The way it is intended to work (at least in Europe) is that the Mode S ground station extracts the Aircraft Id (Flight Id) directly via the Mode S datalink. This means that there is no need for a Mode A code/callsign look-up at the centre for Mode S equipped aircraft which will all have the same Mode A code. This frees up Mode A codes for non-Mode S targets.
Before this can happen we need operational Mode S radars, aircraft that support this feature, changes at the centre ….
I hope we can struggle on for a bit longer.
Last edited by RaRadar; 27th Nov 2002 at 23:11.