Multilateration/ADS-B to be installed at Memphis International Airport

DEWITT, NY - February 25, 2000 - Sensis Corporation received a contract from the Federal Aviation Administration to deploy its Multistatic Dependent Surveillance (MDS) multilateration system at Memphis International Airport. The multilateration system provides positive identification of all transponder equipped aircraft and will provide surveillance coverage of the entire airport -- runways, taxiways, ramp and gate areas. Memphis Airport is the primary hub for the cargo carrier Federal Express and an important hub for air carrier Northwest Airlines. The data will be displayed at the Federal Express ramp tower as well as the FAA ATC Tower providing a surface surveillance picture for improved safety and capacity throughput for time critical cargo operations in all weather conditions.

The multilateration sensors will also be configured to receive Automatic Dependent Surveillance- Broadcast (ADS-B) messages. ADS-B equipped aircraft and vehicles automatically broadcast positional information — latitude and longitude, velocity, altitude, heading and identification — as determined by the avionics on board and the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). These ADS-B capable sensors represent the first part of an ADS-B networked corridor between Memphis Airport, TN (Federal Express hub), Louisville Airport, KY (United Parcel Service hub), and Wilmington, OH (Airborne Express hub) as part of the FAA Safe Flight 21 Program. The Safe Flight 21 program is building on the accomplishments of the Cargo Airline Association's ADS-B trials during 1999. System installation is to begin in August 00.

Memphis is the second site that the FAA has chosen for Sensis Corporation's multilateration system. An existing system is operating at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport under the FAA's Runway Incursion Reduction Program. Sensis has also recently received contracts to install multilateration system at Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom and Frankfurt Airport, Germany.