ANCHORAGE, ALASKA--Finally the cat is out of the bag on ADS-B...the limitations of the 1090 MHz only version, how the UAT is perceived and the equipment cost to aircraft owners can be found on a blog published by AVweb by "Paying the price for ADS-B" Paul Sanchez. Read it and the comments.
Conspicuously missing are comments by Skip Nelson of ADS-B Technologies located here in Anchorage. He has the key to most of the questions posed, but obviously has a conflict of interest or he would be responding to the issues.
Nelson and members of his company have equipped aircraft and installed GBTs in China, have portable transceivers and are using transceivers and receivers both on the ground and in the air here at Merrill Field (MRI).
Showing posts with label ADS-B. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ADS-B. Show all posts
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, September 27, 2009
The haze between Mode S and UAT ADS-B
Does Surveillance and Broadcast (SBS) want you to know about the real ADS-B?
By Rob Stapleton
ANCHORAGE, AK (Sept. 27,2009) Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Dave Bowen wrote and interesting piece and posted it in the Federal Times.com on Sept 21.
Bowen correctly informs pilots and aircraft owners of ADS-B's capabilities when used with the Universal Access Transceiver and is using both 1090 MHz and 978 MHz. There is a misconception that ALL ADS-B coverage is the same and will be the next best thing to sliced bread (for air traffic control and surveillance). Many do not realize that ADS-B will at first be a transmit only system thus only taking advantage of the radar like service only.
Bowen perspective is interesting as most of the ADS-B that will be offered in the U.S. will be similar to Mode S, and will only transmit in real time a location not allowing for additional services, such as TIS-B, FIS-B and transmit and receive information from other like equipped (UAT) aircraft. In the future both the FAA and ITT who has the multi billion contract to install the equipment nationwide have said the services like current weather, email, and other situational awareness service could be provided by subscription in the future.
Bowen states: The Federal Aviation Administration is working with U.S. airlines to get them to put ADS-B equipment in their aircraft and, in return, is enabling more straight-line routing, which results in shorter flying times and reduced fuel burn, saving millions of gallons of fuel per year. We are also developing and publishing more GPS-based airport approaches each year, and these now outnumber our published approaches based on ground-based navigation equipment.
ADS-B is already operational in Alaska, where the population depends on aviation to a far greater extent than in the continental U.S. It will soon be deployed in the Gulf of Mexico. FAA intends to deploy ADS-B over the continental U.S. in the next few years; it started in Miami, Florida last fall.
FAA’s NextGen initiative is far more than just ADS-B — it will enable digital communication, digital weather modeling and other capabilities. It will support a level of air traffic that is magnitudes more than current levels — safely, efficiently and effectively. NextGen will be less costly to operate and generate significant fuel savings for air carriers and other users of U.S. airspace. NextGen is the path that FAA will take to fly into the future.
Many airlines do not support the re-equipage of their aircraft with ADS-B UAT technology as they are equipped with Mode C and Mode S which offers similar coverage. The added expense of changing their equippage is one argument, that seems to be floating around, the other is the hazy smokescreen of misinformation about the real ADS-B as it is used in Alaska today--with UAT.
Some argue that where 'the rubber meets the road' in an argument, is that in a crowded corridor, Mode S only has so much bandwidth and can easily be choked up with multiple contacts.
This limitation only supports the use of both the 978 MHz UAT and 1090 MHz frequencies and the use of the UAT technology for its potential services.
By Rob Stapleton
ANCHORAGE, AK (Sept. 27,2009) Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Dave Bowen wrote and interesting piece and posted it in the Federal Times.com on Sept 21.
Bowen correctly informs pilots and aircraft owners of ADS-B's capabilities when used with the Universal Access Transceiver and is using both 1090 MHz and 978 MHz. There is a misconception that ALL ADS-B coverage is the same and will be the next best thing to sliced bread (for air traffic control and surveillance). Many do not realize that ADS-B will at first be a transmit only system thus only taking advantage of the radar like service only.
