Further to the Mode 's' debate.
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Further to the Mode 's' debate.
Not that it concerns me personaly, unless of course Camelot get it right tonight, but some info from a homebuild forum I visit.
It seems that the Yanks do not hold it the awe that the Cancel Amateur Aviation tend to. (Perhaps someone in the Commercial Against Amateur has shares in a comms company)
“If you’re a Garmin GTX330 transponder owner, you won’t want to hear this but… that expensive traffic avoidance system you bought is in the process of being unplugged … Although the FAA didn’t tell us this three years ago… the new ... digital terminal radars replacing older units at 23 airports won’t have the Mode-S traffic information service ... Bluntly, those of us who bought into Mode-S TIS*and that’s about 9,000 so far, according to Garmin*are just out of luck… ”
At 03:45 PM 8/10/2006, Keith N91KS wrote:
> .....
> Sadly (and I say this as a Garmin 330 owner) they are phasing out Mode S.
>
> Really? Why is that? Boy, that didn't last long. What's replacing mode S?
At the moment, nothing. Ultimately, ADS-B.
It seems that the Yanks do not hold it the awe that the Cancel Amateur Aviation tend to. (Perhaps someone in the Commercial Against Amateur has shares in a comms company)
“If you’re a Garmin GTX330 transponder owner, you won’t want to hear this but… that expensive traffic avoidance system you bought is in the process of being unplugged … Although the FAA didn’t tell us this three years ago… the new ... digital terminal radars replacing older units at 23 airports won’t have the Mode-S traffic information service ... Bluntly, those of us who bought into Mode-S TIS*and that’s about 9,000 so far, according to Garmin*are just out of luck… ”
At 03:45 PM 8/10/2006, Keith N91KS wrote:
> .....
> Sadly (and I say this as a Garmin 330 owner) they are phasing out Mode S.
>
> Really? Why is that? Boy, that didn't last long. What's replacing mode S?
At the moment, nothing. Ultimately, ADS-B.
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The FAA are phasing out TIS but this is only one of the "data link" traffic systems that mode S can support.
At the moment ADS-B is seen as the best traffic system for GA and in a lot of ways it is a better system than the TCAS system that all airliners now have. ADS-B uses the data link capability of the mode S transponder to broadcast the GPS position of the aircraft amd this data can be used to display the position of other aircraft and just like TACS to generate RA commands to avoid hitting other aircraft.
Most of the ATC authoritys in the world are starting to favour ADS-B as the traffic system that is the best with Australia and Scandinavia having the system in service now and Eurocontrol talking about it as the next move once mode S is introduced.
The mode S debate in the UK should be about the advantage at the moment and clearly there is no advantage in the introduction of mode S in the short term in the UK, there are only two radar stations that can recive mode S and the range of the low powerd transponders for the bottom end of the GA market is about 30-40 miles.
In the long term mode S is a good idea but untill there is some advantage to the GA sector the mandating of mode S transponders is pointless.
At the moment ADS-B is seen as the best traffic system for GA and in a lot of ways it is a better system than the TCAS system that all airliners now have. ADS-B uses the data link capability of the mode S transponder to broadcast the GPS position of the aircraft amd this data can be used to display the position of other aircraft and just like TACS to generate RA commands to avoid hitting other aircraft.
Most of the ATC authoritys in the world are starting to favour ADS-B as the traffic system that is the best with Australia and Scandinavia having the system in service now and Eurocontrol talking about it as the next move once mode S is introduced.
The mode S debate in the UK should be about the advantage at the moment and clearly there is no advantage in the introduction of mode S in the short term in the UK, there are only two radar stations that can recive mode S and the range of the low powerd transponders for the bottom end of the GA market is about 30-40 miles.
In the long term mode S is a good idea but untill there is some advantage to the GA sector the mandating of mode S transponders is pointless.
The FAA is replacing a limited number of TIS-enabled radar systems, but the emphasis is on progression towards ADS-B. (See this AOPA brief.) That ADS-B (which will include the installation of a TIS-B infrastructure) will be over a choice of two datalinks, Mode S or UAT, with UAT being aimed at the GA market.
The advantage of UAT is the bandwidth of the data pipe, with the intention that wx data (FIS-B) and similar can be uploaded for cockpit display. While there are claims that UAT will end up cheaper and less power-hungry than Mode S, I'll believe it when I see it. It's a comms box with a similar, arguably smaller market than Mode S, and the development costs, dominant in the overall cost, need to be shared over the total production. I can see no reason why it should end up cheaper.
US aircraft are going to have to equip with one technology or the other in due course. Stateside, I can see the advantage of holding out for UAT. In Europe, it would be pointless. Mode S does the job, it's here now, and it performs the SSR function too.
It's easy to look at the US and say "they're not mandating Mode S so why should we". But bear in mind that the FAA mandated Mode A/C transponders within 30 nm of its busiest airports more than 20 years ago. If that had been done in the UK, most of the country would already be in a Mode C veil. The FAA is more progressive when it comes to the adoption of new collision avoidance technology, even though it has thrown carrot in along with stick.
The advantage of UAT is the bandwidth of the data pipe, with the intention that wx data (FIS-B) and similar can be uploaded for cockpit display. While there are claims that UAT will end up cheaper and less power-hungry than Mode S, I'll believe it when I see it. It's a comms box with a similar, arguably smaller market than Mode S, and the development costs, dominant in the overall cost, need to be shared over the total production. I can see no reason why it should end up cheaper.
US aircraft are going to have to equip with one technology or the other in due course. Stateside, I can see the advantage of holding out for UAT. In Europe, it would be pointless. Mode S does the job, it's here now, and it performs the SSR function too.
It's easy to look at the US and say "they're not mandating Mode S so why should we". But bear in mind that the FAA mandated Mode A/C transponders within 30 nm of its busiest airports more than 20 years ago. If that had been done in the UK, most of the country would already be in a Mode C veil. The FAA is more progressive when it comes to the adoption of new collision avoidance technology, even though it has thrown carrot in along with stick.
Last edited by bookworm; 12th Aug 2006 at 16:28.
