The Deadline for Airlines to Comply with the GADSS Mandate Is 1St of January 2021
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23 I AIRLINE & AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS The deadline for airlines to comply with the GADSS mandate is 1st of January 2021. The mandate requires aircraft operators to automate aircraft tracking capabilities. The hardware options available for operators are reviewed here. The avionic options to comply with GADSS he impetus for the International aircraft designs submitted after the updated to include new documents and Civil Aviation Organization’s introduction of the GADSS mandate must amendments pertaining to how data is (ICAO’s) Global Aeronautical be capable of timely FDR data recovery stored in distributed server networks, TDistress and Safety Systems in addition to having the standard flight such as a data-cloud and accessed and (GADSS) standards came from two high- recorders. used in an accident investigation. profile aircraft accidents. These were the The mandatory GADSS requirements Current Annex 13 legislation is based loss of Air France (AF) 447 in 2009 and will be effective from 1 January 2021. around flight data information, including the disappearance of Malaysian Airways its location during the post-flight location MH370 in 2014. and recovery (PFLR) phase. Despite flying in surveyed airspace at ICAO GADSS is defined as a performance- the time it went missing, AF447 was only A special multidisciplinary meeting on based approach, meaning the system is found about two years later. global flight tracking (MMGFT) was graded on functionality rather than In 2014 MH370 was lost in the convened in May 2014 to propose mandating a specific solution. Indian Ocean, which is very deep in recommendations for future actions. One parts. Usual methods of accurately of the main decisions taken was the need locating the wreckage have so far been for operators to pursue aircraft flight- Background unsuccessful. tracking at a faster pace. Modern aircraft have the capability to Both these accidents raised the It further recommended that ICAO be connected by digital navigational question of how it is possible to lose track provisions should be developed, using a systems and satellites. Passengers can of an aircraft in the 21st century. multidisciplinary approach, to support connect to reliable onboard consumer The GADSS mandate will require the location of an accident site in a timely internet protocol (I.P.) service providers. operators to enhance and automate their manner for the purpose of search and Aircraft can now reliably access sufficient tracking capabilities for aircraft in rescue (SAR) and accident investigation. bandwidth for passengers to make video distress, and for aircraft flying off-course. ICAO document 10054 gives telephone calls and stream digital content. In addition, GADSS flight data implementation guidance for the GADSS Since 2010, the bandwidth available recovery will require the timely recovery requirements pertaining to ICAO for aviation purposes has increased of flight data after an accident by one of document Annex 6 – Operation of dramatically, due to improved satellite two modes. One of which is an automatic Aircraft – part 1 applicability. systems and better economic models; in deployable flight recorder (ADFR) that Annex 6 was updated in accordance addition, transmitting basic telemetry has ejects its memory module when a crash is with the GADSS concept of operations become possible. detected. (ConOps) that specifies the high-level After the loss of AF447 in 2009, Air The other is the remote transmission requirements of GADSS. On 2 March France introduced a telemetry reporting of aircraft telemetry for downloading 2016, the ICAO Council adopted system through Aircraft Communications parametric data to ground-based servers. Amendment 40A to Annex 6, Part I Addressing and Reporting System Telemetry can be permanent, where including standard and recommended (ACARS). At the time the technology available for maintenance and fuel practices (SARPs) relating to the location available for sending satcom data monitoring, or triggered when an of an aeroplane in distress and the timely through ACARS was expensive. The abnormal situation is detected, with the recovery of flight data. basic prototype system adapted systems potential to include voice data when an These SARPs became effective on 11 that were already installed on the aircraft. aircraft is in distress. July 2016 and will apply from 1 January ICAO first adopted Amendment 39 to The introduction of the GADSS 2021. Implementation guidance is Annex 6 of its normal aircraft tracking mandate means all new aircraft must be available in document ICAO 10054. SARPS in November 2015. Phase one of forward-fitted with an enhanced ICAO Annex 13 – Aircraft Accident and the two-part requirement