National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and NAV CANADA

Challenge

To increase capacity and improve surveillance over North Atlantic airspace. Wide area surveillance was required at the key transatlantic sites of Strumble, UK, and Gander, Canada, which had previously not been possible

Solution

We evolved our multilateration system, which used common clock synchronisation, to include a reference transponder which synchronised the outlying sensor sites. This provided greater flexibility in the data link and processor location

Outcome

Both Strumble and Gander have four receiver sites monitoring a region of 25x25nm, with an accuracy of 25ft. The systems have been in operation since 1997