The FAA is about to enter a critical phase in its transition to satellite-based airspace management, with the debut of a system that will for the first time allow controllers to separate traffic at major airports using satellite surveillance.
The nationwide deployment of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast has already begun, but these initial sites have been limited to broadcasting information to aircraft. Now, contractor ITT Corp. is installing the first “critical-service” ADS-B system at Louisville, Ky., which will bring GPS-derived data to controllers’ displays. While ADS-B has been employed for air traffic control before, the FAA will break new ground by using it to provide standard 3-mi. aircraft separation in terminal airspace, says Vincent Capezzuto, the agency’s program head.
ITT is completing field testing of the system that is being deployed to Louisville, says John Kefaliotis, the company’s ADS-B program manager. The FAA is expected to make its site-acceptance decision by early May, signaling that the system meets the agency’s needs. Site acceptance “will be a big milestone for us,” says Capezzuto. While there are always small problems discovered during this process, “it’s all looking good so far.”
Meanwhile, the FAA will be working on its ATC automation system at Louisville to allow the fusing of radar and ADS-B data. Validation testing will be done through the agency’s technical center near Atlantic City, N.J., and at the Louisville terminal radar approach control (Tracon), so a safety case can be proven. The Louisville system is scheduled to go to initial operating capability status—handling live traffic—in October.
The controllers at Louisville won’t see much difference on their displays, but the data feeds will be coming in from both ADS-B and radar. This offers safety and efficiency advantages. ADS-B is more reliable, as malfunctions are far rarer than with radar systems. It updates data much faster, improving the accuracy of traffic-conflict probes and aircraft separation, and coverage will be superior. In general, the ATC system “is going to operate better if the information going in is better,” says Capezzuto. From the pilot’s perspective, ADS-B will unlock a range of new applications .
In addition to the Louisville Tracon, three other key sites have been selected for ADS-B critical services: the Houston en route center (for Gulf of Mexico coverage); the Anchorage, Alaska, center (for Juneau coverage), and the Philadelphia Tracon. ADS-B is slated to be operational in Houston in December, Philadelphia next February, and Anchorage in April.
It is important that all these sites be ready by April 2010, notes Capezzuto. That is when the FAA wants to publish its long-awaited rule on ADS-B aircraft equipage, and the agency needs to be able to prove it can use this system to provide separation at all its facilities.
Part of the reason these four sites were selected is that they represent a good spread of the ATC systems used by the FAA. For example, Louisville has Common ARTS, Houston will have the new En-Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) system, and Philadelphia has the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (Stars). The ASDE-X surface surveillance system is also at Philadelphia, and its data will be incorporated into the ADS-B feed.
The FAA also chose these airports because levels of equipage were high among users, says Capezzuto. They represent “targets of opportunity” where the agency knows it can gather a lot of data even before the ADS-B rule is introduced.
For example, freight carrier UPS has equipped more than 100 of its aircraft for ADS-B at its Louisville hub. UPS also operates many flights into Philadelphia, and US Airways has signed a deal with the FAA covering equipage at this airport. At Juneau, many aircraft are already ADS-B capable, thanks to an earlier program in Alaska.
The Houston deployment is unique: Some of the ground stations will be installed on offshore oil platforms, giving the FAA radar-like surveillance over the Gulf of Mexico for the first time. This will increase safety and efficiency for low-altitude helicopter operations as well as for high-altitude air routes.
After extensive operational testing of ADS-B at these locations, the FAA is expected to make an in-service decision by September 2010, which is essentially the go-ahead for ADS-B to be rolled out nationwide. The agency intends for ADS-B to be fully operational in the U.S. by late 2013.
ITT has already begun installing the more limited “essential service” ADS-B infrastructure—providing only cockpit information—even as development of the critical-service version was underway. Southern Florida was the first area to receive essential service, allowing the FAA to make an in-service decision for this version in December.
Next, ITT will deploy essential-service systems at 16 of the 20 en route centers, beginning with Jacksonville, Boston and Seattle. When the critical service has received the go-ahead, it will be installed together with the essential service at the remainder of the FAA facilities. ITT will go back and convert the essential-service systems—a relatively straightforward process, says Kefaliotis.
Introducing the more limited system first allowed the FAA to get a head start on rolling out the ADS-B ground stations, says Capezzuto. “There is no way we would be done by 2013” without this approach to deployment, he notes.
To support the 2013 target, ITT will have to have “virtually all deployment” completed by the end of 2012, Kefaliotis says. Since the ITT contract was awarded in August 2007, the company has “hit every milestone to date . . . against a very aggressive FAA schedule,” according to Kefaliotis. The contract called for the essential-service version of ADS-B to be designed, tested and installed in southern Florida within 12 months. So far, the program is “on schedule and under budget,” he stresses.
The ADS-B contract represents a new approach for the FAA. The decision was made early to have an outside company own the infrastructure, and the FAA would contract for service provision. This would shift a lot of the program risk from the FAA to the contractor.
The first segment of work—including system development, and deployment to the critical key sites and the first wave of essential sites—was covered by a $207-million cost-plus contract with various incentives. The capital costs for the equipment, and the remainder of the deployment cost, will be borne by ITT. Almost 800 ground stations will be required in total. ITT will maintain and operate the ADS-B network through 2025 under contract options, and the FAA will pay a subscription fee.
This fee has already been negotiated by the two parties, and generally “starts high, then goes lower,” so ITT can recoup its capital investment. The fee is geared in such a way that the company can reach this point by 2016, Capezzuto says.
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