THE EXECUTIVE REFERENCE GUIDE TO SPACE-BASED ADS-B Delivering Global Air Traffic Surveillance To All Aviation Stakeholders Air Traffic Surveillance: An Introduction 1 Determining an Aircraft Position 2 A Decade of ADS-B Development 3 Global Surveillance Challenges 4 Aireon Overview 5 The Satellites 6 Aireon Technology 7 Air Traffic Surveillance: The Outlook 8 Stakeholder Benefits of Space-Based ADS-B Surveillance 9 1 AIR TRAFFIC SURVEILLANCE: AN INTRODUCTION Air traffic is projected to double over the next 20 years according to the recent PricewaterhouseCoopers annual report on the state of the worldwide airline industry. Industry group, International Air Transport Association (IATA), expects aviation to support over 105 million jobs and US$6 trillion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2035. 10 20 Y 105 MILLION JOBS EA 0% RS $6 TRILLION GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT From frequent airport congestion and ongoing delays, to rising emissions and fuel costs, the aviation industry faces ongoing challenges in their efforts to increase capacity and reduce environmental impact, while making air travel safer and more reliable worldwide. To keep up with 100 percent projected growth, Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs), airlines and airports are making significant investments in infrastructure to ensure Communications Navigation Surveillance (CNS) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) infrastructure can meet the demand. The nature of today’s airspace will also change dramatically over the next decade with the introduction of significant new airspace users such as very light jets, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and even commercial space vehicles. This growing demand will require continuous and concerted upgrades to the national and global airspace systems. Since the birth of aviation in 1903, ATM capabilities have made slow and steady progress in supporting the use of the airspace. After World War I, the United States Postal Service (USPS) began pioneering transcontinental airmail service, helping pilots navigate routes from New York to San Francisco by lighting bonfires at night, and eventually installing rotating beacons on the ground. With the introduction of aviation radios in the 1930s, pilots were able to communicate their position relative to known navigation landmarks to air traffic controllers on the ground, who would in turn, track each plane on a position map in order to keep aircraft safely separated, clear planes for takeoff and landing, as well as transmit weather conditions to the pilot. The advent of radar technology during World War II revolutionized aircraft surveillance, with researchers in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States working secretly and independently to develop separate versions of radar for their countries. Since the end of World War II in 1945, air traffic control systems have continued to evolve from wartime advancements in radar, ground-based radio navigation and communications systems, with the primary purpose to keep airplanes safely separated gate-to-gate. Today, air traffic controllers use a combination of ground-based radar, radio navigation, communication and satellite-based global positioning systems to track aircraft as computer-generated icons on a radar display screen, providing information on each aircraft’s position, altitude and airspeed updated every few seconds. 2 DETERMINING AN AIRCRAFT POSITION Before the widespread use of radar for aircraft in military applications, secondary air traffic control, pilots calculated an radar is now typically used to supplement aircraft’s position manually using onboard primary radar information by assigning instruments and navigation aids before a code to each particular aircraft and communicating this flight information by identifying specific dots on a radar radio to nearby air traffic controllers. screen. With the development of Primary The deployment of Global Navigation Surveillance Radar (PSR) during World War Satellite Systems (GNSS) has enabled II, large, expensive, rotating transmitters a quantum leap in aviation navigation were used to send out high-power radio by delivering an autonomous, global, waves, sweeping through a complete geospatial positioning and navigation 360-degrees in azimuth. These signals capability. The United States’ Global are reflected off of an aircraft and used to Positioning System (GPS) is currently calculate its direction or bearing. Distance the world’s most utilized satellite-based or range is determined by calculating the navigation system. The GPS system uses time it takes the radio waves to reach triangulation to determine an aircraft’s the aircraft and return to the transmitter. exact position over the Earth to provide By combining