FlightLine APRT is the FAA-approved airborne situational-awareness system for Federal and Non-Federal Contract Towers — a familiar, STARS-like picture built from ADS-B, deployed in weeks.
Of 527 U.S. towered airports, 265 run under the FAA Contract Tower program — and 91 of them have no radar or surface surveillance at all. Their controllers sequence traffic, catch wrong-airport landings and locate lost-comms aircraft using only visual observation and the radio.
As airspace grows busier and more complex, that gap is exactly what modern situational awareness is meant to close — without the cost, infrastructure or years of a traditional radar install.
Real FlightLine APRT displays at operational contract towers. Not a mock-up — the same airspace picture, tuned to each field.
A web-based airport and airspace situational-awareness application, purpose-built to meet the FAA's Airborne Position Reference Tool requirements. It turns the ADS-B already in the air into a live, familiar picture on any tower display.
Range rings, centerline markers, IFR fixes & obstacles.
A ground receiver captures 978 & 1090 MHz — no radar.
Secure, hosted app — no local servers, monitored 24/7.
Service volume around the runway thresholds.
Identity, altitude & speed on every target.
Runs in a browser — no dedicated tower hardware.
APRT is an FAA-approved capability today, and there is bipartisan momentum to put it in every contract tower that lacks surveillance.
No radar, no local servers, no FAA network connection. One receiver on the field feeds the cloud, and the cloud draws the picture in the tower.
Straight from the FAA's Situational Awareness Display concept of operations — the scenarios APRT is built to support.
APRT builds the picture the tower sees. VTU-20 puts ground vehicles into that same picture, and Surface Ops gives it back to drivers. The same Ground-Based Receivers also feed FlightLine SAI, the FAA’s Surface Awareness Initiative — one install, the whole airport, surface and airspace. An APRT airport is already ready for all of it.
“Procedurally, nothing changes for the controllers. It is a non-certified radar, in a VFR tower — so they still have to look out of the window.”Cyriel Kronenburg · VP Airports & ATM, uAvionix
The receivers are already on the field. Surface Ops puts the tower’s picture in every driver’s cab; VTU-20 puts ground vehicles on the same display — both on the feed you already run, with no added sensor install.
Each product is a chapter of one story — sense → see → be seen → be aware. This page is one chapter; start anywhere, they connect.
Surface awareness for the tower — the picture every vehicle and aircraft appears in.
View page → Sense · SeeRadar-like airspace awareness for contract towers — without the radar.
You are here Be seenThe FAA-approved vehicle transponder (VMAT) — ADS-B Out on the surface.
View page → Be awareThe tower’s picture & proactive runway alerts in the driver’s cab.
View page → AccessPortable ADS-B receiver for fields with no infrastructure at all.
Coming soon Be aware · cockpitADS-B In on the flight deck — Sentry is the receiver uAvionix builds for ForeFlight.
Partner ↗Whether you run a contract tower today, you're planning a surveillance upgrade, or you want to pair APRT with SAI for full air-and-ground awareness — our Airports & ATM team can help you scope, fund and deploy it.