Aero-Linx!

Scouring the information super airways can sometimes be a tough, if educational, task for the Aero-News staff... but it also allows us to check out some truly neat and exciting sites, so it's not that bad a gig. On any given day, we may check dozens (and often hundreds) of different sources for story ideas, and facts confirmation. And, as is the nature of our business, much of this is done on the Internet.

The ANN gang decided we probably shouldn't keep some of the neat sites, info resources, and organizations we've discovered to ourselves... so we decided to bring you Aero-Linx. These are the sites that WE check out -- when we need added perspective, a new spin on a day's topic... or just want to escape into cyber-aero-space for awhile.

Look for some of our favorite sites, coming each day to ANN via Aero-Linx. Suggestions for future Aero-Linx segments are always welcome, as well.

Aero-Linx: ADS-B Surveillance and Broadcast Services

The FAA's Surveillance and Broadcast Services program office was formed in 2005. The program office will change the nation's air traffic control system from one that relies on radar technology to a system that uses precise location data from the global satellite network.

Enabling this evolution is a proven technology called Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). ADS-B is a crucial component of the nation's Next-Generation Air Transportation System, and its implementation over the next 20 years will turn the NextGen vision into a reality. After years of research and development, and use by general aviation pilots in Alaska and air transport carriers in the Ohio River Valley, the FAA determined in 2005 that ADS-B is ready to be made operational throughout the national airspace system.

FMI: www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/enroute/surveillance_broadcast/