PCAS?

What ever happened to the idea of a traffic warning system that uses an active system in the airplane? I remember hearing something about that concept years ago; I recall it was something NASA had developed and it was being tested in AK.

More recently, some of the free magazines and papers that show up at my doorstep since i signed for lessons had some article about the same general idea. In those articles, there was something about it being held up in the FAA or congress (surprise, surprise).

So, anyone have any idea of what i am talking about?!?

Incidentally, here's a wiki article about current collision avoidance systems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_collision_avoidance_systems
 
What ever happened to the idea of a traffic warning system that uses an active system in the airplane? I remember hearing something about that concept years ago; I recall it was something NASA had developed and it was being tested in AK.

More recently, some of the free magazines and papers that show up at my doorstep since i signed for lessons had some article about the same general idea. In those articles, there was something about it being held up in the FAA or congress (surprise, surprise).

So, anyone have any idea of what i am talking about?!?

Incidentally, here's a wiki article about current collision avoidance systems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_collision_avoidance_systems

You are talking about ADS-B. It is coming but it will be a long time before all aircraft are equipped.

I work in the Program Office that did the early concept development and prototyping of ADS-B including the Capstone work. When the concept proved out, responsiblity was transferred to the newly formed Surveillence and Broadcast Services office for implementation. Recently that office announced that ADS-B coverage is available over the state of Florida (correction south FL only), so any equipped aircraft can use it. Google ADS-B and you should turn up a lot of stuff to look at.

Hopefully this news will spark the avionics companies to start building ADS-B boxes. There is something of a chicken-egg delimma for the FAA. They can't use ADS-B until all planes have it (or they develop some sort of mixed surveillence environment), and no one will buy it unless they get something in return, like free traffic and weather. This refers primarily to the GA fleet. Most larger airliners are leaving the factory with the ability to transmit ADS-B out, which is all they need since they have other forms of datalink for stuff like weather etc. TCAS is another problem in terms of mixed radar/ads-b environment. There are tons of issues to be worked in that area.

At any rate, I expect you'll probably see some ADS-B avionics at next years Sun-n-Fun or Oshkosh.
 
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