Soon after the deadline was established and the necessary infrastructure was up and running,
ADS-B In receivers hit the market, highlighting
ADS-B's benefits.
Taking full advantage of TBO requires avionics: many aircraft already have
ADS-B and performance-based navigation.
"
ADS-B is the designated, worldwide replacement for air traffic control surveillance RADAR," Nelson says.
The answer to why is the FAA equipment mandate, which requires that by 2020, all aircraft flying in certain airspace will be required to have
ADS-B. The airspace conforms roughly to where Mode C is now required: Class A, B and C airspace or in any airspace above 10,000 feet MSL.
A 2011 paper by an MIT graduate student on
ADS-B's benefits for pilots included research using a year's (2005) worth of radar data The data included location and altitude in feet msl, and was plotted on a map of the U.S., shown at right, depicting the lowest altitude at which a radar target was tracked during 2005.
After 2020, when the traffic picture is nearly full via
ADS-B and closer to the ground, do you foresee MVAs being lowered in areas that have been limited primarily by poor radar coverage?
For this review, we wrung out three
ADS-B portables, the iLevil from Levil Technology at $1195; the Stratus II from Sporty's/Appareo at $899 and, from newcomer Sagetech, the Clarity SV for $1400.
They'll have all the other required
ADS-B Out goodies, but their position source will be technology from the mid-1990s and won't be as accurate or reliable as WAAS GPS.
The whole
ADS-B environment (
ADS-B, FIS-B, TIS-B) is a Surveillance and Broadcast Services System (SBSS).
You or a pilot you know may already be flying with
ADS-B In, perhaps using a portable receiver, but that's a relatively easy and inexpensive option, at least as far as aviation is concerned.
NextGen's centerpiece is
ADS-B, or Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast.
Yes, transponders still will be necessary if owners opt to install only
ADS-B OUT equipment meeting the 978 MHz UAT standard.