Wide area multilateration from Sensis selected for Sweden's ATC surveillance infrastructure

Posted by John McHale
EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y., 11 March 2011.Wide area multilateration (WAM) technology from Sensis will provide air traffic control (ATC) surveillance infrastructure and enable synergy with Automatic Dependent Surveillance -Broadcast (ADS-B) technology.
Luftfartsverket (LFV), the air navigation service provider (ANSP) for Sweden, chose the Sensis WAM will be deployed across Sweden to complement and replace the country's Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR) infrastructure with technology that is compatible with today's avionics.
Sensis will deploy separate WAM systems in the Stockholm terminal movement area (TMA) and in a large part of the northern area of the country, with options to deploy additional systems providing nationwide coverage. The goal of the LFV WAM program is comprehensive coverage of the LFV area of responsibility. Sensis WAM will support Mode A/C, Mode S, and ADS-B 1090 ES. The Sensis solution will employ the same sensor technology that is currently in operation for surface surveillance at Stockholm Arlanda International Airport.
"The Sensis WAM solution provides LFV with the best technological approach to complement and replace our secondary surveillance infrastructure for current and future operating requirements," says Anders Andersson, LFV project manager. "This system will enable Mode S and ADS-B possibilities for LFV and have a lower initial acquisition and lifecycle cost than radars while providing our controllers with the same or better surveillance of aircraft in Swedish airspace, including some rural areas that were not previously served by radar."
Sensis multilateration uses multiple low-maintenance, non-rotating sensors to triangulate aircraft locations based on transponder signals to 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 multilateration provides effective surveillance for increased safety, capacity and efficiency of airspace. By employing advanced processing techniques, a Sensis multilateration system uses the minimal number of sensors for a less complex, lower lifecycle cost solution. Additionally, each multilateration sensor deployed by Sensis supports ADS-B.