PRM at Detroit Metropolitan

Sensis Corporation’s Precision Runway Monitoring – Alternative (PRM-A) solution is now operational at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW). Multilateration surveillance from the Sensis Multistatic Dependent Surveillance (MDS) system is providing controllers at DTW with the precise aircraft position information needed to simultaneously separate aircraft on approaches to DTW’s closely spaced parallel runways. PRM-A enables more flights to land per hour for increased throughput at the airport.

For PRM-A, Sensis’ Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X) system at DTW was expanded with additional MDS sensors in a Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) configuration. Sensis MDS uses multiple sensors to triangulate aircraft positions based on transponder signals to provide positive location and identification in all weather conditions. The data from Sensis MDS provides accurate, one-second surveillance updates needed to track aircraft on final approach to DTW from approximately 30 nm from the airport down to the surface. At DTW, MDS provides surveillance for parallel approaches to runways 4L/22R, 4R/22L and 3R/21L. In addition, the system is compatible with Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B).

Precision Runway Monitoring (PRM) surveillance is required for simultaneous approaches where parallel runways are spaced from 3,400’ to 4,300’. By using PRM, the throughput of an airport can be increased without the expense of building additional runways.