Aireon, the space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance- Broadcast Company announced from Madrid in Spain that Thales has officially started to test and validate the Aireon data. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the two companies in June 2015. The start of the testing process for this broadcasting surveillance system is a major leap forward towards including it in the TopSky- ATC, which is a platform for automation. Progress in this project will be the foundations for Aireon data to be passed on to the end users of TopSky-ATC in a way which will operate efficiently.
Aireon is in the process of using ADS-B system with the ability to track enabled aircraft worldwide. This surveillance will be in real time and will be an advancement on the current system that remain within densely populated areas as well as being a system limited to line-of sight surveillance. With this new advancement, aircraft with the correct ADS-B systems fitted will be able to be tracked even when they are in some of the most remote parts of the world.
The new Aireon system in production with Thales is now receiving initial information from air traffic information from the first satellites of the project that are currently in orbit. Thales will now be beginning to independently validate the data received by Aireon’s systems as well as analysing the technology’s performance.
Aireon’s partner in this project, Thales, is a France-based company that designs and builds electrical systems for aircraft, other transport, defence and security. Thales will also be assessing the requirements for using the data collected from the satellites both safely and efficiently as well as checking the system’s reliability. The effect of maintenance and operational processes for the aircraft will also have to be checked by the French Aerospace company.
The Aireon service is set to be operational in 2018, and the project saw the first ten of the Iridium NEXT satellites launched containing the ADS-B system in January. The project will see 66 low-orbit satellites operating to provide a global surveillance coverage.
