FAA unveils new air traffic control system

Now, when was the last time you heard these sweet words from a government agency: “On budget and ahead of schedule”? But here it is: The Federal Aviaion Administration (FAA) says it is on budget and ahead of schedule with its En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) — a system aiming to increase capacity by enabling air traffic controllers to track more aircraft at high altitudes. Lockheed Martin, contractor for ERAM equipment, delivered the system to the FAA six months ahead of schedule — meeting a major milestone in the FAA’s Flight Plan. This is not a small project: ERAM was the result of a team effort involving about 900 people at Lockheed Martin and the FAA, working in three states and in eleven labs, who ran ninety separate FAA-witnessed tests addressing 3,931 specific requirements. The FAA says it accepted the system after it exceeded the required pass rate of 90 percent, with a score of 92.9 percent.

The FAA says that ERAM is “the heart, brain, and backbone” of the National Airspace System (NAS). ERAM replaces the software for the Host Computer System and its backup. The computer system processes flight radar data, provides communications support, and generates display data to air traffic controllers. The new system will allow the FAA to increase capacity and improve efficiency. ERAM is future-leaning, and was designed to be able to integrate with satellite-based surveillance and data communication technologies to provide efficiency and safety gains needed to deal with the projected growth in air traffic. Using ERAM, controllers at twenty FAA air route traffic control centers will be able to track 1,900 aircraft at a time, instead of the current 1,100. The new technology expands coverage beyond facility boundaries, and to do that ERAM is designed to support a greater number of radars — 64 instead of the current 24.