Air Route Surveillance Radar
| Country of origin | United States |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1958 |
| Type | General Surveillance3D radar |
| Frequency | L band |
| Range | 290 miles |
TheAir Route Surveillance Radaris a long-rangeradarsystem. It is used by theUnited States Air Forceand theFederal Aviation Administrationto control airspace within and around the borders of the United States.
The ARSR-4 is the FAA's most recent (late 1980s, early 1990s) addition to the "Long Range" series of radars. It is asolid stateWestinghousesystem with a 250-nautical-mile (460 km; 290 mi) range. The ARSR-4 features a "look down" capability that enables the radar to detect aircraft attempting to elude detection by flying at low altitudes, advancedclutterreduction via hardware and software post-processing, and enhanced poor-weather object detection. A beacon system,the ATCBI-6M(a monopulse system), is installed along with each ARSR-4. However, since the ARSR-4 has3Dcapabilities, it can determine altitude independently of its associated beacon (albeit less accurately).
ARSR-4 systems are installed along the borders and coastal areas of the contiguous United States,Guantanamo Bay Naval Basein Cuba, the municipality ofYigoonGuam,and a training site at the FAA'sMike Monroney Aeronautical CenterinOklahoma City.They are generally unmanned, and are equipped with remote monitoring of both the radar data and the status of the radar's health and environment. It has expanded to additional sites throughout the entire contiguous US (or CONUS).[1]
History
[edit]Raytheonintroduced ARSR-1 in 1958 operating in theL-band.At that time it had a maximum range of 170 nautical miles; 320 kilometres (200 mi). ARSR-2 was developed in the 1960s, also with a 200-mile range. From a user perspective, the ARSR-1 and ARSR-2 function nearly identically. Components that had proved troublesome in the ARSR-1 were redesigned in order to improve reliability. Existing ARSR-1 systems were retrofitted with the more reliable ARSR-2 components. All ARSR-1/2 systems have been upgraded with modern Common ARSR systems (CARSR).
Vacuum tubeswere still in use nationwide prior to the upgrade.[2]
All ARSR-1/2s were replaced by Common ARSR by the end of 2015. CARSR has a 200-nautical-mile (370 km; 230 mi) range, and shares transmitter components and software with the FAA's newairport surveillance radar,theASR-11.Like the ASR-11, CARSR is completely solid state.
Westinghouse built ARSR-3. ARSR-3 and 3D search radar were used by the FAA in theJoint Surveillance System(JSS). The radar operated in the L-band at 1250 to 1350 MHz and detected targets at distances beyond 210 nautical miles; 390 kilometres (240 mi). The D model had height-finder capability.
Westinghouse also built ARSR-4 3-D air surveillance radar in the 1990s for the JSS. By the late 1990s, this radar had replaced most of the 1960s-vintage AN/FPS-20 variant search radars and a number of ARSR-3 search radars under the "FAA/Air Force Radar Replacement" (FARR) program.
References
[edit]
This article incorporatespublic domain materialfrom theAir Force Historical Research Agency
- Further reading
- ARSR-1,2,3,4 @ radomes.orgArchived10 March 2014 at theWayback Machine