Bowen perspective is interesting as most of the ADS-B that will be offered in the U.S. will be similar to Mode S, and will only transmit in real time a location not allowing for additional services, such as TIS-B, FIS-B and transmit and receive information from other like equipped (UAT) aircraft. In the future both the FAA and ITT who has the multi billion contract to install the equipment nationwide have said the services like current weather, email, and other situational awareness service could be provided by subscription in the future.
Bowen states: The Federal Aviation Administration is working with U.S. airlines to get them to put ADS-B equipment in their aircraft and, in return, is enabling more straight-line routing, which results in shorter flying times and reduced fuel burn, saving millions of gallons of fuel per year. We are also developing and publishing more GPS-based airport approaches each year, and these now outnumber our published approaches based on ground-based navigation equipment.
ADS-B is already operational in Alaska, where the population depends on aviation to a far greater extent than in the continental U.S. It will soon be deployed in the Gulf of Mexico. FAA intends to deploy ADS-B over the continental U.S. in the next few years; it started in Miami, Florida last fall.
FAA’s NextGen initiative is far more than just ADS-B — it will enable digital communication, digital weather modeling and other capabilities. It will support a level of air traffic that is magnitudes more than current levels — safely, efficiently and effectively. NextGen will be less costly to operate and generate significant fuel savings for air carriers and other users of U.S. airspace. NextGen is the path that FAA will take to fly into the future.
Many airlines do not support the re-equipage of their aircraft with ADS-B UAT technology as they are equipped with Mode C and Mode S which offers similar coverage. The added expense of changing their equippage is one argument, that seems to be floating around, the other is the hazy smokescreen of misinformation about the real ADS-B as it is used in Alaska today--with UAT.
Some argue that where 'the rubber meets the road' in an argument, is that in a crowded corridor, Mode S only has so much bandwidth and can easily be choked up with multiple contacts.
This limitation only supports the use of both the 978 MHz UAT and 1090 MHz frequencies and the use of the UAT technology for its potential services.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Chinese CAA to Visit Alaska July 20-22
Touting ADS-B in their country that was developed by ADS-B Technologies LLC, an Alaska based company the Chinese are visiting Alaska this week (July 20-22) to get advice on how to proceed with allowing General Aviation in their country.
Standby for more on this later this week.
Standby for more on this later this week.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
ADS-B to reduce Air Traffic Control Work Loads
A study released in Oct. 2006 indicates that ADS-B cut the workload of Air Traffic Controllers alomost 20 percent.
The Capstone program introduced avionics in Alaska that included ADS-B equipment, starting in the year 2000. The program succeeded in equipping 208 aircraft in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta by the end of 2004, resulting in Capstone-equipped aircraft accounting for nearly 100% of part-135 operations by airplanes based in that region. This paper estimates the impact of the use of Capstone equipment on controller workload. It summarizes the results of a controller survey regarding the effect of Capstone equipment on controller tasks, and provides quantitative results regarding the effect of ADS-B equipment on controller workload. From the survey 57% of controllers indicated that they needed less time providing IFR separation services than without ADS-B, and 79% of the controllers felt that the overall efficiency of their operation had increased with ADS-B. An analysis of flight progress strips showed that the currently deployed Capstone equipment, when operating properly as required by ATC, would provide an 18% reduction in controller communications workload. The analysis also indicated that if all the aircraft in the Y-K Delta were properly equipped, the reduction in communications workload would be 26%
The Capstone program introduced avionics in Alaska that included ADS-B equipment, starting in the year 2000. The program succeeded in equipping 208 aircraft in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta by the end of 2004, resulting in Capstone-equipped aircraft accounting for nearly 100% of part-135 operations by airplanes based in that region. This paper estimates the impact of the use of Capstone equipment on controller workload. It summarizes the results of a controller survey regarding the effect of Capstone equipment on controller tasks, and provides quantitative results regarding the effect of ADS-B equipment on controller workload. From the survey 57% of controllers indicated that they needed less time providing IFR separation services than without ADS-B, and 79% of the controllers felt that the overall efficiency of their operation had increased with ADS-B. An analysis of flight progress strips showed that the currently deployed Capstone equipment, when operating properly as required by ATC, would provide an 18% reduction in controller communications workload. The analysis also indicated that if all the aircraft in the Y-K Delta were properly equipped, the reduction in communications workload would be 26%
Friday, May 16, 2008
AOPA responds to the question of when and if the FAA will approve a standard for ADS-B
Andy Cebula asked me to respond to your query on ADS-B avionics standards. As you know the FAA has established an aviation rulemaking committee (ARC), comprised of both FAA and industry representatives who will recommend responses to the comments received to the ADS-B Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NRPM). As you are likely aware, the NPRM included specific performance requirements and standards for the avionics.
