Proof of Concept: Real-Time Demonstration of a Measurement-Based ADS-B System

Abstract

Future Aircraft Surveillance Applications (ASA) systems such as conflict detection and resolution, final approach and runway occupancy awareness, and airport surface situational awareness methods will benefit from the introduction of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). An alternative measurement-based ADS-B implementation, which transmits raw measurements from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) instead of aircraft state vectors and performance parameters, was proposed previously to improve surveillance performance. Both simulation results and post-processed flight test results have shown a much improved surveillance performance with respect to accuracy and integrity. This paper demonstrates the first real-time flight test with the measurement-based ADS-B system focusing on real-time implementation aspects such as the flight test setup, the evaluation data link selection and performance, and the human-machine interface.