Era - Beyond Radar - Wide Area Surveillance - Czech ANS

Wide Area Surveillance - Czech ANS - Ostrava

The Czech ANS manages the rapidly growing air traffic in the airspace of the Czech Republic. Ostrava, the country’s third-busiest airport, is located among mountainous terrain in the northeast sector of the Prague flight information region (FIR).

The Challenge

Czech-ANS-Ostrava In 2000, members of the Czech ANS sat down to discuss the future of their air surveillance systems. One of the most pressing issues at the time was the lack of terminal area surveillance covering the Ostrava area. Due to the mountainous terrain surrounding the region, the nearest Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) could not provide coverage below 1000m, as the surveillance range of the SSR could not dip below the crests of the mountain range. Concurrently, the Czech ANS needed to dramatically improve their radar data reliability in the entire northeast sector of the Prague FIR. Until this point, only expensive SSRs were certified for air traffic separation. In the eyes of the Czech ANS, SSR was not only a costly alternative but was also an ineffective one in the face of the Ostrava terrain. The Czech ANS surveillance experts began researching emerging technologies as alternatives to traditional radar solutions.

The Solution

In 2001, the Czech ANS concluded its research and selected MSS by Era’s wide area multilateration and ADS-B technology. The decision was based on a lengthy performance and cost/benefit analysis, which clearly determined that Era’s wide area multilateration solution could outperform traditional SSR at a fraction of the cost. At the same time, the system could cover both the northeast sector of the Prague FIR as well as the low altitude and final approach areas surrounding the Ostrava region. Perhaps most importantly, Czech ANS research indicated the system performance would support the critical industry standards necessary for operational acceptance.

Era’s system was fully installed by 2002 and type certified in 2003 against ICAO ANNEX 10 for interrogation and against Eurocontrol radar standards for surveillance performance after a year of flawless operation. The system performed so well during that year, it was certified for 3nm separation and is believed to be the only operational multilateration system in the world with such certification to date.

The system consists of five receiving stations and two interrogators and provides ASTERIX data to the ATC systems both in Ostrava and in Prague along with remote control and monitoring systems (RCMS) established in both centers. Coverage extends 80nm from the Ostrava airport all the way down to the airport surface.