However, the FAA's ADS-B ARC could quite possibly recommend changes to several aspects of their original FAA proposal, including the performance requirements for the ADS-B data link. There are many questions to be answered and the ARC is discussing many of them. Exactly what the recommendations will be and the extent to which the FAA will accept/act on the ARC recommendations is still TBD. As a result, the proposed avionics for the ADS-B mandate may change depending on how the FAA responds to the comments and the ARC recommendations. It is with perspective that AOPA believes it is premature to say the standards are set for the ADS-B mandate. Naturally, changes to the mandated avionics may also result in changes to the avionics to be used in Alaska.
I hope this helps.
Randy Kenagy
Chief of Staff
Government Affairs
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
However, the FAA's ADS-B ARC could quite possibly recommend changes to several aspects of their original FAA proposal, including the performance requirements for the ADS-B data link. There are many questions to be answered and the ARC is discussing many of them. Exactly what the recommendations will be and the extent to which the FAA will accept/act on the ARC recommendations is still TBD. As a result, the proposed avionics for the ADS-B mandate may change depending on how the FAA responds to the comments and the ARC recommendations. It is with perspective that AOPA believes it is premature to say the standards are set for the ADS-B mandate. Naturally, changes to the mandated avionics may also result in changes to the avionics to be used in Alaska.
I hope this helps.
Randy Kenagy
Chief of Staff
Government Affairs
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
What AOPA has to say about ADS-B
AOPA meets with Alaska pilots about ADS-B implementation
By AOPA ePublishing staff
The plan to implement aviation improvements in Alaska offers more to the state than the FAA’s ADS-B proposal, AOPA told pilots and industry leaders during a recent visit to the state.
“We need the FAA’s ADS-B implementation to be more than aircraft surveillance,” said AOPA Executive Vice President of Government Affairs Andy Cebula, who spoke May 3 at the Alaska Airmen’s trade show in Anchorage. “Unfortunately, the FAA’s plan to implement ADS-B helps ATC track aircraft without doing much of anything for general aviation pilots—all at a high cost to us. That’s why AOPA has been pushing back on the FAA notice of proposed rulemaking.”
Experience from the work done in Alaska over the past decade has shown that a good implementation plan would bring weather and traffic information into the cockpit, eliminate the need for a Mode C transponder, use affordable equipment, and give pilots an incentive to equip long before any mandate takes effect, Cebula explained. That’s not what the FAA has proposed thus far.
However, the plan being developed by the Alaska aviation community is different and designed make real safety improvements for pilots flying in the harsh weather conditions and rugged terrain of the vast state.
“The Alaska initiative represents a much-needed modernization of the whole infrastructure,” said Tom George, AOPA’s regional representative for Alaska. “It will bring instrument approaches and weather reporting to airports that have never had them, increase the number of remote communications outlets, improve search and rescue operations, and give pilots the weather and traffic information they need to make good decisions.”
By AOPA ePublishing staff
The plan to implement aviation improvements in Alaska offers more to the state than the FAA’s ADS-B proposal, AOPA told pilots and industry leaders during a recent visit to the state.
“We need the FAA’s ADS-B implementation to be more than aircraft surveillance,” said AOPA Executive Vice President of Government Affairs Andy Cebula, who spoke May 3 at the Alaska Airmen’s trade show in Anchorage. “Unfortunately, the FAA’s plan to implement ADS-B helps ATC track aircraft without doing much of anything for general aviation pilots—all at a high cost to us. That’s why AOPA has been pushing back on the FAA notice of proposed rulemaking.”
