Radio Station Cabinet (RSC) Design, Production, Deployment – Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast System (ADS-B) Initiative
MCS of Tampa has partnered with Information Telecom Technology (ITT) to manufacture the new cutting-edge, high-tech RSCs that form the backbone of the equipment that will be installed in various locations throughout the United States. The ADS-B Program, which is an FAA - approved program, consist of installing GPS tracking systems for aircraft carriers to provide adequate data of surrounding air space. This new technology will replace the traditional radar-based system throughout the country. The ADS-B system is forming incrementally, and MCS' finished cabinets are supplying the sole means of surveillance over the Gulf of Mexico, which enables improved control over aircraft traveling through this airspace.
Less than three months after individual site checkout began, we built our own cabinet construction facility that is adjacent to our Florida headquarters. Our seven-person RSC production team completes up to 20 interior and exterior cabinets per month, and our seven-person checkout team finalizes the initial construction and integration with RF configuration and testing. Our expertise, which includes RF and LAN engineering and configuration, is spread across the two teams whose combined processes are disciplined to meet every schedule milestone and quality requirement.
The ADS-B system is forming incrementally, and MCS’ finished cabinets are supplying the sole means of surveillance over the Gulf of Mexico which enables improved control over aircraft traveling through this airspace.
Size
From Alaska to Rhode Island, MCS teams are completing construction and radio testing of RSCs that comprise the nationwide ADS-B system. We have successfully completed approximately 80 functional RSCs, and we are contracted to complete approximately half of the total 800 cabinets.
Complexity
MCS’ original team – one electrical engineer, one configuration manager/quality control person, one electrician, and one RF technician with ADS-B experience - partnered with ITT personnel in Virginia to design, construct and test an RSC prototype that had no guiding documentation at the contract’s inception. Our team persisted through the difficulty of moving from design conception to construction, and the result of their nine-month effort was the production and checkout of the first 11 cabinets that were deployed in Florida.
