M-ADS kan få sin renessanse - Nå under sitt rette navn ADS-C

Airservices Australia Leads Aircraft Tracking Trial Using ADS-C

by Bill Carey

 - March 2, 2015, 2:08 PM

A graphic shows airspace managed by the ATC providers of Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia. (Image: Airservices Australia)

Satellite communications provider Inmarsat, air navigation services provider (ANSP) Airservices Australia and airlines are testing a system to track aircraft regularly over Australia’s oceanic regions using automatic dependent surveillance-contract (ADS-C). The trial began in January and “aligns” with the 15-minute tracking standard that International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) member states recommended in February, the parties said.

Through ADS-C, an aircraft automatically broadcasts its GPS-derived position, altitude, vector and other information to ground stations based on a contract the operator has with an ATC provider. Under such contracts, the position reports are made either periodically, on demand by the ATC provider or in response to specific events or flight-path deviations. More than 90 percent of long-haul aircraft operating to and from Australia are fitted with the necessary equipment, according to Airservices.

The still unresolved loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200 that disappeared over the Indian Ocean last March, and the days-long search for AirAsia Indonesia Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320-200 that crashed in the Java Sea in December, have focused international efforts on developing an oceanic tracking system. At the ICAO High Level Safety Conference in Montreal in February, member states recommended adopting a tracking standard that would require aircraft to report their positions every 15 minutes.

Airservices said that since January 30 it has used ADS-C to track Qantas and Virgin Australia flights in some oceanic airspace to the east of Australia at regular intervals of 10 to 15 minutes as a proof of concept. Warren Truss, Australia’s minister for infrastructure and regional development, announced the Airservices-led trial on March 1.

“This trial is an immediate step that we can take to improve aircraft tracking and I thank Inmarsat, Qantas and Virgin Australia for their early cooperation,” said Greg Hood, Airservices ATC executive general manager. Hood said the government-owned ANSP will work with airlines and ATC authorities in Indonesia and Malaysia to test a 15-minute ADS-C reporting rate for all aircraft operating in the oceanic airspace the three countries manage.