Emma Kelly/LONDON
Eurocontrol has conducted the first test flight of an aeronautical telecommunication network (ATN)-equipped aircraft as part of Europe's Preliminary Eurocontrol Test of Air-Ground Data Link (PETAL II) project. The European air navigation organisation has also recently added the first FANS-A-equipped Airbus aircraft to the programme, to validate datalink communications and procedures in congested en route airspace.
PETAL II is a three-phase programme conducted in an operational air traffic control environment, with air traffic controllers at Europe's Maastricht centre communicating with aircraft crew by digital datalink. Phase one used the North European ADS-B Net-work (NEAN) VHF datalink-4 infrastructure. Phase two involved the satellite communication-based future air navigation system (FANS-1/A), while the third and final stage uses ATN, which will support future air traffic services datalink applications.
The ATN tests encompassed a range of datalink messages. These were conducted by DERA's BAC One-Eleven test aircraft and the Dutch National Aerospace Lab-oratory's (NLR) Cessna Citation, with data link messages carried via satellite communications using the ATN.
The components and infrastructure for the ATN phase will undergo integration and acceptance testing for the rest of the year, says Eurocontrol. Rockwell Collins ATN avionics will undergo end-to-end testing with Eurocontrol systems later this year. ARINC air/ground components will come on line next April ready for the first operational ATN flights next May to be conducted by American Airlines Boeing 767-300ERs.
Meanwhile, a Lufthansa Airbus A340, en route from Frankfurt to Dallas Fort Worth on 30 October, became the first FANS-A-equipped aircraft to participate in the PETAL trials. FANS-A is the Airbus equivalent of Boeing's FANS-1 avionics package. FANS-1-equipped 747-400s have been participating in the PETAL programme for some time. Datalink was used to exchange voice transfer, direct routing and flight level requests and instructions.
Datalink performance was excellent, with all uplinks acknowledged by the avionics within 10sec, Eurocontrol says. The A340 went on to conduct automatic dependent surveillance (ADS) trials over the North Atlantic.
Source: Flight International
