Altitude Angel Seeks To Fill ADS-B Traffic Gaps In UK

Altitude Angel, a Unified Traffic Management (UTM) technology provider announced the planned deployment of aviation-grade Airborne Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) sensors to create a broader network of ADS-B data. The effort seeks to build on technologies that are incorporated into solutions and also enable integration of automated drones into the U.K. airspace.

Altitude Angel, a UK-based company stated that the existing ADS-B network built with established suppliers and new entrants does not address automated flight nor is it optimized for low altitude, low-latency applications, and it is their goal to fill that gap by blending or fusing data from those sources in real-time, correlate, and provide assurance to those seeking to rely on that positional information, by highlighting traffic that are not visible on any single channel.

In essence, there should be no surprises from incognito traffic, if the solution is robust enough to establish an accurate moving map of ADS-B compliant and non-compliant entities.

In the USA, Jan 2020 was the FAA’s mandated deadline to make all aircraft operating in controlled airspace where a mode C transponder is required, and Canada has mandated a two-phase implementation; 1) beginning February 2023 for aircraft operating at or above 12,500ft for a phased implementation approach ADS-B compliant, and 2) no earlier than 2026 for aircraft operating below 12,500ft. On the other hand, the European ADS-B mandate experienced some fits and starts, and they finally settled on compliance by 7 June 2023.

FMI: https://altitudeangel.com, https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/technology/adsb, https://ads-b-europe.eu