mandated automated tracking capability. All new Incident Investigation. This will be airlines to track its aircraft operating ISSUE NO. 127 • DECEMBER 2019/J ANUARY 2020 AIRCRAFT COMMERCE 24 I AIRLINE & AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS under normal flight conditions every 15 continuously broadcasts unsolicited Consulting’s Hannes Griebel, Ph.D: “The minutes, with an optional abnormal position and other information, while advantage of using ADS-B for tracking tracking functionality. ADS-C is a requested information purposes is that you do not have to ICAO’s 2021 requirement mandates exchange via a dedicated ground or change anything on the aircraft. This is an autonomous distress tracking (ADT) satellite link. because the aircraft is already equipped function. This includes a requirement for ADS-B uses the secondary surveillance with a mandatory ADS-B transponder. the airline or a third-party organisation radar frequency in the L-Band at The ADS-B position report is broadcast to monitor and report abnormal tracking 1090Mhz. ADS-C transmissions need to approximately once every second. Even in events, such as an aircraft flying off- be requested (contracted) through areas with a lot of interference, this course. Airlines will be accountable for ACARS. ADS-C reporting is established translates to successful tracking update any tracking undertaken by a third-party between a specific aircraft and a specific intervals of much less than one minute in organisation. user through a dedicated digital most scenarios.” Tracking functionality does not communication link. Requests can specify Aireon’s approach to the space-based introduce change to current air traffic certain parameters, such as additional ADS-B solution uses high performance control (ATC) alerting procedures. information and reporting interval. payloads that sift through thousands of During the PFLR phase, tracking Space based ADS-B is the reception of transmissions made on the same requirements must guide SAR assets ADS-B broadcasts by satellite. The frequency. Spire’s satellites, in contrast, within six nautical miles (nm) of an aircraft will continue to broadcast ADS-B will identify overlapping signals by aircraft’s final point of impact. signals normally in the L-Band at simultaneously picking up overlapping If the aircraft enters an abnormal 1090Mhz. While the ADS-B specification broadcasts with a large number of situation such as an unusual attitude, relies on ground-based networks of ADS- receivers. Both systems have passed the speed or track it must go into ADT mode. B receivers, new satellite receiver proof-of-concept stage, and space-based This means the tracking standards move technologies make it possible to track any ADS-B is in now in the evaluation stage, from ICAO AN6 requirement 2015, to aircraft within range of a suitably nearing operational approval and GADSS ADT requirements. equipped satellite. introduction. The 2015 requirement is for an Satellite operator Iridium’s hosted While Iridium’s satellites are all in aircraft to transmit four flight dimensions payload programme did not initially place by now, Spire is still launching its of longitude, latitude, altitude and time, invite many users. Iridium created satellites. Spire’s ADS-B system will work every 15 minutes (4D/15) or less. ADT Aireon, a company that purchased the globally once the all the satellites are in stipulates an increase in the tracking rate hosted payload capacity on the new orbit and the network is complete. to 4D/1 specification, which requires a Iridium satellite fleet. The purpose of Because ADS-C can use any ACARS four-dimensional transmission rate of one Aireon is to provide dedicated air traffic link, aircraft have already been routinely minute or less. surveillance services through space-based connecting with air traffic control via Other GADSS 2021 requirements are ADS-B. Originally developed by Thales satellite links for decades, in addition to for the timely recovery of flight data for Alenia Space Germany of Stuttgart, HF or VHF datalinks. Both Iridium and new aircraft type designs. Flight data Germany, high-performance space-based Inmarsat operate satellite data recovery could potentially occur in the ADS-B receivers as operated by Aireon communication networks that offer form of automatically deployable flight are primarily geared toward air traffic ACARS and ADS-C services. data recorders (ADFR) or flight data surveillance for improved air traffic The aircraft then sends its tracking streaming. management, but can also satisfy the information, such as speed and position, normal tracking requirement. down the priority link. Typically, an In contrast, satellite builder and operator sets up an ADS contract Satellite considerations operator Spire of San Francisco, between the aircraft and ATC. An established method to monitor California and