FAA Greenlights Satellite-Based Air Traffic Control System

coondoggie writes "As one of the massive flying seasons gets underway the government today took a step further in radically changing the way aircraft are tracked and moved around the country. Specifically the FAA gave the green light to deploy satellite tracking systems nationwide, replacing the current radar-based approach. The new, sometimes controversial system would let air traffic controllers track aircraft using a satellite network using a system known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B), which is ten times more accurate than today's radar technology. ADS-B is part of the FAA's wide-reaching plan known as NextGen to revamp every component of the flight control system to meet future demands and avoid gridlock in the sky."

Comments

Re: gridlock in the sky

[nabsltd]

ADS-B provides more accurate/precise information to pilots in addition to having far more extensive coverage than radar.

None of the benefits you mention really requires satellites as part of the system.

Currently, "radar" isn't really used by most civilian airports. Although they do have the capability to do "skin paints", they generally rely on the airplane transponders which report the GPS and inertial navigation information when queried by the air traffic control systems.

There is no reason you can't take this same information the tower receives now and send it out to all planes in the area so they can have in-cockpit displays like you refer to. Basically, it'd be the same system without the satellites. It would be a lot cheaper to do, and would have exactly the same results, but it wouldn't be as cool, so it probably wouldn't get funded.

Re: gridlock in the sky

[Fizzl]

Actually, you should look up "require"