The FAA's LTRACON

May 1, 2001 12:00 PM, Ellyce Kelly

The new Atlanta LTRACON is the FAA's first totally digital facility in the country. The large-scale display systems are also a first for an FAA facility.

WHEN JIM VALLONE, A FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION representative, was assigned the task of overseeing the new Atlanta Large Terminal Radar Approach Control Center (LTRACON), he knew he was embarking on one of the most challenging experiences of his career. Vallone, a member of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and a long-time employee of the FAA, represents air traffic controllers for the North Georgia area. He oversees site selection for new facilities like LTRACON in Peachtree City, Georgia, which opened on April 10, 2001. He makes sure FAA controllers have the most technologically advanced equipment for their jobs, and still keeps purchases within budget. Atlanta's TRACON, which operated at Hartsfield until the grand opening of the new facility, manages flights for more than 30 airports in Georgia. One of those is Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, the busiest passenger airport in the world. Hartsfield alone has 78 million passengers a year and a daily average traffic count of 2600 flights. The Atlanta TRACON controllers have seen an average daily count of 3200 flights a day, with a yearly total far exceeding one million.

“This is an amazing facility. We are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We don't stop.”
— Jim Vallone

The FAA facility in Hartsfield was a small, 20×40-foot room, so more space was necessary. Also needed were more radar scopes to monitor the heavy traffic in and out of the airports, especially Hartsfield. Vallone realized they were either going to have to add onto the existing building or build an entirely new facility. He also knew that Hartsfield plans to expand its international presence. The airport and the city of Atlanta had already been planning to spend a $5.4 billion, 10-year capital improvement budget to expand on the east side of the international concourse, with new gates, an additional runway and-more parking. The TRACON facility is located on the east side of Hartsfield. The city of Atlanta did not want to approve expansion of the current structure on that land, due to the existing expansion plans. Through congressional approval, FAA upper management decided to build a new facility and consolidate other air traffic facilities by bringing Macon and Columbus airport control into the new space. All air traffic operations of the new Atlanta LTRACON will run out of the Peachtree City facility, and the old building at Hartsfield will eventually be eliminated.

THE NEW FACILITY

The new Atlanta LTRACON is the FAA's first totally digital facility in the country. Most of the FAA's other TRACON facilitates still use older analog radar scopes. The large-scale display systems are also a first for an FAA facility. There are two LTRACON facilities currently open, in Chicago and in Southern California, and there are plans to open ones in Northern California, Potomac, Boston and Central Florida. In April, the FAA will bring in approximately 140 air traffic controllers, 50 air traffic personnel to support the controllers, and 45 to 50 airway facility technicians from its Hartsfield location. The new control center has 25 radar scopes in the room; some of those have associated handoff positions for busy times when coordination is required with other facilities. Land lines are also available at all of these stations so controllers can speak directly to other airport facilities and to pilots.

Cape Dixson Associates Incorporated, a professional consulting firm specializing in presentation and performing arts technologies, was hired by the FAA to provide lighting design and later hired to supply consulting for A/V projection systems design, acoustics and mechanical noise control. The FAA first explored projection options in 1998 and was originally interested in rear-screen technology. But they needed a 4-foot area behind the wall for access and maintenance in order to have rear-screen projection systems. Given the room design, they realized that was not a possibility. So they installed 9×8-foot front-projector screens and waited to purchase the projectors until closer to the opening of the facility, hoping to get the latest technology at the best price. However, with the help of CDAI, the FAA discovered that front projection would cause glare on the new radar scopes. At this point, with the control room complete with new carpet, consoles, keypads, computers and radar scopes, Jim Vallone suddenly had a real problem. He had a perfect new control room but a serious projection issue. In a dynamic, hectic control center, glare on radar scopes is unacceptable. Vallone and his team went back to the drawing board to reconsider rear projection.

FIXING THE GLITCH

“With CDAI helping us, we realized that front projection would cause glare on the radar scopes. Through the formal bid process, we chose Barco to provide our rear-screen projection systems. We felt Barco could offer a total solution, not to mention technologically advanced products at a reasonable cost,” said Vallone. “The real trick was identifying where our superstructure was located and installing these screens without damaging our completed control room.”

