An air traffic management tool developed by Lockheed Martin has been deployed at the Minneapolis Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), the company announced Wednesday.
The system, known as Automated Terminal Proximity Alert (ATPA), is designed to help maintain safe separation between aircraft on final approach. The advancement enhances the Common Automated Radar Terminal System (CARTS), a program Lockheed Martin primes for the FAA at more than 100 TRACONs nationally. It lets controllers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport know what the distance is between aircraft that are flying in-line instrument approaches. Another feature is that the system will visually alert a controller when a trailing plane is predicted to get too close to an aircraft ahead of it, allowing the controller to take action before a loss of standard separation occurs.
“ATPA is a tool that will help controllers optimize performance using existing separation standards,” said Sandra Samuel, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s IS&GS-Civil Transportation Solutions business. “Being able to roll out ATPA now demonstrates Lockheed Martin’s commitment to providing the FAA with NextGen improvements today, not tomorrow."
Lockheed Martin said the system is also being used at the St. Louis TRACON, and it should be available at the Chicago and Denver TRACONs soon. Current plans are to bring ATPA to other CARTS facilities that have color displays by the end of the year.