FAA to order 21 Airport Surface Detection Equipment systems from Sensis.

Sensis Corporation recently announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a letter of intent to exercise contract options to purchase 21 Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE-X) systems and associated equipment and services from the Company. The estimated value of these options approximates $100M USD. ASDE-X is a traffic management system for the airport surface that will provide seamless coverage and aircraft identification (tags) to air traffic controllers. The system uses a combination of surface movement radar, transponder multilateration and automatic dependent surveillance--broadcast (ADS-B) sensors to display aircraft position labeled with flight call-signs on air traffic controller's displays.

Sensis Corporation and its teammate, Raytheon Company, were awarded the ASDE-X first article contract in October 2000 and are currently performing first article acceptance testing to validate system performance. The letter communicates the FAA's intent to commence full-scale production of the ASDE-X system for 21 of the planned airports.

The ASDE-X system integrates five enabling technologies: transponder multilateration surveillance, surface movement radar, ADS-B, multi-sensor data fusion and control tower display equipment. The combination of these technologies into a turnkey airport surface management system will provide tower controllers with a powerful tool for enhancing the safety and efficiency of airport surface operations.

A transponder multilateration system interacts with an aircraft's transponder to determine the aircraft position and identification. Surface movement radar uses traditional radar principles to search for and track an aircraft/ vehicle non-cooperatively by measuring reflected energy. ADS-B is a new surveillance concept in which aircraft periodically broadcast their position, velocity, heading and other information as determined by their avionics for processing by other systems. The fusion of the data from these surveillance sources will improve surface surveillance by providing air traffic controllers with accurate position and identification information for aircraft throughout the entire airport surface in all weather conditions.

Sensis Corporation is the FAA's prime contractor and system integrator for the ASDE-X Program and the designer and manufacturer of the multilateration and ADS-B surveillance sensors and the multi-sensor fusion processor. Raytheon Company of Marlborough, Massachusetts is providing the surface movement radar and tower display components.

Sensis Corporation provides sensors and information technology to the world's militaries, civil aviation authorities, airports and airlines. The company designs, manufactures and installs multilateration/ADS-B ground stations for air and surface surveillance, and sensor data interface equipment for integrating new and legacy, surveillance and automation systems. Sensis equipment is deployed around the world, including more than 130 multilateration/ADS-B sensors and 700 sensor data interface devices in 25 countries on 5 continents.