the range with the azimuth precise location data, such as aircraft of the target, the aircraft is pinpointed in position, track and speed to air traffic two-dimensional space and appears as a controllers and pilots, requiring data dot on the radar display screen. from at least three satellites for accurate 2D positioning and four satellites for 3D Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) is positioning. Several other GNSS systems used to send a second, high-frequency are in various stages of development signal from a separate antenna along and deployment including the European with each primary radar sweep. When Union’s positioning system (Galileo), an aircraft equipped with a transponder India’s next-generation regional system receives that signal, it automatically (IRNSS), the Japanese regional system responds by sending its own signal back (QZSS) and China’s global navigation to the ground station. Originally intended satellite system (Beidou), as well as the to request and receive an Identification, Russian GNSS system (GLONASS) that is Friend or Foe (IFF) response from an deployed but not widely used. Due to its precision, accuracy, reliability and ease of use, satellite-based GPS has become a preferred global navigation method in the modern aviation world, enabling the development of a relatively new aircraft surveillance technology called Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B), which has the potential to replace traditional, ground-based radar with far more accurate and precise aircraft positioning. 3 A DECADE OF ADS-B DEVELOPMENT Unlike ground-based radar, Automatic awareness and enable efficiency, capacity Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast and safety improvements in both national (ADS-B) leverages satellite-based GPS and international airspace. technology to calculate an airplane’s precise location, speed and direction Although the original concept for ADS-B and transmits this information twice per dates back to an FAA-sponsored study second to ground-based ADS-B receivers. in 1973, standards were not proposed until the early 1990s, with the first The combination of extremely precise ADS-B ground stations successfully location and velocity information demonstrated in Alaska in 2001. transmitted in real-time enables ADS-B to significantly improve situational ORIGINAL FIRST REQUIRED IN AUSTRALIA, CONCEPT SUCCESSFUL HONG KONG, SINGAPORE STUDY DEMO AND INDONESIA 1990s 2009 2020 1973 2001 2013 ADS-B CANADA AND EUROPE AND FAA STANDARDS AUSTRALIA MANDATED PROPOSED COMMISSION USE EQUIPAGE In 2009, Canada commissioned above 29,000 feet, along with Hong Kong, operational use of ADS-B to provide Singapore and Indonesia. coverage of its northern airspace around Hudson Bay, where no radar coverage In Europe, ADS-B equipment will be was available. Later that year, Australia required for all new aircraft by 2016 and became the first country to commission existing aircraft must be retrofitted by a nationwide ADS-B surveillance system. 2020, with ADS-B serving as a central part In 2013, Australia began requiring ADS-B of the Single European Sky ATM Research equipment on aircraft operating at or (SESAR) initiative. ADS-B IS BEING RAPIDLY ADOPTED WITH MANY COUNTRIES REQUIRING ADS-B EQUIPAGE WITHIN 3-5 YEARS Today, ADS-B is the backbone of the United States’ Next Generation Air Transport System (NextGen), with approximately 650 ground station transceivers deployed throughout the United States to provide near-nationwide ADS-B coverage. By 2020, the FAA has mandated ADS-B equipment for all aircraft flying above 10,000 feet, within a 30-nm radius of Class B airports at any altitude or within Class C airspace. Although ADS-B is rapidly being adopted by the world’s ANSPs, with many countries instituting mandated equipment upgrades within the next 3-5 years, several challenges must be overcome before the aviation industry can fully realize ADS-B’s potential. 4 GLOBAL SURVEILLANCE CHALLENGES As the aviation industry transitions from an aging, radar-based surveillance system to a modern, satellite-based infrastructure, ADS-B has the potential to provide many benefits, from improved safety and situational awareness to reduced fuel burn and delays. GROUND-BASED ADS-B Efficiencies from low-cost surveillance. Limited to line of sight and land-based installations. SPACE-BASED ADS-B The same efficiencies everywhere on the planet. With 70% of global airspace lacking real time aircraft surveillance, the benefits of ADS-B could be limited, unless significant cost, infrastructure, coverage and harmonization challenges are addressed. For example, the ADS-B annual operating and maintenance (O&M) costs are around US$130,000 on average. Secondary surveillance radar (SSR) systems are even more cost prohibitive, with acquisition costs of US$3