D10 controller described an unsafe condition involving the stars equipment displaying 'ghost targets...

Narrative:

Regional jet was an RNAV nelyn departure. He was already established on the departure climbing out of 9;500 or so. I was just ready to switch the regional jet to ZFW when I noticed a target (with an altitude) northbound at 14;000 that had just missed another regional jet flight en route to act at 14;000; already talking to ZFW. I determined that I should hold on to the regional jet until I determined what the unknown traffic was doing since the regional jet was climbing to 17;000. I called our flight data position and asked them to full route beacon code to determine who the aircraft was and if he was IFR or VFR. Flight data stated that the beacon code in question was not stored. The unknown traffic was opposite direction to the regional jet and was now approximately 15 miles apart and the unknown traffic was descending and the regional jet was climbing out of approximately 12;000. The unknown traffic leveled at 12;000; then disappeared. I watched for the target to reappear and it never did at any altitude. I wrote this up in a stars report. When discussing this; other controllers said that they have seen the same thing with these 'ghost targets'. Today in talking with others; they said that the stars people and management were aware that stars has a 'ghost target' problem. To me this is a huge safety issue. Had my aircraft got closer to the ghost target I would have issued a safety alert with alternative 'immediate' instructions. In turn; this could have caused possible injury to persons or aircraft had the pilot made immediate evasive maneuvers to miss a 'ghost target' that was not even there! If this issue is actually known to exist and is randomly occurring then we should immediately cease operation of this system until it can be determined what is causing this and it is corrected. We have the ability to 'fall back' to the ARTS IIIE but only for a short time longer. Someone needs to find out what is causing this and how to correct this before we cause an accident or injury that did not need to occur.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: D10 Controller described an unsafe condition involving the STARS equipment displaying 'ghost targets.' The reporter suggested a return to the ARTS III equipment until this anomaly can be corrected.

Narrative: Regional Jet was an RNAV NELYN departure. He was already established on the departure climbing out of 9;500 or so. I was just ready to switch the Regional Jet to ZFW when I noticed a target (with an altitude) northbound at 14;000 that had just missed another Regional Jet flight en route to ACT at 14;000; already talking to ZFW. I determined that I should hold on to the Regional Jet until I determined what the unknown traffic was doing since the Regional Jet was climbing to 17;000. I called our Flight Data position and asked them to full route beacon code to determine who the aircraft was and if he was IFR or VFR. Flight Data stated that the beacon code in question was not stored. The unknown traffic was opposite direction to the Regional Jet and was now approximately 15 miles apart and the unknown traffic was descending and the Regional Jet was climbing out of approximately 12;000. The unknown traffic leveled at 12;000; then disappeared. I watched for the target to reappear and it never did at any altitude. I wrote this up in a stars report. When discussing this; other controllers said that they have seen the same thing with these 'ghost targets'. Today in talking with others; they said that the STARS people and management were aware that STARS has a 'ghost target' problem. To me this is a HUGE safety issue. Had my aircraft got closer to the ghost target I would have issued a safety alert with alternative 'immediate' instructions. In turn; this could have caused possible injury to persons or aircraft had the pilot made immediate evasive maneuvers to miss a 'ghost target' that was not even there! If this issue is actually known to exist and is randomly occurring then we should immediately cease operation of this system until it can be determined what is causing this and it is corrected. We have the ability to 'fall back' to the ARTS IIIE but only for a short time longer. Someone needs to find out what is causing this and how to correct this before we cause an accident or injury that did not need to occur.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1087389
Time
Date	201305
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	D10.TRACON
State Reference	TX
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	SID NELYN THREE
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	None
Person 1
Function	Approach Departure
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types

D10 controller described an unsafe condition involving the stars equipment displaying 'ghost targets.' the reporter suggested a return to the ARTS III equipment until this anomaly can be corrected.