<B> FAA Tests ATC Technology</B>
By Barbara Cook
Federal Aviation Administration officials reported that initial tests conducted July 10 of a technology that could reduce separations between aircraft in-flight and increase the number of allowable operations at congested airports "easily met" the agency's expectations.
The agency, in partnership with the Washington, D.C.-based Cargo Airline Association, evaluated how an existing technology known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast or ADS-B, could assist pilots in locating other aircraft. The system uses an aircraft's Global Positioning System sensor to send position information, along with speed and identification data, to other similarly equipped planes and to ADS-B ground receiving stations. Air traffic control facilities during the test received combined radar and ADS-B information for evaluation but the ADS-B data was not used to handle live traffic, FAA said.
CAA president Steve Alterman testified recently before the House appropriations committee's subcommittee on transportation and related agencies that U.S. cargo aircraft is planning to install ADS-B technology in early 2000.
FAA spokesperson Les Dorr noted that a substantial amount of analysis remains to be done to quantify just how well ADS-B performed in the July 10 test, but he said it did meet the agency's expectations.
FAA had three of its own planes participating in the test, which was conducted in the Wilmington, Ohio, area. "Our Boeing 727 picked up our first target when we were 200 miles from it," said Dorr. ADS-B has a number of applications, he continued. "Looking 15 to 20 years in the future, it is possible ADS-B or some form thereof could replace the current radar-based surveillance system." However, he cautioned that "there is still a lot of work to be done."
Shelly Myers, head of FAA's office of communications, navigation and surveillance, said that successful application of ADS-B "could lead to improved efficiency and safety in our increasingly crowded skies."
The July 10 test was the first in a series planned for the next three years under FAA's Safe Flight-21 program. According to a statement from the agency, "FAA hopes ADS-B can eventually be used on a wide scale, in accordance with the agency's plans to modernize the nation's air space."
Future testing will take place in the areas of Memphis, Tenn., and Louisville, Ky. Areas of Alaska also are installing equipment that will allow them to participate in the ADS-B evaluations, the agency said.