Avionics

AvBuyer Magazine, August 2015

by Ken Elliott

Helping you understand avionics advances and related requirements for equipage, Ken Elliott reviews aviation technologies within the NextGen/ SESAR architecture, this month focusing on mandate impacts and status.

As we venture past the midpoint of 2015, it is appropriate to take stock of the impacts of NextGen and SESAR mandates. Below you will find a potpourri of perspectives on this fluid technology transition that is expected to level-off around 2020. Since 2015 began, we have seen several changes in how authorities are addressing mandates. An aggressive FAA has been supporting ADS-B equipage while a non-cohesive Eurocontrol has further delayed the implementation of DataComm requirements under EU operating rules.

Operators do not suffer well such a flip-flop on requirements, especially in the case of EU DataComm. This technology is partially driven by varying levels of preparedness across the different nation states of Europe. R...

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AvBuyer Magazine, July 2015 by Ken Elliott

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Helping you understand avionics advances and related requirements for equipage, Ken Elliot reviews aviation technologies within the NextGen/SESAR architecture, this month focusing on Enhanced Low Visibility Operations.

Most improvements in aviation are incremental (and rightly so), with safety and performance being paramount. However, once in a while there arises a paradigm shift where the improvement opportunity becomes a game changer and the uptake is driven by competition, or by mandate.

One such major shift is the recent advance that enables enhanced low vision operations. In a very unlikely scenario, the FAA is providing a certification path for operators to equip and be approved for something never before accomplished. In the realm of low vision and under a pillar of NextGen, the Holy Grail of all-weather operations is finally within reach for owners and their pilots.

Aircraft OEM competition fuels necessar...

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AvBuyer Magazine, June 2015 by Ken Elliott

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Helping you understand avionics advances and related requirements for equipage, Ken Elliot reviews aviation technologies within the NextGen/SESAR architecture, this month focusing on the installation aspects of avionics mandates.

With only 6.5% of the total US-based aircraft equipped for ADS-B, there is a significant need for installation capacity between now and January 2020, the deadline for ADS-B Out equipage. Clearly, the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) community will be hard pressed to fulfill the demand.

As a rough guide focusing on turbine business aircraft, Table A shows that each US MRO needs to complete an average of 4.7 aircraft per month between now and 2020 for everyone to meet that country’s deadline. (Note that MROs owning multiple locations have greater capacity to achieve the monthly quota.)

General Installation

When shopping for a location to handle your aircraft’s avionics upgr...

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AvBuyer Magazine, May 2015 by Ken Elliott

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Helping you understand avionics advances and related mandates for equipage, Ken Elliot reviews aviation technologies within the NextGen/SESAR architecture, this month focusing on TCAS 7.1.

The midair collision over the Grand Canyon between two airliners in 1956 spurred the collaboration of industry and government in the development of a collision warning system. After a number of years using passive avoidance systems, industry realized the need for a predictive system, involving complimentary avoidance interaction between conflicting aircraft. In other word, if one aircraft decides to avoid another by climbing, the other aircraft needs to correspondingly descend. This necessary evolution eventually became TCAS II, with TCAS I being an advisory-only version of collision avoidance.

While technological advancements flourished, there was still a need for a practical solution that would avoid nuisance alerts in high-de...

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As part of Jetcraft’s commitment to the business aviation community we have been busy these last several months on three fronts.

FAA LED Project
Working to make our airspace safer and more accessible

In the latter part of 2014 the FAA formed a special working group representing airports, aircraft certification & safety, lighting and the aviation industry. The working group is addressing the concerns of LEDs currently migrating in to runways and airports all over the world.

Part of this effort is existing and new research centered on the impacts of LEDs on the human eye and how they interact with pilots performing operations at our nation’s airports.

Jetcraft is co-leading a science group that is working closely with flight operations specialists to determine testing that may be required.

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AvBuyer Magazine, April 2015

by Ken Elliott

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Helping you to familiarize with avionics advances and related mandates for equipage, Ken Elliott reviews aviation technologies within the NextGen/SESAR architecture, this month focusing on ADS-B.

In line with domestic and international aviation goals, industry and certification authorities have developed a complete suite of integrated technologies under the umbrella of Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS). One significant element of this, under the Surveillance segment, is Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS).

As the term implies, ADS serves the need to automate the sharing of data between all users, air and ground, that inform the position and movement status of an aircraft. There are two ways to accomplish this from a worldwide perspective, one being Broadcast (B) and the other Contract (C), hence the terms ADS-B and ADS-C.

Broadcast is literally the ability to send and receive th...

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AvBuyer Magazine, March 2015

by Ken Elliott

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Helping you to familiarize with avionics advances and related mandates for equipage, Ken Elliott reviews aviation technologies within NextGen, this month focusing on Part 2 of Data Comm, covering FANS 1/A+ and ATN-B2.

Last month we addressed the first of Data Comm’s two main areas; ATN-B1 (Controller Pilot Data Link Communications, or CPDLC). This month we look at the second part, FANS 1/A+ (including ATN-B2). We covered the Data Comm history reaching the point in time when FANS 1/A + was introduced.

FANS Historical Recap

In 1983 ICAO began an effort to establish a DataLink architecture under its Future Air Navigation System (FANS) structure. This advance became the architecture and protocol standard of an oceanic communications network where heretofore HF and early Satcom ruled. Boeing, a long time user of the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), developed FANS-1 to...

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AvBuyer Magazine, February 2015

by Ken Elliott

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Helping you to familiarize with avionics advances and related mandates for equipage, Ken Elliott unpacks Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) within NextGen, this month focusing on ATN-B1.

Data Comm encompasses two main areas:  ATN-B1 (or CPDLC) and FANS 1/A+ (including ATN-B2). It can be confusing when confronted by a string of unfamiliar letters. The reader requires either an avionics glossary to crack the code or a degree in aviation technology (possibly both) to understand the alphabet soup. Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) is one of those codes, and it is best understood by an introduction of its history.

Like most technologies, CPDLC began with a need to solve a problem and progressed through a series of gradual piece-meal steps toward a seemingly eternal resolution in an environment where goalposts are constantly shifting. Historically, signs of frequency congest...

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AvBuyer Magazine, January 2015 by Ken Elliott

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For the next 12 months Ken Elliott will be navigating the complex world of avionic mandates, offering a comprehensive, clear, 360 degree view of NextGen and all that comes with it...

While we will be using the term ‘mandate’ within the following series, the context first needs to be explained. In this series the terms ‘mandates’, ‘requirements’, ‘recommendations’, ‘rules’ or ‘operational guidance’ may be used interchangeably because in reality, they are interpreted much the same by transport authorities.

Mandates from an operator’s perspective are requirements to be complied with in order to complete mission profiles. For a light jet operator domestically-based and flying regionally there will be less compliance needs than for an intercontinental large cabin operator flying across different controlled airspaces.

Even when not mandated to equip, though, an operator desiring additional ...

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