iscover
Round they go for the last time. One of the original 160 mile radars supplied to Australia in the 60's and 70's. Seven radar heads, like this one in Brisbane, will be switched off over the next few months to make way for the new equipment forming part of the TAAATS project.
Airspace Management
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Gps Precision
The US is now, more than ever, committed to satellite technology over conventional ILS and MLS navigational aids. According to the US Department of Transportation, several thousand general aviation and public use airports throughout the country will soon have their own satellite technology for bad weather landings. To date, three airports in the US have GPS specific approach procedures, eliminating the need for more expensive ground based navigation aids. In a show of confidence in satellite technology, the FAA has cancelled plans to buy 235 ILS systems. The basic satellite navigation system, called the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), is expected to be operational in 1997. This will allow GPS equipped aircraft to conduct non precision approaches to virtually any of the 17,000 airports and heliports in the US, according to the FAA. While ICAO is fully committed to a future air navigation system based on satellite technology, its ownership, funding and control is still an open issue. It seems that most ICAO member countries are a little reluctant to commit a sole means navigation system to a US controlled satellite. Meanwhile, the US is exploring the potential of the more advanced area of Differential Global Positioning Systems (DGPS), which is said to offer even greater accuracy for landings. The US government is exploring the possibilities of using DGPS to achieve CAT 2b auto coupled landings.
What Goes Around, Comes Around
As part of the multi million dollar TAAATS project, ATC hardware around the country is being gradually upgraded. Radar coverage in Australia, particularly on the eastern seaboard, has been extended to make our airspace part of the worlds largest radar controlled environment. Air Traffic Controllers based in Brisbane are “seeing” aircraft from Canberra to Cairns with the aid of a new radar network. Next generation radar technology supplied by Thomson Radar Australia Corp, one of the local beneficiaries of the TAAATS contract, forms part of this network. Several remote radar heads have been strategically placed to provide information to the Brisbane centre where overlapping images or “mosaics” can, in some cases, give coverage to aircraft on the ground. For example, a radar sensor on North Stradbroke Island east of Brisbane can see aircraft on the ground at Maroochydore to the north and Coolangatta to the south. A similar centre in Melbourne looks after traffic in the southern half of the country. Australia’s airspace is too large to justify radar coverage all over, and non radar or procedural control is still applied in the lower traffic density regions of the country and oceanic areas. But even that is being thought about. Enter GNSS, FANS and CNS/ATM, but that’s another story. Watch this column for further developments.
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