Review of Airport Surface Movement Radar Technology

Runway incursion is defined by the FAA as "any occurrence at an airport involving an aircraft, vehicle, person or object on the ground that creates collision hazard or results in a loss of separation with an aircraft taking off, intending to take off, landing or intending to land." A summary of how severe this problem is can be found in a 2001 hearing before the Subcommittee on Aviation. Surface movement radar (SMR) technology has evolved over the years as part of an effort to mitigate runway incursion risks and enhance airport capacity. Surface movement surveillance systems of various types have been installed in major airports as early as the 1960s, and have kept evolving. The most recent system currently being deployed in the US by the FAA is the airport surface movement detection equipment model X (ASDE-X) system. In this system, unlike previous systems, the surface movement radar is just one of several sensors that are used in addition to transponder multilateration and GPS-based position reports, referred to as automatic dependent surveillance - broadcast or ADS-B; however, the SMR is a key subsystem. This paper contains an overview of the state-of-the-art SMR technology and provides an introduction on the use of radar technology for this commercial application. It focuses on the architecture, characteristics and technology of the radar sensor, the characteristics of the clutter and how it affects the performance, effects of multipath, automatic detection and comparison of several sensor architectures. Sensis Corporation has recently completed the testing of a new, improved SMR, which is now part of ASDE-X system. This paper summarizes the main features of this radar