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Boeing
Reveals Satellite-based Air Traffic Management System
Boeing, by May,
will provide the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with a
comprehensive plan for replacing the U.S. radar-based
air-traffic-control system with a satellite-based system that could  support
perhaps 50 percent more flights in the available airspace and
improve air safety. Using satellites linked to the world's 14,000+
commercial jets, military and private aircraft, the air traffic
control system could handle the millions of annual flights more
safely, easing congestion and flight delays. Reducing flight
congestion would enable more planes to be in the air at the same
time, enabling more airplane sales.
Boeing submitted a
filing with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in
September 1997 for a 16 satellite system to orbit in a 12-hour MEO
orbit (the same altitude as the NAVSTAR  GPS
satellite system). The proposed system would operate in the MSS
L-band 2 GHz range and provide communication, navigation and
surveillance (CNS) air traffic management (ATM) services. Boeing’s
constellation design is intended to provide any airplane terminal
with the view of at least two satellites, so that in the event of a
satellite failure, an adjacent satellite can ensure seamless
service. The use of a MEO constellation includes coverage of high
latitude regions, used by intercontinental routes – GSO systems
are unable to provide service beyond 75° latitude. Boeing has been
quietly working on this satellite based CNS/ATM system for several
years.
The FAA normally
develops its own technical road maps for needed systems and uses
those plans to hire contractors to develop it. Contractors can make
suggestions that can become part of the  official
FAA plan. The money for the development and construction is drawn
from the Airport and Airways Trust Fund, financed mostly by ticket
and fuel taxes, and from general appropriations. During the 1980s
the FAA spent billions of dollars to overhaul the air-traffic
system, but the system turned out to be too complicated and beyond
the technological capability of the time. As a result, the FAA had
adopted an incremental approach, described as "build a little,
test a little."
Boeing has been
quietly talking with FAA officials and members of Congress to build
support for their plan. They have also been meeting with
competitors, in an attempt to assure them that a new system would be
large enough to produce significant business for everyone. Boeing
established an Air Traffic Management business unit in October 2000
to bring together several organizations which were working on
systems, technologies and architectures to provide an integrated
solution for a new air traffic management system and airport
operations. To further this effort, Boeing purchased Jeppesen
Sanderson Inc., the world's leading aviation data library for US$1.5
billion, and in 1999 bought Australian air traffic software provider
Preston Group.
Boeing
is accustomed to making upfront commitments of capital for
commercial aircraft development, financing and leasing. Boeing would
be willing to consider “major capital inputs or an element of
risk” if the FAA and Congress decided to move ahead with some form
or part of the Boeing concept. Boeing is interested in talking about
any arrangement, including designing, building, installing and even
operating the entire air-traffic system.
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