Definition
A computer-based air traffic control system used at terminal radar facilities (TRACONs) that processes radar returns and transponder data to display aircraft position, identity, altitude, and ground speed on the controller's scope. ARTS automatically tracks aircraft, attaches data tags to each target, and supports controller functions such as handoffs, conflict alerts, and minimum safe altitude warnings within the terminal environment.
Plain English
A computer system at busy approach-control facilities that turns radar blips into labeled targets on the controller's screen, showing each aircraft's call sign, altitude, and speed automatically.
Context Anchor
You may see ARTS in instrument flying and air traffic control discussions, especially when older or specific terminal radar systems are being described.
Derivation
Automated (the system does the tracking and labeling work that controllers once did by hand), Radar (the underlying detection method), Terminal (the airspace around an airport, as opposed to en route airspace), System (the integrated package of computers and displays). The name distinguishes it from the en route equivalent (formerly called the Host computer system, now ERAM).
Why Pilots Care
It supported safe and efficient sequencing of arrivals and departures in busy terminal areas before newer systems replaced it.
Intuition Check
Do not read “terminal” here as the airport passenger building. In this term, “terminal” means the airport-area airspace and radar control environment.
Example Sentence 1
The approach controller's display is driven by ARTS, which tags each aircraft with its call sign and Mode C altitude.
Example Sentence 2
Training materials from the 1990s frequently describe how ARTS displayed radar targets and flight data on controller scopes.