Airspace Non-cooperative Surveillance Radar
The Airspace Non-cooperative Surveillance Radar program, or ANSR, is an initiative within the Air Traffic Organization to research, develop and modernize aging non-cooperative radars within the National Airspace System, or NAS. The innovation of ANSR supports the mission to provide safe and efficient air navigation services while rebalancing existing services and revolutionizing NAS infrastructure to enable reduced costs and increased efficiency.
ANSR is utilizing data-driven decision making to implement the optimal sustainment of short range non-cooperative radar services. ANSR intends to combine emerging non-cooperative surveillance capability with cost-effective radar technology to meet current technology and security requirements.
Ground-based radar systems continue to be required for air traffic surveillance for the FAA to:
- Detect aircraft not transmitting Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast , or ADS-B due to non-equipped ADS-B aircraft, improperly installed avionics, or transponder failure
- Complement ADS-B surveillance coverage areas (in rule and non-rule airspace)
- Provide surveillance back-up service to ADS-B as needed for service resilience and safety
- Provide Air Traffic Control weather precipitation information until new solutions are deployed
Status
The ANSR team is currently performing a functional analysis in the early phase of the acquisition management process. This phase includes analyzing preliminary requirements and preliminary technology alternatives. As part of that effort, the team developed two Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, or CRADA, which are currently in the technology demonstration phase. Evaluations of these CRADAs and possible future CRADAs will inform FAA decisions about viable modern surveillance technologies.
The team is actively engaged with the aviation industry. The team also conducted a 2023 Market Survey to collect additional information from industry about technology alternatives. See the most recent Surveillance Services Industry Day presentations and the NAS Infrastructure Roadmaps for Surveillance Services for more information.
Program Components
The team aims to compare alternatives to determine the most cost-effective architecture and solution to provide non-cooperative surveillance data in support of the safe and efficient air navigation services. The alternatives include:
- Sustainment of non-cooperative Airport Surveillance Radar Models 8, 9, and 11, or ASR-8, 9, and 11, with line replaceable units, a modular component designed to be quickly replaced at an operating location.
- Replacement of ASR-8, -9, -11 radar sub-systems (i.e., receiver/processors, transmitters, antennas) with common components, eventually merging the radar baselines into a more homogenized system.
- Full replacement of the ASR-8, 9, and 11 radar models.
The quantity and timing of ANSR procurements depend on:
- Funding of the ANSR program
- Radar Divestiture Program quantity and timing of non-cooperative radars divested
- Affordable and technically viable ANSR engineering solution
- Funding of planned Mode Select Beacon Replacement System (MSBRS) procurements
- Projected lifecycle support of existing ASR-8s, 9s, and 11s and overall system health