Surveillance and Broadcast Services, Western Service Area (WSA)

Welcome

The Surveillance and Broadcast Services’ Western Service Area (SBS WSA) office provides oversight and management of all activities in the Western Service Area, including ADS-B implementation, legacy Capstone projects, budgeting, and planning.

The SBS WSA office is also tasked with developing a transition strategy for legacy ground-based transceivers in Alaska by 2010 in coordination with the national ADS-B contract vendor, ITT Corp. In addition, the SBS WSA office is working to provide Wide Area Multilateration Services in Juneau, Alaska; and various locations in the mountains of Colorado.

The map below depicts the states that fall under the FAA’s Surveillance and Broadcast Services’ Western Service Area, Central Service Area, and Eastern Service Area.

Western, Central, and Eastern Service Areas

Western Service Area Faces Unique Challenges

Several of the states that fall within the WSA have unique aviation challenges. For example, Alaska relies on aviation more than any other state. Less than 10 percent of the state is accessible by road (the state capitol, Juneau, is accessible only by air or ferry), and river transport is possible only a few months of the year. As a result, aviation is the primary and, in most cases, the only means of transport for Alaska’s numerous remote villages. Unfortunately, most of these villages lack the aviation infrastructure found in the “lower 48.” In addition, Alaska has approximately 10 percent of the nation’s air transport operators. Historically, this 10 percent generates approximately 35 percent of the nation’s air transport accidents. From 1994 to 1996, there were 112 accidents in Alaska involving these kinds of operators. The flying challenges posed by Alaska’s mountainous terrain and fierce winter climate together with the higher-than-average accident rate has made the quest for improved aviation safety in Alaska a major goal for the FAA and the Alaskan aviation community.

Studies conducted in Alaska indicate that 38 percent of the 112 accidents from 1994 to 1996 might have been avoided by the availability of ADS-B information in the cockpit -- information such as position relative to terrain and traffic, and real time weather information. The Capstone project validated these safety projections. The Bethel / Y-K Delta area served as the initial test bed since it is served by approximately 25 percent of the commercial aircraft in Alaska and has a proportionate number of accidents. A 2004 study by MITRE and the University of Alaska at Anchorage found that, from 2000 through 2004, the rate of accidents for Capstone-equipped aircraft was reduced by 47 percent. As a result, the Capstone project paved the way for a national deployment of ADS-B and demonstrated that ADS-B would improve aviation safety in Alaska.

Today the SBS WSA office is building on the success of Capstone by expanding ADS-B coverage and deploying other surveillance tools, such as multilateration, to improve aviation safety in Alaska and other states in the Western Service Area.

ADS-B in Alaska

The FAA is working to improve areas with significant air traffic in Alaska by adding ADS-B ground stations, GPS approaches, including vertically guided LPVs and RNAV routes beyond current service areas. The SBS WSA office is responsible for the ADS-B deployment, while other offices in the FAA manage GPS approaches and RNAV routes.

The FAA is working directly with the state and Alaska aviation industry through a Memorandum of Agreement to speed the ADS-B expansion in Alaska. The parties formed an Agreement Implementation Committee, and this committee created the “Surveillance and Broadcast Services, Capstone Statewide Plan” to encourage ADS-B avionics equipage and ADS-B deployment in Alaska. For more information on the plan, see the Safety Equipage Incentive Program (SEIP).

Juneau Wide Area Multilateration

The Juneau Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) project was designed to alleviate congestion and delays into Juneau and several surrounding airports caused by difficult weather conditions and the lack of surveillance. The WAM system also supports the ADS-B as an additional surveillance source for the traffic information services (TIS-B) data broadcast to aircraft. In addition, the WAM system will serve as the backup in case of an ADS-B service outage. For more information on the Juneau WAM project, see Juneau Wide Area Multilateration (WAM).

Colorado WAM

Lack of surveillance at several of Colorado’s mountain airports is another challenge the WSA is addressing by deploying a WAM system under a cost-sharing agreement with the state of Colorado. As part of this agreement, the State of Colorado Department of Transportation in June 2007 awarded a contract to Sensis Corporation for a multilateration /ADS-B system. This system will cover the Yampa Valley-Hayden, Craig-Moffat, Steamboat Springs, and Garfield County Regional-Rifle Airports. For more information about the Colorado WAM mountain airports project see the Colorado Mountain Airports Project.

ADS-B in Oregon

In order to expedite the benefits of ADS-B services in Oregon in advance of a national deployment, the FAA and the State of Oregon Department of Transportation signed a Memorandum of Understanding in December 2006 to install nine prototype ADS-B ground-based transceivers. The FAA procured and installed three transceivers, and Oregon obtained six through a contract/grant with Sensis. The FAA sites were installed and operational in April 2007 and the Oregon sites became operational in December 2007.

• Oregon ADS-B Coverage Areas (PDF)

Arizona and California also have requested meetings to discuss the possibility of obtaining ADS-B services in advance of the national deployment in those states as well. Updated information will be posted as it develops.

Contacting the SBS Western Service Area

SBS Western Service Area main office

Federal Aviation Administration
222 West 7th Avenue, #14
SBS WSA Office (AJE-6A)
Anchorage, AK 99513
Phone: (907) 271-5780

Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZAN):

Anchorage ARTCC
700 North Boniface Pkwy.
SBS WSA Office (AJE-6B)
Anchorage, AK 99506

SBS Western Service Area office in Juneau:

Juneau International Airport
1873 Shell Simmons Drive, #110
Juneau, AK 99801

For more information, call the SBS WSA office at (907) 271-1675 or send us an email.