Flight tracking

Denne dingsen er ikke større enn en colaboks. Dersom en antar at ADS-B out er like stor, så ser en uten videre løsningen på Airborne Colission Avoidance System for småfly og til og med UAV`er.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

FlightAware Boosts Flight Tracking Capabilities

Woodrow Bellamy III 

[Avionics Today 10-29-2014] FlightAware unveiled several upgrades to its popular web-based flight tracking system at the 2014 National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention and exhibition last week. In addition to these upgrades, the flight tracking service provider has moved beyond its core online aircraft flight tracking system with a global Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) receiver network. 

 

 

FlightAware's FlightFeeder ADS-B receiver is being used by operators across the globe to track aircraft equipped with ADS-B avionics. Photo: FlightAware.

 

FlightAware spent the last year building a global network with more than 1,000 ADS-B receiver nodes in more than 70 countries. Now, any ADS-B equipped aircraft operating within range of the FlightAware FlightFeeder ground stations can be tracked. The live ADS-B data gathered from the stations is used to augment the company's other position sources, including radar and data link. 

 

Furthermore, FlightAware has added new capabilities to its flight plan advisory service designed to help operators flying in remote airspace with little to no radar coverage. FlightAware automatically receives flight plans that are currently filed in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The upgraded service from FlightAware allows customers to input plans into an advisory service web page and, when the aircraft sends an ADS-B or datalink position update, the uploaded flight plan is activated to allow for global flight tracking.

 

"The flight plan advisory service is available for FlightAware Global subscribers with datalink and/or ADS-B Out [avionics] on board. Flight plan advisory is meant to provide enhanced tracking for situations where we don’t receive government flight plans, such as for [Instrument Flight Rule] IFR flights outside our primary government radar coverage area or for all [Visual Flight Rule] VFR flights," said Max Tribolet, manager of business development for FlightAware in an interview with Avionics Magazine.

 

One of the greatest advantages in using the flight plan advisory service versus using "position-only flights” where FlightAware knows the intended destination. “We calculate the ETA, and show the full route on the map," Tribolet says. 

 

The company's FlightFeeder ADS-B receiver is designed to support flight tracking for smaller General Aviation (GA) operators and Fixed-Based Operators (FBOs). Roughly the size of a can of soda, it receives ADS-B data directly from aircraft transponders via a small antenna and then makes the data available on the local network to users and also sends it to FlightAware over the Internet. 

 

Another new capability showcased by FlightAware is that it is now supporting satellite datalink position reporting from handheld Iridium tracking units produced by DeLorme, YB Tracking, Rock Seven and Apex Flight Operations. 

 

The U.S.-based company is also now tracking business aviation flights in Europe that operate under a tail number rather than an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) call sign.