Avionics joint venture ACSS has received European certification for the Change 7.1 modification of its traffic collision-avoidance systems TCAS 2000 and TCAS II.
The European Aviation Safety Agency has yet to mandate the upgrade, but under its latest proposal it will be required for all newly built aircraft operating in European airspace by March 2012 and retrofitted by December 2015.
Change 7.1 addresses weaknesses in TCAS by enhancing the reversal logic - designed to prevent a recurrence of the 2002 mid-air collision over Lake Constance in Germany - and providing a new aural alert for adjusting vertical speed.
Eurocontrol says that the "urgently required" change, to meet the new C119c standard, will reduce mid-air collision risk - currently standing at once every three years in European airspace - by a factor of four.
ACSS, which obtained Federal Aviation Administration certification for the Change 7.1 upgrade in March last year, says it has received a European technical standard order authorisation from EASA for the software.
Source: Flight International
