The Air Route Surveillance Radar is used by the

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and the

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to control airspace within and around the borders of the United States. The ARSR-4 is the FAA's most recent (late 1980s, early 1990s) addition to the "Long Range" series of radars, a solid state Westinghouse system with a range. In addition, the ARSR-4 features a "look down" capability that enables the radar to detect aircraft attempting to elude detection by flying at low altitudes, advanced

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reduction via hardware and software post-processing, and enhanced poor-weather detection of aircraft. A Beacon system, the ATCBI-6M (a monopulse system), is installed along with each ARSR-4. However, since the ARSR-4 is a 3D radar, it is capable of determining aircraft altitude independently of its associated Beacon (albeit less accurately). ARSR-4 systems are installed along the borders and coastal areas of the continental United States,

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in Cuba, the municipality of

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, and a training site at the FAA's

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. They are generally unmanned, being equipped with remote monitoring of both the radar data and the status of the radar's health and environment.

History

The Raytheon-built ARSR-1 was introduced in 1958 had maximum range of . The ARSR-2 was developed in the 1960s as a replacement for the ARSR-1, also operating in the L-band with a 200-mile range. From a users perspective the ARSR-1 and ARSR-2 function nearly identically. Components which had proved troublesome in the ARSR-1 were redesigned in order to improve the reliability of the ARSR-2. Existing ARSR-1 systems were then retrofitted with the more reliable ARSR-2 components. All ARSR-1/2 systems have been replaced With modern Common ARSR systems. Electron tubes like the one Vice President Gore used in a televised interview to symbolize the need for FAA modernization were still in use nationwide prior to the Common ARSR upgrade. All ARSR-1/2s were replaced by the Common ARSR by the end of 2015. Common ARSR is abbreviated as CARSR. The CARSR has a range, and shares transmitter components and software with the FAA's newest airport surveillance radar the ASR-11. Like the ASR-11, the CARSR is a completely solid state RADAR. The Westinghouse-built ARSR-3 and 3D search radar was used by the FAA in the Joint Surveillance System (JSS). The radar operated in the L-band at 1250 to 1350 MHz and detected targets at a distance beyond . The D model had height-finder capability. The Westinghouse-(now Northrop-Grumman)-ARSR-4 built 3-D air surveillance radar in the 1990s for the JSS. By the late 1990s, this radar had replaced most of the 1960s-vintage AN/FPS-20 variant search radars and a number of ARSR-3 search radars under a project termed the "FAA/Air Force Radar Replacement" (FARR) program.

References

;Further reading
ARSR-1,2,3,4 @ radomes.org
{{Aerospace Defense Command, state=collapsed Ground radars Military radars of the United States Radars of the United States Air Force Aviation in the United States Air traffic control in North America