ARINC HAS SIGNED a multi-year contract with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to implement air-to-ground digital datalink systems in the country.
The CAAC development, consistent with International Civil Aviation Organisation-approved communications, navigation, surveillance and air-traffic-management system, will enable datalink-equipped aircraft to transmit and receive air-traffic-control and airline-operational-control digital messages.
A similar ARINC system called the aircraft-communications addressing and reporting system (ACARS), is now in widespread use, having been introduced to civil aviation in 1977. Company officials describe the CAAC system as an evolutionary development.
Under the contract, ARINC will provide a network management data-processing system (NMDPS) and up to 120 remote ground stations throughout China, if all options are exercised over the next four years. Subcontractors include IBM, Motorola and Alenia.
Phase I of the project, to be completed in 1996, includes the NMDPS and 25 remote ground-stations. The initial award to ARINC is worth about $5 million. The first installation covers the eastern portion of China.
ARINC is competing with Rockwell, Thomson-CSF and SITA for a similar contract involving datalink coverage of the Russia Far East.
Source: Flight International