Experience from the work done in Alaska over the past decade has shown that a good implementation plan would bring weather and traffic information into the cockpit, eliminate the need for a Mode C transponder, use affordable equipment, and give pilots an incentive to equip long before any mandate takes effect, Cebula explained. That’s not what the FAA has proposed thus far.
However, the plan being developed by the Alaska aviation community is different and designed make real safety improvements for pilots flying in the harsh weather conditions and rugged terrain of the vast state.
“The Alaska initiative represents a much-needed modernization of the whole infrastructure,” said Tom George, AOPA’s regional representative for Alaska. “It will bring instrument approaches and weather reporting to airports that have never had them, increase the number of remote communications outlets, improve search and rescue operations, and give pilots the weather and traffic information they need to make good decisions.”
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Podcast interview points to ADS-B Problems
http://www.aero-news.net/fb/index.cfm?do=podcasts.viewEpisode&episodesid=2149
Listen to the above podcast on Aero-News.net about the complexities and problems with ADS-B as positioned by the FAA in the recent NPRM.
Listen to the above podcast on Aero-News.net about the complexities and problems with ADS-B as positioned by the FAA in the recent NPRM.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Questions for the FAA and the Alaska Aviation Industry
What is the viability of the equipage program for the VFR general aviation fleet in Alaska? Will the AIC agreement w/FAA really result in equipping 4000 aircraft in Alaska?
First of all the FAA intends to have the Capstone datalink available for most of the state’s IFR system without any equipage requirement.
What is at risk if we do not equip in the VFR coverage areas where radar isn’t available?
Most of Alaska's 4000 aircraft are VFR single engine general aviation aircraft flown by private individuals. Alaska’s VFR structure is the most hazardous aviation environment in the nation. At least the current data from NIOSH the FAA report this to be the case. The industries lobbing effort produced a loan program that suggests that the GA VFR aircraft owner will fork over $12,000 to equip with the Capstone two-way data-link. The FAA’s own pilot survey indicates that these airmen will not equip at that price.
How serious about the Capstone two-way data-link can the FAA be?
The AIC agreement with the FAA seems to require that 90% of all flight hours within a specified flyway must be by aircraft already equipped with the Capstone data-link capability. This is like a cell phone company requiring 90% of cell phone users by phones before they put up a tower. Just how serious is the FAA about deploying this service.
The FAA’s NPRM recommended that the Capstone two-way data-link not be considered for deployment until after 2020! Why?
The FAA’s NPRM did not address developing a comprehensive standard for NAS deployment of the Capstone developed two way data-link. Meaning that when such a standard is developed all previous equipment may not be able to play with the ground/satellite equipment.
Additionally, industry insiders indicate that “some standards” required by the NPRM would definitely not work with the current 400 aircraft already equipped by Capstone.
Why didn’t the Palin Administration recommend a General Aviation Grant Program?
Industry insiders have indicated that the grant program is seen as a give away program to an elite group of rich folks with airplanes. No legislator will risk the possible public scrutiny of such a program. There is no reason to believe that this situation will change.
Is FAA going to request financial incentive for operators to purchase the Capstone two-way data-link? If so will it be grants, loans, tax credits? Can we get to Nextgen without them?
Further complicating the equipage issue is the AOPA and the ATA’s response to the ADS-B NPRM. Both indicate that the real benefits of ADS-B cannot be realized without the two-way data-link developed/deployed by the Capstone program.
Also they indicate that deployment of ground/satellite equipment and the installation of the airborne equipment can not be realized any time soon (meaning within two decades) without some corresponding financial incentive for carriers and aircraft owner to equip.
The FAA has a long history of maintaining legacy infrastructures’ long after many people have stopped using them. The financial burden of maintaining the legacy infrastructure was studied by the Alaska Capstone office. The result was a big savings by FAA if the transition was financially facilitated by the government.
So why should the State of Alaska change their stance on the GA grant program until FAA answers the comment from ATA and AOPA?
AOPA says that the FAA will not address a standard for ADS-B, how can the cost of the equipment be reduced without a standard?
Monday, April 21, 2008
Equipage Bill Signed...but where is the money for General Aviation aircraft?
