ERA has signed a new contract to provide complete WAM/ADS-B coverage in Moldova

ERA announced that it had been awarded a contract to deliver a WAM/ADS-B system covering the entire airspace of the Republic of Moldova. In addition, ERA will supply its MLAT surface surveillance system to Chisinau International airport in the Moldavian capital. ERA will provide Air Traffic Control solutions based on its tried and tested NEO multilateration system cooperating within a consortium with the partner BASS Systems SRL. The contract was assigned by the local ANSP Moldavian Air Traffic Services Authority (MoIdATSA) as a result of a tendering process, which ERA successfully won last autumn.

One of the first priorities of MoldATSA is to cover their air space with up-to-date technology to provide surveillance coverage throughout the country. Radars alone proved inefficient and would not have provided the benefits of next-generation technology such as Multilateration. MoldATSA therefore began their program of a nationwide Wide Area Multilateration (WAM) solution.

“The selection of ERA is the result of the tendering procedure. ERA complies with the requirements of the Request for Proposal (RFP) and scored highest on the defined evaluation criteria. ERA’s experience in the deployment of WAM solutions in areas   with difficult terrain and references  from other ANSPs was also one of the key factors in selecting them for this project”, stated Serghei Sandu, Technical Director of MoldATSA.

The Chisinau airport is the busiest in the Republic of Moldova having seen an immense increase in traffic over the last decade which has inspired the need to implement additional airport surface surveillance to already used SSRs in order to mitigate the risk of runway incursions and other ground traffic related incidents.

To fulfill these challenges, ERA as the primary contractor will deliver its multi sensor surveillance systems, a composite solution of Multilateration and ADS-B. Both proposed systems are designed according to RFP requirements and the ED-117 (surface) and ED-142 (WAM) standards and have already passed the first round of the Factory Acceptance Tests. The actual WAM installation will consist of 15 Ground Stations and the airport MLAT system is going to have 11 GS in use. The team of ERA experts also carried out a site survey and has chosen proper locations for the WAM/MLAT stations at the end of last year. The company BASS Systems is responsible for the infrastructure including the microwave and optical fibre connections. The final completion followed by the Site Acceptance Tests is planned for the summer of 2015.

ERA’s newest customer MoIdATSA is a State Enterprise which is responsible for the national air traffic management of the Republic of Moldova. Chisinau International Airport is Moldova’s main airport located 13 km south-east of the center of Chisinau, the capital city. It serves as the headquarters for Air Moldova, the country’s national airline.