The US Federal Aviation Administration is asking Congress for an initial $80 million in 2007 and more the following year to fund nationwide deployment of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) technology. ADS-B surveillance is a fundamental part of the US Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS), the director of the FAA’s office of system architecture and investment analysis, John Scardina, said last week at an Air Traffic Control Association symposium in Arlington, Virginia. An FAA notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on ADS-B deployment is expected within the next year, he said, and total deployment will take “about six years”. Members of the government’s multi-agency Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) – in which the FAA shares a role with NASA – will co-operate in determining funding levels. The JPDO’s main responsibility is developing NGATS, which should modernise the national airspace system by 2025.
ADS-B has been operational in Alaska for several years, and in April 2005 developmental service became available along the US East Coast from Florida to New Jersey. There is some coverage in parts of Arizona, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Scardina said the FAA will maintain its 2002 ADS-B decision to require the use of either a 1090MHz extended squitter datalink or a universal access transceiver, as part of any final nationwide ADS-B deployment scheme.
JOE SINGLETON / WASHINGTON DC
Source: Flight International