Graham Warwick/ATLANTA
USAIR EXPRESS HAS become the launch customer for Magellan Systems' CNS-12 communication/navigation/surveillance system. USAir has ordered systems to equip around 100 de Havilland Dash 8s and Dornier 328s operated by subsidiaries Allegheny, Jetstream International and Piedmont Airlines.
Magellan says that it plans to offer the system to eight other USAir Express code-sharing partners. Installations begin in the first quarter of 1996.
The CNS-12 combines a 12-channel global-positioning system (GPS) with an ARINC aircraft-communication addressing-and-report system (ACARS) two-way VHF datalink. The GPS will be certificated initially for en-route navigation and non-precision approach, with upgrades planned to wide-area and local-area differential GPS for precision approach.
The ACARS datalink will allow crews to request and receive pre-departure clearances, weather, flight plans and text messages, as well as to downlink flight times and other information. USAir says that it plans to use the system to transmit digital messages on aircraft performance. The combination of GPS and ACARS will give automatic dependent-surveillance capability, says Magellan.
San Dimas, California-based Magellan has teamed with Racal Avionics to develop an integrated satellite-navigation/communication system combining the CNS-12 with the UK company's SDR-1000 satellite data radio. The hybrid unit will provide access to ARINC's GlobaLink worldwide two-way datalink service, and will be marketed as a racal product.
The SDR-1000 is a single-channel satellite-communications transceiver providing access to Inmarsat's Aero L Data-2 and Data-3 services. The unit will support air-traffic-control, operational, administrative and passenger datalink services, says Magellan.
Source: Flight International