Rather than have the standard 4-foot space behind the system (2 feet is the actual width of the projection system, and 2 feet of space is needed for access), Barco and M & R Consultants designed a layout in which the existing structure would house the rear-projection screens.

“We basically had to fit a square piece of equipment into a round room,” said Mark Dunlap, Barco control room sales engineer. “With the help of M & R Consultants, we were able to create the new structure and attach it to the existing steel framework 25 feet off the floor. This allowed access to the back of the screen through a main hallway. Ergo Consoles was able to create an enclosure around the display wall and make it cosmetically appealing.”

“It was quite a feat, but, amazingly enough, the fabricators and Barco installers were able to pull off the restructure without a hitch,” said Vallone.

The rear projection has turned out to be a big plus for the FAA. “The Barco screens are something new in an FAA TRACON facility. We are using these for traffic management, supervisory functions and coordination. The physical room is 65 feet in diameter. Our old facility was a small, rectangular room. A supervisor could walk from one side of the room to the other to coordinate an urgent situation such as bad weather. The new room is too big for that.

“With the Barco screens on the wall, the supervisor can simply plug in the headsets and pull a conference call together, pointing to the screen to explain what he's talking about. Everyone is looking at the same picture on a very large screen.”

The FAA purchased 20 Barco MP50 video display systems for the control room. Three 2×2 systems are located throughout the room, and one 4×2 system is in the center of the room. The main 4×2 wall will be used for arrivals into Hartsfield only. The first 2×2 system will be used for departures, mainly out of Hartsfield. The second 2×2 system will be used to monitor satellite airports. The third will be used to monitor air traffic in and out of Macon and Columbus. (That transition is expected to take place in Spring 2002.)

John Myles, FAA air traffic supervisor, will oversee operations on all four walls. The major differences he sees between the old facility and the new one are size and technology. “As a controller, I will now have a higher resolution picture and more information.” He can now see the traffic flow coming into Hartsfield on a larger screen and determine if he needs to make adjustments in departures or make changes to traffic flow, without leaving his station. For example, if there is a weather system approaching, he can redirect traffic and set up a new flow by communicating with his staff across the room without ever leaving his post.

TECHNOLOGY'S BENEFITS

“The Barco walls eliminate the need for controllers and supervisors to leave their primary work stations. [The walls] allow everyone to communicate on the same page,” said Vallone.

The Barco walls will also be used for other programs that help air traffic controllers make tough decisions and direct air traffic smoothly. The Enhanced Traffic Management System, for example, is a proprietary product of the FAA that tracks global air traffic.

Another product the FAA will show on the Barco wall is the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar. It is “a very important product that shows thunderstorms, gust fronts, microbursts and wind shear activity near the airport. This is critical when an aircraft is closer to the ground. It is slower, and its handling characteristics are less stable when the landing gear is down and the flaps are set to land. Any sudden changes in wind direction or speed can greatly impact its performance.”

Vallone continued, “Another product we will show on the Barco wall is the Passive Final Approach Sequencing Tool, a National Free Flight Initiative program supported by the FAA's administrative office. This program will help with long-term projection to balance the use of the runways and reduce delays. We will also have a live video feed of the Weather Channel on all of the walls.” Vallone says other FAA programs will also be shown on the displays.

“This is an amazing facility. We have state-of-the-art color radar scopes. We are only the fourth facility in the U.S. to have these color radar scopes. The old systems required a very dark room. We are able to have more light in the room because of the Sony CRT product. We also have the ARTS IIIE, an air traffic automation system and ACD (ARTS Color Display and Radar Scopes) by Lockheed/Martin. Our communications system is RDVS-IIA by Litton/Denroe, and our information display system is an ACE/IDS 5 by Systems Management Inc.,” said Vallone, “This is high-tech!

“The main benefit of the new facility is that it allows us to be so much more efficient. It will not so much change what we do and how we do it, but it will affect our long-term planning. We will be better able to address our customers' needs and the needs of the major airlines.

“We are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We don't stop. Even if the Atlanta airport or one of our satellite airports is closed, we are open, ready for business. Safety is our top priority. With the Barco walls and some of the other technology, we will be better able to monitor weather and traffic, which will enhance safety without a doubt.”

Ellyce Kelly, Barco's public relations manager, has over three years experience in the large-scale video display industry and over five years experience in marketing and media relations.