Anchorage Firm Becomes First To Export Capstone Technology

ADS-B Technologies says it's become the first to export Capstone technology out of the US. Company President Skip Nelson said his firm has signed a contract with the Civil Aviation Flight University of China to sell US-developed Capstone products and services in Asia.

Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) will be used in the University's training areas, and aircraft flying in China's Sichuan province.

ADS-B also called Capstone marries Global Positioning System information with high frequency radio waves to transmit the location of aircraft, identity, destination, speed, and altitude to a ground based transceiver.

These transceivers called GBTs transmit this information to air traffic control systems in real time. Radar air traffic control units transmit information every 12 seconds and are 40 times more expensive than the new ADS-B technology.

"This is a real breakthrough and the first foreign use of a new technology that many experts feel will someday replace air traffic control radar around the world," Nelson said. "We're particularly proud that UAT was perfected right here in Alaska's FAA Capstone Program and that we can now export it as Alaska's gift to the world."

UATs or Universal Access Transceivers are mounted in the aircraft and operate on the 978 MHz band, transmitting air-to-air, and air-to-ground, while receiving GPS information. This data is translated and melded with color moving map terrain displays in the aircraft cockpit.

First developed and tested by the FAA Alaska Region's Capstone Program, it is credited with reducing aircraft accidents in Alaska by more than 43% since its introduction in 2000.

"Thanks to strong support from Alaska's Congressional leaders and the State's aviation industry, the program is also heralded as one of the most successful government-industry partnership in US aviation today," said Marion Blakely FAA's top administrator recently at an aviation conference in Anchorage.

While the exact details of the contract are still proprietary, "China's decision to first test and evaluate UAT in the relatively controlled environment of the University's flight training program is a sound one," Nelson said. "If we're successful, more than 100 aircraft and five ranges will eventually be equipped. This may lead to widespread use throughout China and may become the model for ADS-B deployments in other developing nations and around the globe."

Contract arrangements include the exclusive use of US equipment and a stipulation that patent and intellectual property rights will be protected.

UAT was originally developed by the MITRE Corporation and the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) for small aircraft. Large commercial aircraft are beginning to use a similar ADS-B system operating on a different frequency.

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