By Ben Forrest | February 3, 2016 Estimated reading time 4 minutes, 32 seconds.
A radar tower overlooks hangars at Hamilton International Airport in Ontario. Nav Canada Photo
Work is underway on a multi-million-dollar project to upgrade terminal surveillance radar at some of Canada’s busiest airports.
Nav Canada is funding the project, which will upgrade radar equipment at airports in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and other major cities, as well as Nav Canada’s Ottawa Radar Test Facility, at a cost of more than $125 million.
“These radar systems are over 30 years old and are nearing the end of their lifecycle,” said Kim Troutman, Nav Canada’s vice president, Engineering, in a news release.
“Radar is one of the key surveillance sources for air traffic control and will continue to be an indispensable tool for the mid and long-term in its existing role and as a complement to satellite-based ADS-B surveillance.”
Nav Canada chose Selex ES, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, to carry out the work after a competitive request for proposal (RFP) and lengthy review process.
This is the largest air traffic control contract award for Finmeccanica in the last 10 years, but the company said it has delivered more than 1,000 primary and secondary radar channels in more than 150 countries over the past half-century.
The project involves “technological complexity and stringent requirements for operation in challenging Canadian airports environments,” Finmeccanica said in a separate release.
Work began before Christmas in 2015 and will be phased in over several years, with completion at all 12 sites expected by 2027.
The other airports slated for upgrades are in Victoria, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Halifax and Mirabel, Que.
“Due to the age of the systems, various electronic components are becoming obsolete and parts are sometimes difficult to replace,” said Troutman.
“This upgrade program will replace key electronic equipment while maintaining the radar site infrastructure in place. Each radar upgrade will improve reliability, advance the exchange of data, lower maintenance costs and mitigate potential service outages.”
This is one of the larger projects Nav Canada has undertaken, but the company has completed other upgrades on an ongoing basis, investing more than $2 billion in its system in the last 19 years.
Nav Canada added six new radars in the early 2000s and has built new towers and renovated area control centres, said Ron Singer, the company’s media relations manager.
“(This is) a major infrastructure renewal and we have done major infrastructure renewals in the past,” he said.
Nav Canada operates 46 radar sites across the country that provide air traffic surveillance data used by air traffic controllers and flight service specialists.
“For these major airports they’re going to have more modern and reliable radar equipment,” Singer said.
“It won’t really change the services. Radar is still radar, but the repair and maintenance will be less frequent and a lot less costly over the long term.”
Finmeccanica was the firm that most suited Nav Canada’s needs, Singer said when asked why the Italian industrial giant was chosen to carry out the work.
“There were a number of factors including the technologies, support capabilities, experience and capabilities, as well as the bid,” he said.
Finmeccanica cited stiff competition among several companies during the RFP process and said it is “proud to have been awarded this contract in competition against a pool of international providers.”
