Raytheon-designed system is state of the art in ATC automation

The Federal Aviation Administration has commissioned the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) for Logan International Airport in Boston and Manchester Airport in New Hampshire.

The commissioning ceremony was held in conjunction with the dedication of the FAA's new Boston Consolidated Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), a 63,000-square feet facility located in Merrimack, N.H. Two other sites in New England, Hartford-Bradley and Providence, have commissioned STARS into operation.

The new Boston Consolidated TRACON is the principal gateway for New England airspace. The TRACON facility has 19 controller and nine coordination positions that use STARS. The combined airspace for this facility extends from the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, south to the Rhode Island border, east to Cape Cod, and west to central Massachusetts. The consolidation of the Boston and Manchester TRACONs enhances coordination procedures and improves the effective use of airspace throughout the area.

"The commissioning at the new Boston consolidated TRACON further confirms that STARS is the future of terminal air traffic control for the FAA," said Bob Eckel, vice president of Raytheon Air Traffic Management Systems. "We congratulate the FAA and the New England Region on this achievement and look forward to continuing our successful partnership with the FAA, National Air Traffic Controllers Association and Professional Airways Systems Specialists as we proceed down the site deployment waterfall."

STARS is a joint procurement for the FAA and Department of Defense (DoD). Twenty-one FAA and 14 DoD sites are currently controlling air traffic with STARS, with two recent service commissionings. These sites are supported with a national, joint FAA/DoD infrastructure of training, maintenance, testing and logistics.

The STARS system is a highly reliable, open architecture air traffic automation system that provides new high resolution color displays, new computer processing and communication equipment, six-level display of weather, multi-radar tracking and easy and rapid incorporation of new hardware and software features.

FMI: www.raytheon.com