TIS-B, FIS-B Next Steps In NextGen Deployment
The FAA has given clearance to ITT Corp. in White Plains, NY,
to deploy their ADS-B satellite-based air traffic surveillance
system nationwide. ITT provides radios, routers, and radio control
stations for the program.
Since 2007, ITT has been under contract to the FAA to deploy the
ADS-B ground infrastructure in support of the FAA's overall Next
Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) initiative to
modernize the U.S. National Airspace System. Commissioning the
system follows ADS-B implementation by ITT at four sites in Alaska,
the Gulf of Mexico, Louisville, KY, and Philadelphia. The "ADS-B
technology we provided for these four sites is for critical
services also known as surveillance services," Kefaliotis says.
Critical means critical to air traffic control, he adds.
The next step involves essential services, which cover Traffic
Information Services-Broadcast (TIS-B) and Flight Information
Services-Broadcast (FIS-B). TIS-B provides air traffic situational
awareness from ground sources such as radar and FIS-B provides
information such as weather reports. For this program test sites
was determined due to the variety of operational environments and
challenges, Kefaliotis says. Technology was then deployed to that
test site, and then it was evaluated and approved for nationwide
deployment, Kefaliotis says.
"We've got 300 radio stations completed and will have 800 by
2013" when the program is complete, he adds. The radios provided by
ITT are not commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS), Kefaliotis says. They
were designed with stringent FAA requirements for receiving
airborne data reports, he adds. ADS-B radios are less expensive
than radar radios.
The radios operate on a frequency of 1090 MHz, which was
allocated for this radio, he continues. ITT's radio architecture
enables the radios to distribute information to any ATC facility,
he says. ITT has three major radio control systems set up
nationwide to enable the network -- Ashburn, VA, Dallas, and
Redwood City, CA.
The radio control stations provide central processing and data
distribution services, he says. Some installations will have backup
radar control but some will not. For those aircraft not equipped
with ADS-B the ATC facilities can merge ADS-B data with radar data
creating a TIS-B capability, Kefaliotis says.
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (11.29.25): Waypoint
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