Contract Completed In Record Time Despite Weather Delays

As of December 18, uAvionix has successfully installed its ground coverage technology and completed training at six air traffic control towers in Florida. The company worked alongside Capital Sciences to complete the project under the FAA’s Surface Awareness Initiative (SAI).

The contract was awarded to uAvionix in September 2024, giving it 90 days to design, install, test, and train at six fields. Despite having to jump through a few hoops due to Florida’s two recent major hurricanes, uAvionix was able to fulfill the contract in “record time.”

“Together with the FAA teams on site at each of the six airports, our team in the field and in the back office did an amazing job running these installations in parallel across the State of Florida in record time,” expressed Christian Ramsey, CCO of uAvionix. “Feedback from the local controllers has been overwhelmingly positive, and we are very proud of the contribution we are making to day-to-day FAA operational safety.”

The FlightLine systems were set up at six Florida airports: Miami Executive Airport (TMB), Tampa International Airport (TPA), Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB), Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB), Palm Beach International Airport (PBI), and Jacksonville International Airport (JAX).

Each airport received up to eight dual-frequency ADS-B receivers, providing overlapping coverage on the surface and 5 miles into the airspace, along with up to four situational awareness displays. They also obtained uAvionix’s VTU-20 ADS-B vehicle transmitters, which makes vehicles on the ground visible to FlightLine users and other aircraft.

The Surface Awareness Initiative (SAI) aims to rapidly improve surveillance and situational awareness on the ground at towered airports across the National Airspace System (NAS). The FAA will complete similar projects at dozens more controlled fields in coming years.

“Currently there are airports where tower controllers do not have visibility of all areas of the airport surface,” uAvionix stated. “By deploying the SAI capability to the tower cab, controllers gain timely and accurate depictions of both aircraft and ground vehicles on the entire surface movement area of an airport in all weather conditions and  are able proactively address any potential safety concerns.”

FMI: www.uavionix.com