Governor Palin offered this bill on Jan. 25, 2008 with $4.8 million, she did her job. Now, it is up to industry to come up with $34 million more to equip 95 percent of Alaska's aircraft by an FAA deadline, can they do it?
A bill to offer a low-interest loan program to aircraft owners who install a new digital link technology in their aircraft was signed by Gov. Sarah Palin on April 9 in Juneau.
Senate Bill 249, which Palin sponsored and introduced Jan. 25, provides Alaskan airplane owners the opportunity to use a new low-interest revolving loan program to purchase Capstone-like avionics equipment for their aircraft.
The technology, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, was tested in Alaska and was formally called the Capstone Safety Project.
ADS-B is a data link that uses ultra-high frequency radio to send and receive information about other aircraft that uses the technology. Along with multi-function screens and air traffic displays, the equipment also gives pilots graphical weather information, terrain maps and flight information, including temporary flight restrictions and notices to airmen. ADS-B is nearly 10 times more accurate than radar and operates in real time.
The $4.8 million loan program for installation is offered through the state Department of Community, Commerce and Economic Development.
The program is also a key component to the Federal Aviation Administration's plans to adopt ADS-B throughout the state, according to the governor.
Statewide aviation officials, working in the Capstone Statewide Agreement Implementation Committee, last year signed a memorandum of agreement with the FAA to obtain $34 million and equip 95 percent of the most frequently flown aircraft. If this is accomplished, the FAA has said that it will invest $493 million in services and infrastructure improvements across Alaska.
Industry officials tried lobbying legislators for additional funding, but came up empty handed. That forced the idea of offering a 4 percent loan to commercial aviation operators, according to industry officials.
“This legislation is a crucial step to improving aviation safety,” Palin said in a written release. “Studies have shown very significant improvements in aviation safety in the areas around Bethel and Southeast where the FAA has built ground stations and planes have been outfitted with the new equipment. We are hoping for similar results over a much larger area of Alaska.”
Alaska has the highest number of pilots per capita of any state - about one in 78 Alaskans is a pilot. Alaska also has the highest aviation accident rates in the nation, three to four times higher than the national average for commercial aviation.
The FAA plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on ground stations that transmit the ADS-B signal, but it will be up to aircraft owners to outfit their planes.
FAA officials said nearly 4,000 aircraft statewide would need to install and use the equipment to justify spending nearly $500 million now in the future.
The FAA recently announced it intends to have NexGen ADS-B installed at most high aviation traffic areas in U.S. and in Alaska by 2013, and will have the technology deployed nationwide by 2020.
NexGen is the FAA's official term for the next generation of aircraft control systems, also known as ADS-B.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1350207/governor_signs_bill_approving_loans_for_aircraft_safety_equipment/
http://www.alaskajournal.com/
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/arc/programs/capstone/?CFID=32230658&CFTOKEN=da7e758f27c879cc-71C2099C-1372-4138-C96EF28CB07377E6&jsessionid=1230bc5481fa252c3131
http://www.cheltonflightsystems.com/default.htm
A bill to offer a low-interest loan program to aircraft owners who install a new digital link technology in their aircraft was signed by Gov. Sarah Palin on April 9 in Juneau.
Senate Bill 249, which Palin sponsored and introduced Jan. 25, provides Alaskan airplane owners the opportunity to use a new low-interest revolving loan program to purchase Capstone-like avionics equipment for their aircraft.
The technology, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, was tested in Alaska and was formally called the Capstone Safety Project.
ADS-B is a data link that uses ultra-high frequency radio to send and receive information about other aircraft that uses the technology. Along with multi-function screens and air traffic displays, the equipment also gives pilots graphical weather information, terrain maps and flight information, including temporary flight restrictions and notices to airmen. ADS-B is nearly 10 times more accurate than radar and operates in real time.
The $4.8 million loan program for installation is offered through the state Department of Community, Commerce and Economic Development.
The program is also a key component to the Federal Aviation Administration's plans to adopt ADS-B throughout the state, according to the governor.
