ASDE-X

Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X, or ASDE-X, is a runway-safety tool that enables air traffic controllers to detect potential runway conflicts by providing detailed coverage of movement on runways and taxiways. By collecting data from a variety of sources, ASDE-X is able to track vehicles and aircraft on airport surfaces and obtain identification information from aircraft transponders.

The data that ASDE-X uses comes from a surface-movement radar located on the air traffic control tower or remote tower, multilateration sensors, ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) sensors, the terminal automation system, and from aircraft transponders. By fusing the data from these sources, ASDE-X is able to determine the position and identification of aircraft and vehicles on the airport surfaces, as well as of aircraft flying within 5 miles (8 km) of the airport.

Controllers in the tower see this information presented as a color display of aircraft and vehicle positions overlaid on a map of the airport's runways/taxiways and approach corridors. The system essentially creates a continuously updated map of all airport-surface operations that controllers can use to spot potential collisions.

Consisting largely of commercial off-the-shelf products, ASDE-X was designed as a solution for the smaller of the top-tier airports, and is especially helpful to controllers at night or in bad weather when visibility is poor. The Federal Aviation Administration has also begun the process of deployment of visual and audio alarms that will assist ASDE-X by alerting controllers to possible collisions.

The first ASDE-X was activated for operational use and testing at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in June 2003, and declared ready for national deployment in October 2003.

Airports with ASDE-X installed as of March 2007:

• General Mitchell International Airport, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Theodore Francis Green State Airport, Providence, RI
• Orlando International Airport, Orlando, FL
• William P. Hobby Airport, Houston, TX
• Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, St. Louis, MO
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Seattle, WA
• Bradley International Airport, Hartford, CT
• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, GA.

• Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (Baltimore, MD)
• Boston Logan International Airport (Boston, MA)
• Chicago Midway Airport (Chicago, IL)
• Chicago O’Hare International Airport (Chicago, IL)
• Charlotte Douglas International Airport (Charlotte, NC)
• Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport (Dallas, TX)
• Denver International Airport (Denver, CO)
• Detroit Metro Wayne County Airport (Detroit, MI)
• Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood Airport (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
• George Bush Intercontinental Airport (Houston, TX)
• Honolulu International-Hickam Air Force Base Airport (Honolulu, HI)
• John F. Kennedy International Airport (New York, NY)
• John Wayne-Orange County Airport (Santa Ana, CA)
• LaGuardia Airport, (New York, NY)
• Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (Las Vegas, NV)
• Los Angeles International Airport (Los Angeles, CA)
• Louisville International Airport-Standiford Field (Louisville, KY)
• Memphis International Airport (Memphis, TN)
• Miami International Airport (Miami, FL)
• Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport (Minneapolis, MN)
• Newark International Airport (Newark, NJ)
• Philadelphia International Airport (Philadelphia, PA)
• Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (Phoenix, AZ)
• Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (Arlington, VA)
• San Diego International Airport (San Diego, CA)
• Salt Lake City International Airport (Salt Lake City, UT)
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Seattle, WA)
• Washington Dulles International Airport (Chantilly, VA)

See also

• Air traffic control

External links

• ASDE-X Fact Sheet by the Federal Aviation Administration, dated March 2, 2007.
• FAA Deploys System To Prevent Airport Runway Collisions, from the Washington Post

Donate to Wikimedia