FAA Employee Wins ATCA Award for Innovation

By Holly Baker

An FAA electronics technician has been named the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) Airway Transportation Systems Specialist of the Year. He was honored for his innovative work to enhance the safety and efficiency of airport instrument landing systems.

Steven Edwards, a member of the FAA’s Navigational Aids unit at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, was cited by ATCA for creating the localizer cable fault analyzer. This unique electronic device can quickly troubleshoot problems in an instrument landing system’s (ILS) antenna array.

The ILS provides precise course and height guidance to an aircraft approaching a runway. The system is made up of a localizer antenna array, with several pairs of directional antennas beyond the end of the runway. All antennas must be functioning properly for the transmitted signal to be correct in the aircraft and for the system to work properly. Any antenna problem can result in an unsafe condition during the final approach.

The analyzer will catch an antenna cable fault and memorize which antenna had the fault. The device is connected to the ILS equipment, enabling technicians to quickly identify and repair the malfunctioning antenna, greatly reducing the amount of time the ILS is out of service. The analyzer immediately pinpoints the faulty antenna, saving hours of troubleshooting and repair time.

The FAA has filed a provisional patent application for this device with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

“This is a perfect example of Technology Transfer at its best,” said Deborah Germak, FAA Technology Transfer program manager, who nominated Edwards for the award. “Steve’s technology will improve the margin of safety for aircraft landings at airports all over the country.”

The localizer was featured at the World’s Best Technologies Exposition in Dallas in March, and displayed at the ATCA Technical Symposium in Atlantic City in April 2006. Edwards won the Southwest Region’s 2004 “Wings of Success” award in the technical support category for his efforts. The FAA Logistics Center in Oklahoma City built a prototype of Edwards’ device and plans to deploy copies of it nationwide.