iscover
The ideal working environment. The tower cabin is cosy but it has a great view. One person provides approach, tower and surface movement control. There are around 1,300 aircraft movements per month, mostly RPT and local operators. (Rod Pascoe)
Airspace Management
0 comment
Hf Has a Future
A key feature of the Communication Navigation Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) system is the ability to transmit data between controller and pilot and to give precise GPS-derived position reports via a datalink. This digital datalink has the advantage of being quick and, above all, clear — something not possible with conventional high frequency (HF) voice communication.
Although satcom and satellites for navigation and communication is a fact of life (refer p49 Sept 95 AA, Fans — the Future is Here), satellite systems are expensive. In 1993, an Air New Zealand 767-200, fitted with a Collins HFS-700 HF transceiver and a modem, conducted high frequency datalink (HFDL) trials in the Pacific and SE Asia. These trials involved the transmission of Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS) position reports back to Auckland using various frequencies in the 3 to 30 MHz band. In the North Atlantic, similar trials were being carried out by a number of American airlines, all keen to develop a cheaper satellite based navigation and communication alternative.
Being a digital system, atmospheric noise normally associated with HF transmissions is not a significant problem and, as with satcom, the data is transmitted in a matter of seconds rather than minutes. For aircraft already fitted with HF radio for oceanic or remote overland operations, the cost of adding a datalink capability is less expensive than satcom equipment. To retrofit a 767 to FANS-1 capability would cost almost a million dollars using Satcom.
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