Surveillance radar system of the Air Traffic Services

The surveillance radar system of the Air Traffic Services

In this publicationón we will talk about cóhow does it work surveillance system Tr Servicesánsito Aéreo worldwide and in Ecuador.

A system driven during World War II, tomó your applicationón civil at the end of it to provide continuous monitoring of the dispositionón of the tráI'm theéreo, additional to the position reportón that was carried out by radio at that time.

This system thatño a añor evolve, allows greater safety and efficiency in the routes that thousands of planes carry out daily around the world.

primary radar

La orientationón azimuth of the radar antenna provides the heading of the aircraft from the stationón terrestrial, and the time it takes for the pulse to reach the target and return provides a measure of the distance of the target from the station.ón terrestrial. The heading and distance of the target can then be converted into a position.ón of the terrain to show to the traffic controlleráI'm theéreo. The elevationótarget no. (altitude) not normally measured by ATC's primary radars.

The Advantage of Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR) is that it operates completely independently of the aircraftón objective, that is to say, no action requiredón of the aircraft to provide a radar return.

The disadvantages of the PSR are that, First of all, Huge amounts of energy must be radiatedíto guarantee target returns. In second place, due to the smallñto amount of energyíreturned to the receiver, returns may be interrupted fáeasily due to factors such as changes in the target's attitude or attenuation.ón of the señdue to heavy rain. This can cause the displayed target to fade.

secondary radar

The disadvantages of PSR described above led to the employment of another aspect of wartime radar development.. This was the identification systemóFriend or Foe (IFF), what was thereíhas been developed as a means to positively identify friendly aircraft from the enemy.

The system that became known in civilian use as Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR), or in the USA. UU. as Traffic Control Radar Beacon SystemáI'm theéreo, It is based on equipment on board the aircraft known as «transpondedor».

Quito radar control screen Approximationón
Quito radar control screen Approximationón.

The transponder is a radio receiver and transmitter that operates on the radar frequency.. The avi transponderón objective answers the questionón of the stationón terrestrial transmitting a signalñto coded response. The great advantages of the SSR are three: First of all, because theñthe response is transmitted from the avión, it's much más strong when received at the stationón terrestrial, which offers the possibility of much greater range and reduces attenuation problems.ón of the señal; similarly, the transmission powerórequired number of stationóterrestrial n for a given range is very small, which provides an economyía considerable; and third, since theñwings in each directionón isán electronic codedóonly, the possibility of transmitting information is offeredóadditional n between the two stations.

The disadvantage of SSR is that it requires an avión target carries a working transponder. Therefore, SSR is a surveillance system «dependent».

This is the current system más used worldwide, although new technologiesías isán already applying based on satellite systems and ADS-B systems.

¿Whaté raisinsí primary or secondary radar fails?

In view of the problems that have recently become púwars on the radar of Guayaquil, it is important to highlight that the tr controllersánsito aéreo Eastán highly trained to be able to provide their services without this operating system.

If the secondary radar fails or goes into scheduled maintenance, drivers passáWhat is known as manual and procedural control isándarized, which means that the pilots do not receiveán vectors and dutyán follow the published procedure charts for that airport.

Under these conditions below 7.500 feet in the area of Guayaquil airport, pilots dutyán report your positionón, speed and heading permanently and the controllers perform cáMental calculations and constant notes to safely monitor each flight.

When this situationón se da, the operations toéareas are not suspended, but yesí it will be possibleíThere may be delays in arrivals and departures, since the spaces between aircraft increaseán to maintain safety at all times.

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4 comments on “The radar surveillance system of the Air Traffic Services”

  1. Buenas tardes
    A question, in the Inga sector, near the CELEC electrical substation, there is a large red rotating antenna, and beyond a VOR antenna.
    They are from Quito airport?

  2. Only the irresponsibility of the DAC can have the country in this situation both nationally and even worse internationally that Ecuador is a third world country
    Serious irresponsibility playing with air safety by confessing that the useful life of the radar ended last year
    Only the fact of saying it is to recognize their inability to foresee in time the unique solution according to them of a new one because due to the age of the current one there are no spare parts and its maintenance is very expensive, in addition to the fact that there are no spare parts on the market
    Worse and even more serious is to declare that in full 2019 the solution is to do it manually, for which air traffic controllers are prepared to do it, that is, to go back in time 50 or more years to cook with csrbon or firewood that was not so serious and delicate depend on a watch a mental calculation a navigation chart and reports followed by the aircraft to know where it is and bring it safely to land
    Even when the DAC plays aviation
    Today there is a new Director, one more that changes from time to time, let's hope that he is with the service sheet that they have presented works for the good of our Ecuadorian aviation

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