Says Current Technology Does Not Justify New Regulations
NBAA’s senior vice president for operations &
administration Steve Brown, co-chair of an Aviation Rulemaking
Committee (ARC) responsible for recommendations on Automatic
Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) “In”, on
Monday characterized the procedural and technical development of
this vital component to the FAA’s NextGen effort as "just not
ready for prime-time." After 17 months of research, Brown and other
members of the committee reported to the FAA earlier this month
that requirements and regulations for ADS-B “In” are
not yet justified, given the current state of technology.
ADS-B is a collection of technology enhancements and
accompanying procedures that rely on Global Positioning System
(GPS) satellites to replace ground-based radar surveillance of the
National Airspace System. There are two types of ADS-B, explained
Brown, who has co-chaired two ARCs on the issue. ADS-B
“Out” integrates an onboard GPS receiver with a new
type of transponder that reports an aircraft’s position based
on information derived from GPS. The FAA published its final rule
on ADS-B Out requirements in May 2010.
ADS-B “In” is a set of cockpit applications based on
GPS information that give flightcrews a real-time situational
awareness, allowing for reduced separation of aircraft, more
precise navigation and more efficient air traffic control.
“Based on what we know today, the set of applications that
comprise ADS-B In is not fully mature yet,” Brown explained.
“There’s additional research and development needed.
There’s additional specification of standards for both design
and implementation that need to be improved before there is a
sufficiently mature system that can be deployed and used on a
global basis.”
The cost, said Brown, would be significant. For new aircraft not
yet built, the cost would be as much as $290,000 to build ADS-B In
into the avionics panel. Retrofitting aircraft still in production
could cost $425,000. Refitting aircraft no longer in production
would, in the ARC’s opinion, could cost as much as
$700,000.
“We’re very clear in the ARC report to the FAA that,
overall, we believe ADS-B is very beneficial and that it should be
implemented at some point in the future. We don’t specify a
year,” Brown said. “Rather, what we did was lay out a
great number of recommendations that suggest the kind of R&D
and trials we believe necessary to mature the system.”
ADS-B Out will, according to FAA rules, be mandated beginning in
2020. While Brown said he hopes ADS-B In will follow a similar
timeline, he reiterated that decision would be made on the basis of
technological improvements.