SENSIS GROUND STATIONS TO BE USED IN AIRSERVICES AUSTRALIA ADS-B TRIAL DEPLOYMENT
DEWITT, NY - December 14, 2001 - Sensis Corporation has been selected to install Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) ground stations near Bundaburg, Australia, as part of an Airservices Australia operational trial of ADS-B technology. The project will install ADS-B ground stations, equip nearly 20 aircraft with ADS-B avionics and modify an operational air traffic management system to process and display ADS-B aircraft identification and position information.
ADS-B
is a new surveillance concept in which aircraft periodically broadcast messages which include position, velocity, heading and other information.
Ground-based surveillance sensors and other aircraft receive and process this information for various applications, such as situational display for pilots and air traffic controllers.
Traditional rotating radar systems measure the range and bearing of an aircraft. Each revolution of the radar results in a single position update whose error increases as the distance between the aircraft and radar increases. Multiple updates are averaged to determine heading and velocity of the aircraft. This approach suffers from limited accuracy since there are many sources of error.
The ADS-B position, velocity and heading information are determined by the aircraft's avionics which use satellite location systems (i.e. GPS) to perform highly accurate navigation. ADS-B messages are available 5-10 times more frequently than traditional radar reports and only contain errors associated with the aircraft's navigation system -- which is very accurate. Changes in position, heading and velocity are available nearly instantaneously.
Sensis Corporation, as a subcontractor to Honeywell, Phoenix, Arizona will provide dual ADS-B ground stations and a fully-redundant target processor to track and monitor the ADS-B transponder messages. The Sensis ground stations will receive the ADS-B transponder messages and transmit them to The Australian Advanced Air Traffic System (TAAATS) for use by air traffic controllers. Honeywell will supply and install ADS-B avionics in up to 20 regional aircraft which operate primarily in the Bundaberg area.
ADS-B
technology opens the possibility of ATC surveillance in the remote areas of Australia where radar is not a
cost-effective solution. Airservices Australia has the objective of using
ADS-B to provide aircraft separation services equivalent to radar. Safety and commercial benefits will result when compared to today's
non-radar procedural separation services for these areas. This project will provide an operational trial for this concept.
Sensis Corporation provides sensors and information technology to the world's militaries, civil aviation authorities, airports and airlines. The company designs, manufactures and installs multilateration/ADS-B ground stations for air and surface surveillance, and sensor data interface equipment for integrating new and legacy, surveillance and automation systems. Sensis equipment is deployed around the world, including more than 80 multilateration/ADS-B sensors and 700 data interface devices in 25 countries on five continents.
