an earlier report (ATC-220) which described the 9-PAC BTD algorithms prior to the operational field testing effort conducted by the FAA in 1995 and 1996. Nationwide deployment of 9-PAC on production hardware was approved in April 1999. To date, more than 60 installations have been performed, and hardware has been procured to update all 134 ASR-9s in the National Airspace System.
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Summary

This project report describes the Beacon Target Detector (BTD) algorithms implemented in the ASR-9 Processor Augmentation Card (9-PAC). The BTD function combines replies that arise from the same aircraft to form beacon targets, and sends these beacon targets to the 9-PAC merge process where they are combined with primary radar...

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The Beacon Target Detector (BTD) algorithms deployed in the ASR-9 Processor Augmentation Card (9-PAC)

Lincoln Laboratory Evaluation of TCAS II Logic Version 7 Appendices Volume II

December 13, 1999
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Project Report
Author:
Barbara J. Chludzinski
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-268,II
Topic:
collision avoidance
R&D area:
R&D group:

Summary

Volume I described the analysis procedures and inputs. This volume presents tables and figures that were generated during the assessment to the TCAS Logic Performance.
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Summary

Volume I described the analysis procedures and inputs. This volume presents tables and figures that were generated during the assessment to the TCAS Logic Performance.

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Lincoln Laboratory Evaluation of TCAS II Logic Version 7 Appendices Volume II

Lincoln Laboratory Evaluation of TCAS II Logic Version 7 Volume I

December 13, 1999
  |
Project Report
Author:
Barbara J. Chludzinski
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-268,I
Topic:
collision avoidance
R&D area:
R&D group:

Summary

This report documents the Lincoln Laboratory evaluation of the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System II (TCAS II) logic version 7. TCAS II is an airborne collision avoidance system required since 30 December 1993 by the FAA on all air carrier aircraft with more than 30 passenger seats operating in the U.S. airspace. Version 7 is a major revision to the TCAS II logic consisting of more than 300 separately defined changes affecting all majot TCAS areas (surveillance, CAS logic and displays/aurals). Lincoln Laboratory Evaluated the logic by examining approximately two million simulated pairwise TCAS-TCAS encounters, derived from actual tracks recorded in U.S. airspace. The main goals of the evaluation were: (1) to study the performance of the new TCAS-TCAS coordinated reversal logic; (2) to detect and explain any areas of performance; (3) to examine the performance of the version 7 logic for the 30 Representative NMACs identified during the 6.04a logic evaluation; and (4) to understand the limitations of the logic by analyzing every version NMAC. Five Lincoln Laboratory analysis programs written for previous logic evaluation work were updated and new software was written to aid in the evaluation of TCAS-TCAS sense reversals. There were four phases of the evaluation corresponding to the above goals. For each phase the report gives an overview of the evaluation approach taken and a description of the results. An overall summary and perspective on the evolution of the TCAS II logic are given at the end of the report.
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Summary

This report documents the Lincoln Laboratory evaluation of the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System II (TCAS II) logic version 7. TCAS II is an airborne collision avoidance system required since 30 December 1993 by the FAA on all air carrier aircraft with more than 30 passenger seats operating in...

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Lincoln Laboratory Evaluation of TCAS II Logic Version 7 Volume I

A comparative study of existing and proposed FAA and Eurocontrol CHIs for en route air traffic control

September 26, 1999
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Conference Paper
Author:
Maria Picardi Kuffner
…
Published in:
44th Annual Air Traffic Control Association Conf. Proc., 26-30 September 1999, pp. 22-26.
Topic:
air traffic control
R&D area:
R&D group:

Summary

In this paper we present a comparison of the Computer Human Interface (CHI) similarities and differences among the key Free Flight Phase 1 (FFP1) products for en route air traffic control (ATC) and air traffic control management (ATM) as well as some recent Eurocontrol-based CHI innovations. Our comparative study focuses on details of these disparate CHIs and the potential introduction of advanced graphical interactive features seen in the Eurocontrol CHI. Active US controllers who participated in Eurocontrol's Operational Display and Input Development (ODID) study have requested that the FAA develop an alternative CHI based on ODID and its successors such as the Denmark Sweden Interface (DSI). MIT Lincoln Laboratory has built a CHI Requirements Engineering Model (CREM) to support testing of an alternative ODID-like CHI that is feasible given the newly deployed Display System Replacement (DSR).
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Summary

In this paper we present a comparison of the Computer Human Interface (CHI) similarities and differences among the key Free Flight Phase 1 (FFP1) products for en route air traffic control (ATC) and air traffic control management (ATM) as well as some recent Eurocontrol-based CHI innovations. Our comparative study focuses...

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A comparative study of existing and proposed FAA and Eurocontrol CHIs for en route air traffic control

Operational and spectrum tests for ATIDS at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport

September 20, 1999
  |
Project Report
Author:
M. Loren Wood Jr
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-272
Topic:
mode S data links
R&D area:
R&D group:

Summary

Runway Incursion (RI) prevention is on the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) list of "10 Most Wanted" safety improvements. Improved surveillance on the airport surface is an important ingredient in that it improves situational awareness and improves the accuracy of tracks used by automation algorithms. Towards this goal, the Runway Incursion Reduction Program (RIRP) has been developing the Airport Target Identification System (ATIDS). ATIDS is a prototype multilateration and Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) system. It requires the enabling of existing transponders on the airport surface....The RIRP team, which includes the FAA Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT/LL) and Trios Associates, Inc., has conducted interferences tests at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport (DFW) to quantify the impact that ATIDS would have on that high-use environment. The tests included environmental 1040/1090 MHz measurements, ATCRBS false target investigations, and Mode S interrogation tests. This document reports the results of these tests. [Not complete].
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Summary

Runway Incursion (RI) prevention is on the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) list of "10 Most Wanted" safety improvements. Improved surveillance on the airport surface is an important ingredient in that it improves situational awareness and improves the accuracy of tracks used by automation algorithms. Towards this goal, the Runway...

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Operational and spectrum tests for ATIDS at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport

Rotating a weather map

June 1, 1999
  |
Journal Article
Author:
Robert D. Grappel
Published in:
Dr. Dobb's J., Vol. 24, No. 6, June 1999, pp. 80-88.
Topic:
aircraft
R&D area:
R&D group:

Summary

Introduction: I was recently part of a project developing a system for aircraft pilots to access the national ground weather-radar database while in flight. This weather-radar graphical database is generated from the outputs of the FAA and National Weather Service network of radars covering the continental United States and is updated every five minutes. Each pixel in the database covers a square measuring two kilometers (about one nautical mile) on a side. The content of each data pixel is a measure of the radar reflectivity measured at that location - radar reflectivity is proportional to the water content in the atmosphere (the precipitation rate). This graphical database is available through several commercial vendors - it's what you see displayed on The Weather Channel or during typical TV weather reports. Our system, on the other hand, provides a low-speed digital datalink connection from an FAA ground computer to an avionics computer/display located in the aircraft cockpit.
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Summary

Introduction: I was recently part of a project developing a system for aircraft pilots to access the national ground weather-radar database while in flight. This weather-radar graphical database is generated from the outputs of the FAA and National Weather Service network of radars covering the continental United States and is...

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Rotating a weather map
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