ARINC has tested the latest generation air-ground communications technology - VHF digital link (VDL) mode 2 - in an operational environment, paving the way for its use in Europe next year and in the USA in 2002.
VDL Mode 2 promises 10 times the capacity and faster transmission speeds than the current analogue ACARS.
The trial, over the midwestern USA, involved a Rockwell Collins aircraft with Rockwell avionics.
ARINC will deploy new VDL ground stations next year to expand US coverage. The US Federal Aviation Administration's VDL programme will start in Miami, Florida, in the third quarter of 2002.
ARINC will deploy ground stations in Europe from early next year ready for trials from May as part of the Preliminary Eurocontrol Test of Air-Ground Data Link (PETALII) programme. ARINC competitor SITA will deploy its VDL Aircom service in mid-2001.
Meanwhile, ARINC has deployed two new high frequency datalink ground stations at Krasnoyarsk, Russia, and Barrow, Alaska, to provide coverage over the north polar region, which is increasingly being made available for commercial use.
Source: Flight International
