Milestone-Proposal talk:Development of the Mode S Next-Generation ATC Radar Beacon System

Original Citation Title and Text -- Administrator4 (talk) 16:10, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Development of Mode S Next-Generation Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System, 1969-1979

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory pioneered R&D, engineering, testing, and demonstration of the Mode S ATC radar beacon system. During 1969−1979, Lincoln Laboratory developed, tested, and verified the technical approach underlying the Mode S beacon radar system. The Mode S radar has become the worldwide standard for ATC radar and has enabled the safety and efficiency of today’s air transportation system.

Advocate Discussion #1 -- Gilcooke (talk) 14:46, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

Advocate Discussion #1 Docket 2022-03 , Sept 20, 2022,

My name is Gilmore Cooke, PE, electrical engineer, IEEE SLM, Boston Section Excom Committee member, and Section Milestone Coordinator. I’m please to Advocate for this very important Milestone Proposal. It’s a great proposal intended to commemorate an exceptional engineering project. The work was intricate and complicated by operating and technological conditions. Yet it was successfully carried out. Yes I do believe it is a worthy IEEE Milestone which should be approved. I will now proceed to answer the questions outline in the Advocate Questionnaire. Then I will provide comments and suggestions to improve the Proposed Milestone Citation. The IEEE milestone program requires that two Experts be appointed to review each milestone proposal. In this case I feels sufficiently qualified to act as one of the Expert because of my prior experiences as project electrical engineer in various industries which included a stint for Raytheon Engineering Services on a FAA contract.

Naming the Milestone

“Development of Mode S Next-Generation Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System 1969-1979” – is too long to appear as a one line title across the plaque. Consider a title on two lines of proper font size. The word ‘Development’ is necessary; ‘Next-Generation’ may be superfluous.

Advocate Questionnaire

1) Is the proposal for an achievement rather than for a person? YES

2) Is the proposed achievement a significant advance vs. an incremental improvement to an existing technology? YES

3) Were there prior or contemporary achievements of a similar nature? NO

4) Has the achievement (or the particular version of the technology being proposed) truly led to a functioning, useful, or marketable technology? YES

5) Is the proposal adequately supported by significant references and citations, (minimum of five) such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or citations to pages in scholarly books? At least one of the references shall be from a scholarly book or journal article. The text of the material, not just the references, shall YES, YES,…

6) Are the scholarly references recent? YES

7) Does the proposed citation fulfill the requirements? See Advocate comments below.

8) Does the proposed plaque site fulfill the requirements? YES

9) Is the proposal of suitable quality, comparable to IEEE publications? YES

10) Are the scientific and technical units correct? (e.g. km, mm, hertz, etc.) Are acronyms correct and properly uppercased or lowercased? YES Proposed Milestone Citation (currently 63 words) The Massachusetts Institute uof Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory pioneered R&D, engineering, testing, and demonstration of the Mode S ATC radar beacon system. During 1969−1979, Lincoln Laboratory developed, tested, and verified the no technical approach underlying the Mode S beacon radar system. The Mode S radar has become the worldwide standard for ATC radar and has enabled the safety and efficiency of today’s air transportation system.

Comments and Suggestions

a. Since the project was not ‘pro-bono’, please identify the sponsor - the FAA.

b. Spell R&D or use a better phrase than ‘pioneered R&D’.

c. During 1969 to 1979, Lincoln Lab (LL) was tasked to find the best way to establish the next-generation ATC which was planned to begin service circa 1989/1991. I recommend that the citation use up more of the available words to emphasize LL’s scope of work and its accomplishments. Presumably the proposer wanted to focus on LL’s contribution to air-safety without making it a joint milestone with the FAA or the airline industries. My suggestion is that the proposer/writer get a copy and read Vincent A. Orlando’s Introduction to his article entitled “The Mode S Beacon Radar System’ which is submitted with other References.

Mykel Kochenderfer ‘s expert review -- Gilcooke (talk) 15:55, 28 September 2022 (UTC)

Hi Gil,

This looks great! I am very supportive of this. My only comment is that the map of the United States might give the incorrect impression that this technology is US-centric. Part of the excitement of this technology is the global reach.

Advocate’s Final Acceptance -- Gilcooke (talk) 16:23, 8 October 2022 (UTC)

It is up to the Proposers to review and act upon the comments and suggestions provided herein which would probably enhance or embellish their work. The Milestone Proposal with its citation have been reviewed by an Expert, and the Advocate - Expert. In conclusion, this proposed milestone is ready for the next phase of approval.

minor re-wording suggestions -- Amy Bix (talk) 16:09, 28 January 2023 (UTC)

I think this looks like a good proposal overall, and would just recommend the following two minor changes:

sentence 1: "In 1969, MIT Lincoln Laboratory began the development of the advanced Mode S radar system to enable safe air traffic control in busy, spectrum-congested airspace." - to save several words, you can just say "Lincoln Laboratory began developing the advanced Mode S"

sentence 3: "The Mode S techniques and transmission codes have become the worldwide standard for air traffic control radars." - I would recommend changing this to say "By the 1970s [or whatever date is accurate], the Mode S techniques and transmission codes became the worldwide standard for air traffic control radars." As it stands, the last sentence indicates that Mode S is still the worldwide standard - but it is important to remember that these plaques will be in place for decades (we hope) - and so if someone is reading this in 2052, Mode S may no longer be the standard then.

Re: minor re-wording suggestions -- Bberg (talk) 15:40, 6 February 2023 (UTC)

Good comments from Amy. As a reminder, if a year is added to the citation, the year(s) in the title must match the citation. Since a range of years such as "1970s" would not allow for this, specificity is needed for whatever year is used. We will need this from the proposer before the citation is ready for consideration.

Re: Re: minor re-wording suggestions -- Bberg (talk) 17:09, 9 February 2023 (UTC)

I see that 1969 has been removed and 1995 has been added. However, the start year must be inserted back into the citation since its need is obvious from the early part of the citation, and the original proposal cited 1969. Thus, 1969 needs to be added back at the start of the citation, and the years following the title should read "1969-1995."

I suggest that the first sentence and the first word of the second sentence of the citation be changed to "In 1969, MIT Lincoln Laboratory began development of the Mode S radar system to enable safe air traffic control in busy, spectrum-congested airspace. This ..." This change increases the word count from 57 to 61.

Re: Re: Re: minor re-wording suggestions -- Dmichelson (talk) 18:26, 9 February 2023 (UTC)

In 1969, MIT Lincoln Laboratory began development of the Mode S secondary surveillance radar (SSR) system to enable safe air traffic control in busy, spectrum-congested airspace. The technology overcame the limitations of previous SSR systems and, by 1995, the Mode S techniques and transmission codes became the worldwide standard for air traffic control radars.