DBRITE Described
Updated:
The Remote ARTS Color Display System (RACD) came online at OAK as part of the opening of the Northern California TRACON (NCT) and replaced the Digital Bright Radar Indicator Tower Equipment (DBRITE).
Although the DBRITE system is now gone at Oakland, for historical reference we will leave this description of the system on the web site for a while:
The Digital Bright Radar Indicator Tower Equipment (DBRITE) system provides tower controllers with a visual display of the airport surveillance radar/beacon signals and data received from the Automated Radar Terminal System (ARTS). DBRITE is a high intensity display that can be seen by the tower controller even in a bright daylight environment. It provides the tower controller an important air traffic control tool that displays aircraft position, identification, radar beacon, and weather information.
The deployment of the DBRITE system began in 1992 and was completed in 1998. There are over 675 DBRITE systems in operation at over 400 FAA airport towers. In addition, the Department of Defense (DOD) has deployed over 100 DBRITE systems within the continental United States and at selected overseas military bases.
Oakland Tower used DBRITE to provide radar services within the Class C airspace. There were (and still are) two potential radar sites - the radar site located on the Oakland airport and a backup radar located at Moffett Field (NUQ).
Oakland's DBRITE equipment was comprised of an alphanumeric keyboard and a radar display. The radar display showed primary (raw radar returns) and secondary (transponder returns) target data. Primary returns, since they have no transponder information, are comprised of the target return only. A controller can track a primary-only target, but the data consists of call-sign, speed and aircraft intentions - the altitude is not automatically updated. Primary targets can be aircraft, but they can also be BART trains, vehicles along I-880, flocks of birds, or any other target detected by the radar.
With a secondary return, the computer displays data received by the transponder. For aircraft squawking a non-discrete code (1200), the computer displays a limited data block showing transponder code, reported altitude and can also track groundspeed. If the aircraft is squawking a discrete code (i.e. 0121, or 3224), this code can be correlated with known flight plan data in the ARTS computer and flight plan information will be displayed in a full data block.