Covers 250,000 Square Nautical Miles Of Airspace

Sensis Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) ground-based transceivers are now being used to track air traffic over Hudson Bay, Canada. The deployment provides Nav Canada air traffic controllers with surveillance coverage of flights over 250,000 square nautical miles of airspace at 29,000 feet and above. ADS-B enables more efficient flight paths that will greatly reduce fuel consumption and emissions.

"Using ADS-B in a high traffic area such as Hudson Bay enables us to significantly improve services to our customers in terms of safety and overall operational efficiency," said Rudy Kellar, vice president, operations at Nav Canada. "With the accuracy of Sensis ADS-B, we can maximize airspace capacity by reducing separation standards from the current procedural separation of 80 miles to the five mile separation standard now used in airspace with surveillance coverage."

ADS-B promises more efficient use of Hudson Bay airspace for some 35,000 flights a year. With the reduced separation standard allotted with ADS-B, properly equipped aircraft are able to climb to optimal altitudes much earlier and to follow more efficient routes. Once all aircraft using the Hudson Bay airspace are equipped with ADS-B, Nav Canada estimates savings of approximately 18 million liters of fuel per year and reduced CO2 equivalent emissions of 50,000 tons per year.

Sensis pioneered the development and implementation of ADS-B, fielding the first operational ADS-B transceivers for both the Mode S Extended Squitter (1090 ES) and UAT datalinks. All Sensis ADS-B transceivers are also capable of transponder multilateration, enabling independent verification of ADS-B data and serving as an auxiliary system, making the deployment of Sensis multilateration a cost-effective migration path to ADS-B while providing the benefits of enhanced surveillance today.

"Sensis ADS-B is now the sole surveillance source for the growing intercontinental traffic using this airspace," said Tony Lo Brutto, vice president and general manager of Sensis Air Traffic Systems. "This deployment demonstrates that Sensis transceivers provide the precise, reliable surveillance demanded by one of the most forward-looking ANSPs, delivering significant safety, efficiency and environmental benefits to their customers."

Sensis continues to supply multilateration and ADS-B solutions across Canada. Today, Sensis has deployed Multistatic Dependent Surveillance for wide area terminal surveillance in Vancouver Harbor and Fort St. John and for surface surveillance at Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

In addition to Hudson Bay, Sensis is supporting Nav Canada’s national ADS-B program with equipment provided for the installations along the Labrador and Baffin Island coasts of Eastern Canada.

FMI: www.sensis.com, www.navcanada.ca