NATS Selects Saab Sensis' Wide Area Multilateration System for Edinburgh Airport
EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y., Oct. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- NATS, the Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) for the United Kingdom's major airports, has selected Saab subsidiary Saab Sensis Corporation's Wide Area Multilateration system (WAM) for the location and identification of flights in the vicinity of Edinburgh Airport. By replacing the existing Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR) with WAM, NATS controllers will receive high update rate, precise surveillance at a lower lifecycle cost than a new MSSR.
Edinburgh Airport, Scotland's busiest airport, currently utilizes MSSR for terminal area surveillance that is approaching the end of its serviceable life. After weighing alternatives, NATS identified WAM as the best technological and economical solution. The Saab Sensis WAM system will provide NATS' air traffic controllers at Edinburgh with approach control surveillance of commercial, general aviation and helicopters operating within 60 nautical miles of the airport.
Saab Sensis multilateration uses 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 Sensis multilateration provides effective surveillance for increased safety, capacity and efficiency of airspace. By employing advanced processing techniques, a Saab Sensis multilateration system uses the minimal number of sensors for a less complex, lower lifecycle cost solution. Additionally, each multilateration sensor deployed by Saab Sensis supports Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B), providing an infrastructure that is ready for today's surveillance needs and tomorrow's avionics.
"ANSPs such as NATS have recognized WAM as a cost-effective, long-term surveillance solution for traditional secondary radar applications," said Ken Kaminski, vice president and general manager of Saab Sensis. "Saab Sensis WAM provides comprehensive surveillance of all transponder equipped aircraft today with the ability to seamlessly transition to ADS-B in the future."
Almost 100 sites worldwide have chosen Saab Sensis multilateration to enhance safety, efficiency, capacity and cost savings through airport surface surveillance, wide area surveillance and airport surface management, including London Gatwick, London Heathrow and London Stansted Airports and the North Sea off the coast of Scotland.
Defense and aviation market leaders rely on Saab Sensis Corporation to provide advanced sensor technologies, next-generation radars, automation, modeling and simulation solutions. The company serves military, civil aviation, airport and airline customers in more than 35 countries across six continents.
ABOUT NATS
- NATS handled 2.1 million flights in the 2010 calendar year, covering the UK and eastern North Atlantic, and carried more than 200 million passengers safely through some of the busiest and most complex airspace in the world.
- NATS provides en route air traffic control from its centers at Swanwick, Hampshire and Prestwick, Ayrshire.
- NATS also provides air traffic control services at 15 of the UK's major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow, together with air traffic services at Gibraltar Airport.
- NATS supplies a range of other air traffic control services, engineering, consultancy, aviation data and ATC training services to customers in the UK and overseas.
- In addition to the ATC services to Aberdeen Airport, NATS provides specialised services to the helicopters supporting the UK oil and gas industry along the length of the UK's east coast, from East Anglia in the south to beyond the Shetland Islands in the north. For more information, visit www.nats.co.uk.
Saab North America provides a broad range of products, services and solutions ranging from military defence to homeland security to customers in the U.S. and Canada. Saab Sensis Corporation is a business unit of the Saab Group.
SOURCE Saab Sensis Corporation
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