Statewide aviation officials, working in the Capstone Statewide Agreement Implementation Committee, last year signed a memorandum of agreement with the FAA to obtain $34 million and equip 95 percent of the most frequently flown aircraft. If this is accomplished, the FAA has said that it will invest $493 million in services and infrastructure improvements across Alaska.
Industry officials tried lobbying legislators for additional funding, but came up empty handed. That forced the idea of offering a 4 percent loan to commercial aviation operators, according to industry officials.
“This legislation is a crucial step to improving aviation safety,” Palin said in a written release. “Studies have shown very significant improvements in aviation safety in the areas around Bethel and Southeast where the FAA has built ground stations and planes have been outfitted with the new equipment. We are hoping for similar results over a much larger area of Alaska.”
Alaska has the highest number of pilots per capita of any state - about one in 78 Alaskans is a pilot. Alaska also has the highest aviation accident rates in the nation, three to four times higher than the national average for commercial aviation.
The FAA plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on ground stations that transmit the ADS-B signal, but it will be up to aircraft owners to outfit their planes.
FAA officials said nearly 4,000 aircraft statewide would need to install and use the equipment to justify spending nearly $500 million now in the future.
The FAA recently announced it intends to have NexGen ADS-B installed at most high aviation traffic areas in U.S. and in Alaska by 2013, and will have the technology deployed nationwide by 2020.
NexGen is the FAA's official term for the next generation of aircraft control systems, also known as ADS-B.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1350207/governor_signs_bill_approving_loans_for_aircraft_safety_equipment/
http://www.alaskajournal.com/
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/arc/programs/capstone/?CFID=32230658&CFTOKEN=da7e758f27c879cc-71C2099C-1372-4138-C96EF28CB07377E6&jsessionid=1230bc5481fa252c3131
http://www.cheltonflightsystems.com/default.htm
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Will future ADS-B in Alaska be the real deal?
Feds: At play in the fields of the Lord!
Anchorage, AK-(April 13, 2008)-- It has come to my attention that some within the Federal Aviation Administration are not being completely forthcoming about the information that it is giving in regards to the implementation of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast technology here in Alaska. For that matter how ADS-B will work in the National Airspace System may be skewed as well.
The purpose of this blog is to start a dialog with those in Alaska (or anyone anywhere) who believes that the Universal Access Transceiver version of ADS-B tested here in Alaska is the 'Right' way to go with future installations.
What am I saying...? I am asking for information about whether Alaska is going to get tricked into getting the 1090 MHz extended squitter, or are we going to get the two-way UAT ADS-B technology responsible for creating a 40+ percent safer flying environment in South West Alaska, and which won the 2007 Collier Trophy (http://www.ainonline.com/news/single-news-page/article/ads-b-program-wins-collier-trophy/?no_cache=1) .
I hope to ask some tough question here, so lets define why this is important.
Well--the hope is that individuals who believe in the hard won Capstone Program that proved how technology could benefit pilots and passenger safety by adding additional two-way situational awareness into the cockpit of Rural flying aircraft can use this vehicle to inform me ( a media person) with real facts.
These facts are not available to me by asking Federal Aviation Administration officials for story related information. Either by email, phone conversation, or by the Freedom of Information Act.
In fact, many of the FOIA's that I have submitted in the past year about ADS-B here in Alaska come back as "No known information on this topic is available."
That's odd because many of you who will read this have given me the names of documents, programs, contracts and meetings that are real, but according to the FAA have never happened, thus are not available via FOIA.
Strange?
It is my quest, and my job to inform industry and business about anything and everything that affects change to the economics of aviation in Alaska. Remember I am not the enemy media, but a messenger.
Without the raw-pure-facts, how can anyone hope to report an accurate story?
Please respond and help me by posting your knowledge of ADS-B UAT or the fake 1090 ES version as my plea for facts, and the truth. Let the facts speak for themselves.
Consider me the messenger for the Alaska aviation industry, and your inside knowledge as help for a pilots need to know about the goings on around the politics of ADS-B technology.
This a last chance to keep the Capstone Safety Program's legacy on track here in Alaska, use it.
Please respond!
RS-
http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2006/060510ads-b.html
http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/101506/tra_20061015010.shtml
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
