FAA Fact Sheet: Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X)
August 14, 2006 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) developed the
airport surface detection equipment, model X (ASDE-X) runway safety tool in response to airports getting busier, which has increased the potential for collisions on airport runways and taxiways, according to the FAA.
ASDE-X was designed to enable air traffic controllers to detect potential runway conflicts by providing detailed coverage of movement on runways and taxiways. ASDE-X tracks vehicles and aircraft on airport surfaces and obtains identification information from aircraft transponders.
ASDE-X uses data from a variety of sources: surface-movement radar located on the air traffic control tower or remote tower, multilateration sensors, automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) sensors, the terminal automation system and aircraft transponders.
By fusing data from these sources, ASDE-X can determine the position and identification of aircraft and vehicles on the airport surfaces, as well as aircraft flying within five miles of the airport.
Information is presented to air traffic controllers in the tower as a color display of aircraft and vehicle positions overlaid on a map of the airport's runways/taxiways and approach corridors.
The system is designed to create a continuously updated map of all airport-surface operations that controllers can use to spot potential collisions, including at night or in bad weather when visibility is poor. The FAA is in the process of enhancing ASDE-X with visual and audio alarms that will alert controllers to possible collisions.
The first ASDE-X was activated for operational use and testing at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wis., in June 2003. ASDE-X was approved for national deployment in October 2003.
The 35 major airports that will receive, or have already received, ASDE-X include:
- Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (Baltimore, Md.)
- Boston Logan International Airport (Boston, Mass.)
- Bradley International Airport (Hartford, Conn.)*
- Chicago Midway Airport (Chicago, Ill.)
- Chicago O’Hare International Airport (Chicago, Ill.)
- Charlotte Douglas International Airport (Charlotte, N.C.)
- Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport (Dallas, Texas)
- Denver International Airport (Denver, Colo.)
- Detroit Metro Wayne County Airport (Detroit, Mich.)
- Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood Airport (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
- General Mitchell International Airport (Milwaukee, Wis.)*
- George Bush Intercontinental Airport (Houston, Texas)
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (Atlanta, Ga.)*
- Honolulu International-Hickam Air Force Base Airport (Honolulu, Hawaii)
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York, N.Y.)
- John Wayne-Orange Count Airport (Santa Ana, Calif.)
- LaGuardia Airport, (New York, N.Y.)
- Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (St. Louis, Mo.)*
- Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (Las Vegas, Nev.)
- Los Angeles International Airport (Los Angeles, Calif.)
- Louisville International Airport-Standiford Field (Louisville, Ky.)
- Memphis International Airport (Memphis, Tenn.)
- Miami International Airport (Miami, Fla.)
- Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport (Minneapolis, Minn.)
- Newark International Airport (Newark, N.J.)
- Orlando International Airport (Orlando, Fla)*
- Philadelphia International Airport (Philadelphia, Pa.)
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (Phoenix, Ariz.)
- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (Arlington, Va.)
- San Diego International Airport (San Diego, Calif.)
- Salt Lake City International Airport (Salt Lake City, Utah)
- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Seattle, Wash.)*
- Theodore Francis Green State Airport (Providence, R.I.)*
- Washington Dulles International Airport (Chantilly, Va.)
- William P. Hobby Airport (Houston, Texas)*
*ASDE-X is operational at these sites
Source: U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).