JUSTIN WASTNAGE / STOCKHOLM
Transponders will also be linked with electronic flight bags in Swedish research project
Swedish regional Malmö Aviation is to fit its fleet of nine BAE Systems Avro RJs with automatic dependent surveillance - broadcast (ADS-B) transponders this year as part of a Scandinavian trial of the system.
The Swedish LFV civil aviation administration is running the test as part of its research into ADS-B as a possible replacement for secondary surveillance radar.
Malmö Aviation would become the first scheduled network carrier to be equipped with ADS-B across its entire fleet under the trial, says Peter Zachrison, vice-president of technical services. The LFV is using ADS-B to monitor surface-vehicle runway incursions at Stockholm Arlanda and has equipped several general aviation types at Kiruna and Norrköping airports.
The system will be linked with the aircraft's electronic flight bags, and will start being integrated with avionics from the end of the second quarter, he says. All aircraft should be equipped by year-end, although the company has decided not to fit the transponders to its BAe 146-200s, as these are due for replacement, he adds.
Airport operators in Copenhagen and Oslo have installed ADS-B ground-station receivers and the aircraft are to be monitored on flights in the busy "Scandinavian triangle" corridor linking the three capitals. The aircraft will be used to monitor interoperability of ADS-B protocols with other systems. The Avro RJs are used on Malmö Aviation's services to Brussels National airport, which installed a Sensis multistatic dependent surveillance system last year. LFV air traffic management (ATM) engineer Joakim Käll says Scandinavian Airlines is in talks to equip its aircraft by next year.
Meanwhile, Spanish civil aviation authority AENA plans to launch the South European ADS pre-implementation programme (SEAP) next month, extending the geographical coverage of the Italian-led Mediterranean free flight ADS-B trial.
SEAP is a large-scale trial using fleet aircraft and certified equipment in the airborne segment and upgraded ATM systems in the ground segment.
Source: Flight International
