Narrative:

On the former asde-3/amass system; there was a '31DP' configuration which; when selected; inhibited alerts on targets southeast of the runway 31L threshold. There are times when that portion of runway 31L is closed and occupied by vehicles; while aircraft continue to land on runway 31L. By having this '31DP' configuration; amass alerts would be inhibited on these vehicles as the arrival overflies the vehicles within the closed portion. The present asde-X system should do the same when selecting '31DP;' but it does not. As a result; amass alerts are received and aircraft forced to go around. The E145 referenced in this report was forced to do just that. The current 'solution' is the equipment in 'limited' mode; which inhibits all conflict alerts; including those which might occur between aircraft/vehicles on the open portion of the runway; which is unacceptable. Additionally; on the former asde-3/amass system; there was a 'DP13' configuration; which inhibited alerts between vehicles working in the closed portion referenced above and aircraft landing/departing runway 13R. There is no such choice on the present asde-X. Also; on the former asde-3/amass system; there were runway configurations to select when using the parallel runways 31L&right; 13L&right; 4L&right; and 22L&right; there are no such choices on the present asde-X system; and there is confusion as to exactly what; if any; configuration to select. As a solution; the present asde-X system's runway configurations must be updated to include selections for when using parallel runway configurations as outlined above. The '31DP' configuration must be changed so that alerts are inhibited on targets southeast of the runway 31L threshold. A 'DP13' configuration must be added to inhibit alerts in the same closed portion when utilizing runway 13R for arrivals and departures.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: JFK Tower Controller voiced concern regarding new ASDE-X equipment and the lack of available inhibit AMASS functions; resulting in unwanted and unnecessary AMASS alerts with subsequent go-around events.

Narrative: On the former ASDE-3/AMASS system; there was a '31DP' configuration which; when selected; inhibited alerts on targets southeast of the Runway 31L threshold. There are times when that portion of Runway 31L is closed and occupied by vehicles; while aircraft continue to land on Runway 31L. By having this '31DP' configuration; AMASS alerts would be inhibited on these vehicles as the arrival overflies the vehicles within the closed portion. The present ASDE-X system should do the same when selecting '31DP;' but it does not. As a result; AMASS alerts are received and aircraft forced to go around. The E145 referenced in this report was forced to do just that. The current 'solution' is the equipment in 'limited' mode; which inhibits all conflict alerts; including those which might occur between aircraft/vehicles on the open portion of the runway; which is unacceptable. Additionally; on the former ASDE-3/AMASS system; there was a 'DP13' configuration; which inhibited alerts between vehicles working in the closed portion referenced above and aircraft landing/departing Runway 13R. There is no such choice on the present ASDE-X. Also; on the former ASDE-3/AMASS system; there were runway configurations to select when using the parallel Runways 31L&R; 13L&R; 4L&R; and 22L&R; there are no such choices on the present ASDE-X system; and there is confusion as to exactly what; if any; configuration to select. As a solution; the present ASDE-X system's runway configurations must be updated to include selections for when using parallel runway configurations as outlined above. The '31DP' configuration must be changed so that alerts are inhibited on targets southeast of the Runway 31L threshold. A 'DP13' configuration must be added to inhibit alerts in the same closed portion when utilizing Runway 13R for arrivals and departures.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.