The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is in the process of validating the installation of the latest state-of-the-art radar at the Mumbai airport. The radar will help in enhancing passengers' safety and provide better efficiency in air services, airport officials said, as per a report by Shahkar Abidi in DNA. Airport insiders said the most important feature of the radar is its ability to make a particular aircraft visible on accurate real time to the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) as well as to any nearby aircraft. Vital information such as velocity, altitude, weight and number of passengers will be transmitted every second from the aircraft to the ATC and other aircraft. This feature is called Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast.
At present, the ATC and pilots depend on the Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR) and Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR). While PSR determines an aircraft's specifications by calculating the time required for it to receive the wave or the reflected beam, SSR depends on the pilot’s reply from the aircraft. However, at times, both fail to deliver, insiders revealed.
“The DGCA is validating the new radar before giving it a go-ahead for commissioning,” said a senior official from Airports Authority of India. The official said the new radar will replace the PSR, which has been operational for the past 13 years.
Among the many benefits, the new radar will reduce voice communication between the pilot and ATC as communication will take place through an internal channel, similar to MS Office messenger. At present, all aircraft in airspace on the same frequency can listen to all communications. This leads to confusion and, in certain cases, to serious incidents. Communication will now be direct, in textual (template) form, and will be meant only for the intended pilot.
Also, with the existing radar, there are chances of data leakage. The new radar has smooth data link network and, therefore, no chance of data loss.
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