PRM at Detroit Metro Wayne County Airport

A Sensis multilateration surveillance system, Multistatic Dependent Surveillance (MDS), is being deployed for Precision Runway Monitoring (PRM) at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW).  Sensis MDS will provide surveillance for simultaneous parallel approaches to runways 4 and 22, enabling Detroit Metro to increase its capacity. In 2005, Sensis successfully demonstrated to the FAA that multilateration is a technologically sound solution for PRM based on a testing at Lambert – St. Louis International Airport.  The multilateration system met the defined coverage volume, positional accuracy, and Modes 3/A and C code accuracy requirement.  Following this testing, the FAA conducted a cost/benefit analysis that indicated that in addition to its technical strength, based on the minimal maintenance it requires, multilateration is more cost-effective than Electronic-Scan (E-SCAN) PRM.  As a result, the FAA contracted with Sensis to deploy MDS for PRM at Detroit Metro Airport, in addition to the Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X) system already scheduled to be installed.