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 Air Surveillance System Can Develop User Base Through Technology Transfer By Chris Moody The Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) is a wideband data link that addresses a significant problem in aviation, and this real need hastened the effort to transfer the technology from MITRE to the public. The transfer process, involving numerous aviation stakeholders, progressed relatively quickly for an aviation tool that must be tested thoroughly before it is made operational. In the early 1990s, the U.S. aviation community began defining a new
surveillance concept known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast
(ADS-B). ADS-B enables transmissions from aircraft supporting aircraft-to-aircraft
and aircraft-to-ground surveillance applications. In this model, each
aircraft or vehicle equipped with ADS-B technology can periodically broadcast
its position, velocity, and other relevant data. Thus, aircraft can "see"
where they are in relation to other planes, ground vehicles,
We completed the design and the implementation of six prototype UAT systems within three years. In 1997 the project culminated in successful flight-testing and ground-station demonstrations of all six prototypes at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, proving the UAT's capabilities. One of the witnesses to the demonstrations, the Cargo Airline Association (CAA), decided to evaluate the UAT along with the other two ADS-B data links. The CAA funded limited production of UAT by an avionics manufacturer, now known as UPS Aviation Technologies (UPSAT), subject to a commercial licensing agreement between UPSAT and MITRE. We issued a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to UPSAT, and by late 1998 it had completed its UAT implementation for the CAA, re-using significant portions of the original MITRE design. During this same time, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was embarking on a program in Alaska, known as Capstone, to improve aviation safety in the region. ADS-B technology could be particularly useful for pilots in Alaska because of the lack of radar in the area. As part of the Capstone program, the FAA planned to equip—at government expense—approximately 180 air taxi aircraft with new avionics that would include GPS technology, a cockpit display, and one of the candidate ADS-B data link systems. The avionics would help pilots "see" other equipped aircraft or ground-based vehicles and help them avoid hazardous weather and terrain. In an open competitive procurement, the FAA selected UPSAT to supply the avionics suite, which would include UAT as the data link system. In January 2001, the FAA began offering air traffic services in Alaska to equipped aircraft. This milestone represented the first use of any ADS-B data link for air traffic services in the world. There are now about 180 UAT-equipped aircraft in service, and the FAA plans to equip 200 additional aircraft in southeast Alaska under a second avionics contract. While evaluating all three ADS-B link candidates, the FAA thoroughly tested the UPSAT version of UAT. The evaluation showed that the UAT has superior performance and attractive implementation costs for all classes of users relative to the other candidate systems.
With national standards finalized, the last step is to go global. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is the body charged with developing international standards for aviation. Since June 2002, the FAA (and MITRE) have been working within ICAO to advance the international standards for UAT. Proceeding as quickly as possible to develop ICAO standards will be crucial to UAT's ultimate success and market penetration worldwide. Unquestionably, UAT has achieved a remarkable degree of maturity and real-world use in a relatively short time. The technology transfer from MITRE to an avionics manufacturer early in the UAT's evolution has been key to the success of the system. And through six no-fee licenses to commercial companies, we have been able to put UAT technology into the hands of companies that have developed the commercial applications in use today. |
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the mid-1990s, two data link systems supporting broadcast services had
been proposed to the aviation community. But because they were essentially
adaptations of previous aviation systems, legacy constraints on their
designs limited their ADS-B performance. In 1995 MITRE's Center
for Advanced Aviation System Development undertook MITRE-sponsored research
to investigate the potential of a totally new data link technology designed
specifically to support ADS-B. MITRE designed the UAT, a wideband data
link operating on a single global channel, from the ground up. Its multipurpose
architecture incorporates ADS-B and Global Positioning System (GPS) data
to provide faster, more accurate location data than radar can. Our goal
for the UAT was to develop a radio that had a simple and robust design
based on proven communication techniques and readily available components
to keep costs reasonable.
In
order to expand the scope of the Capstone program, the FAA needed national
standards for the UAT data link. The development of these standards was
directed through the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA)—the
government/industry forum for developing U.S. avionics standards—in
December 2000. MITRE worked closely with the RTCA, helping it codify standards
and test UAT to prove that it can perform with interference present in
the band in which it operates. We also wanted to make sure UAT was compatible
with military systems operations in the same band. RTCA approved a completed
national standard in August 2002, marking the point at which UAT "graduated"
from its MITRE beginnings and entered the public domain.