The introduction of Automatic Detection Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology has resulted in great advances in both safety and efficiency of nearly all aspects of aviation operations. ADS-B has been especially beneficial in improving air traffic management (ATM). A talk yesterday at the Aireon Spotlight Stage provided World ATM Congress attendees with a better understanding of both the history of how ADS-B came to be, as well as real-life example of its impact and initial benefits to ATM.
Founded in 2011, Aireon partnered with five air navigation service providers (ANSPs). Chris Devlin, Aireon’s Director of Product Management, described to attendees how their network came to be. “We invested US$360 million to deploy this network,” he said, “and began the launch of this system in 2017, completing eight additional launches, with the last launch in 2019. We then certified the service, and commissioned it fully for operations in the North Atlantic and Canadian airspace in March of 2019.” Today, Aireon’s space-based ADS-B system resides aboard 66 satellites in low earth orbit. The system receives data from ADS-B equipped aircraft around the globe, and then transmits this information to ATC in less than 1.5 seconds. “Over 20 ANSPs currently use this service,” said Devlin, “representing 40 countries around the world.”
One agency that is seeing great benefits from Aireon’s space-based ADS-B network is EUROCONTROL. Iacopo Prissinotti, EUROCONTROL’s Director of Network Management, told guests, “The quality of the information is essential. We wanted to predict where the airplane is, in a much more advanced way.” In February of 2020 EUROCONTROL signed a contract with Aireon to provide the agency with ADS-B data for 10 years. “Immediately after one year,” Prissinotti said, “we integrated this data into our legacy system. We have had space-based ADS-B operational since April of this year. He shared that, with the quality of information now available to EUROCONTROL, a 20% improvement in predictability in their system has already been achieved. “This has been huge,” Prissinotti stated, “the amount of data we now have is 30% more. We are now receiving information on inbound aircraft six hours before entering European airspace.”
Prisinotti went on to describe the benefits this ability to anticipate incoming air traffic has been. “This ensures maximum safety, we can anticipate any higher load factor in the sector, and it allows us to anticipate and provide a ‘greener’ trajectory.” Prior to implementing ADS-B, European controllers had to reduce traffic in order to accommodate aircraft overflying their territory. “The level of uncertainty was such that we had to reduce the capacity in Europe to ensure we would be able to meet these needs,” Prisinotti explained, “With this system we have more predictability, and a much more-powerful capacity.” While EUROCONTROL is pleased with the results, Prisinotti reminded attendees that the system has only been in place for six months. “This year we have had a big advantage,” he admitted, “but imagine what we will do in two years, after integrating all of this quality data.”
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