New ADS-B ground stations to enhance surveillance

Airservices today announced plans to install 13 new Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) ground stations to enhance its coverage of satellite-based air traffic surveillance in Australia’s airspace.

ADS-B equipped aircraft transmit Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite data to a ground station twice every second to accurately provide Airservices highly-trained air traffic controllers with radar-like surveillance, predominantly in remote areas where there is no conventional radar coverage.

Six of the new ground stations will be located in Western Australia, with two in Victoria and Queensland and one each in areas of New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

Airservices Executive General Manager Air Traffic Control, Mr Greg Hood, said ADS-B is the future of air traffic surveillance, not only in Australia, but throughout the rest of the world.

“Satellite-based technology delivers enhanced air traffic surveillance and offers our airspace users increased levels of safety, providing them with more efficient routes, while helping to reduce aviation’s footprint on the environment,” said Mr Hood.

“Safety is our number one priority and being a world leader in the introduction of ADS-B helps us ensure we maintain the very high level of service we provide to more than four million flights every year.”

The new ground stations, planned to be commissioned into service from 2015, will bring Airservices national ADS-B network to total 74 ground stations.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has mandated the fitment of ADS-B equipment in all Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) aircraft flying in Australia’s airspace, at all altitudes, by 2 February 2017.

Currently, 13 percent of IFR aircraft and 11 percent of IFR helicopters registered in Australia are fitted with ADS-B.

Airservices estimates for the industry to meet CASA’s 2017 deadline an average of three ADS-B avionics installations would need to be completed every day.

Airservices continues to urge all operators to fit ADS-B sooner rather than later ahead of the CASA mandate to avoid the fitment rush anticipated in late 2016.

Information on the ADS-B mandates is available at www.airservicesaustralia.com/projects/ads-b