Acquiring new technology for US airports

Ensuring safety in America's airports is of primary concern to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). As airport traffic increases, the dual challenge of maintaining a high threshold of safety while enabling future growth in capacity has become the focus of new technology acquisitions. To that end, the FAA is focused on deploying advanced technology to enhance the situational awareness of air traffic controllers by acquiring the Airport Surface Detection Equipment-Model X (ASDE-X), a multi-sensor data fusion surveillance system. The ASDE-X base system, consisting of a primary radar subsystem multilateration subsystem, data fusion subsystem and a display processor subsystem, provides controllers with aircraft vehicle position and identification information overlaid on a color map depicting the airport runways/taxiways and approach corridor leading to the runways. This "system of systems" approach, largely consisting of commercial off-the-shelf components, supports deployment of a modular, scaleable system, which will meet the needs of the varied airport configurations in the US National Airspace System (NAS) as well as facilitate quick adaptation to airport expansion.