Third Major UK Airport to Increase Safety and Efficiency with Sensis MDS
EAST SYRACUSE, NY – March 30, 2009 – NATS (formerly National Air Traffic Services), the UK’s major air navigation service provider, has selected Sensis Multistatic Dependent Surveillance (MDS) for ground surveillance at London Stansted Airport. Sensis MDS will provide full coverage of the airport’s runway, taxiway and stand areas to enhance the safe and efficient movement of aircraft on the ground. NATS has selected Sensis MDS for ground surveillance as a result of its successful performance at London Heathrow and Gatwick airports.
“The selection of Sensis MDS for Stansted was based on the many benefits we’re experiencing at Heathrow and Gatwick with the same technology,” said Alistair Clark, NATS Program Manager. “Stansted is a single-runway airport that requires the runway to be in operation in all weather conditions. MDS helps achieve this goal by providing accurate surveillance no matter the weather.”
Sensis MDS uses multiple low-maintenance, non-rotating sensors to triangulate aircraft location based on transponder signals and provide air traffic controllers with precise aircraft position and identification information regardless of weather conditions. With a higher update rate and greater positional accuracy than traditional radar, Sensis MDS provides consistent, accurate surveillance. Due to advanced processing techniques, an MDS system uses the minimal number of sensors for a less complex, lower lifecycle cost solution. Additionally, every MDS sensor deployed by Sensis also supports Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B).
“Sensis MDS architecture has the flexibility to easily accommodate future growth,” said Tony Lo Brutto, vice president and general manager of Sensis Air Traffic Systems. “Each ground station can also efficiently transition to, and serve as a back-up system to ADS-B with no equipment modifications.”
Sensis multilateration is the most field-proven system in the industry, with approximately 100 sites worldwide using the technology.
ABOUT SENSIS CORPORATION
Sensis Corporation provides sensors, information technology, and simulation and modeling to the world’s air navigation service providers, civil aviation authorities, airports, airlines and militaries. Sensis Corporation solutions are deployed around the world. For more information regarding Sensis Corporation, visit www.sensis.com.
ABOUT NATS
NATS (formerly National Air Traffic Services) provides en-route air traffic control services to aircraft flying in UK airspace, over the eastern North Atlantic and western North Sea. Safety is NATS’ foremost priority but it also aims to provide its service in an efficient and expeditious way. Additionally, NATS’ commercial offshoot NATS Services Ltd (NSL), provides air traffic control services at 15 of the UK’s major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, and overseas at Gibraltar. NSL also markets its expertise in engineering, training, consultancy and aviation data.
This year NATS expects to handle some 2.4 million flights carrying around 240 million passengers. NATS is a public private partnership between a consortium of seven UK airlines (holding 42%), NATS staff (holding 5%), UK airport operator BAA plc (with 4%), and the government which holds 49% and a golden share. For more information on NATS, visit www.nats.co.uk.
Contact
Rob Conrad
Sr. Public Relations Specialist
Sensis
315-634-3139 (office)
315-751-3646 (mobile)
rconrad@sensis.com
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