Iridium Plans First Global Air Traffic Monitoring System
Iridium plans to launch a service that would allow air traffic agencies and air navigation service providers to track aircraft anywhere in the world, including over oceans and remote regions. Through Aireon, a joint venture between Iridium and NAV Canada, an air traffic management company, the service will deliver revolutionary surveillance capability to air navigation service providers and their commercial airline customers, said Iridium CEO Matthew Desch Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington. Iridium and its partners are developing a capability that will “finally give airline and air traffic control agencies a revolutionary tool that can help eliminate the things that become the biggest headaches when we fly,” he said.
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By launching Aireon, “Iridium and its partners are providing a tremendous service to air traffic agencies around the globe,” said Norman Mineta, chair of the Aireon Advisory Board. “This is truly a transformational moment for the aviation community and demonstrates how industry and government can come together to bring a global next generation monitoring capability to fruition,” said Mineta, who was Secretary of Transportation in the George W. Bush administration.
The service will be made possible through Iridium Next, Iridium’s second-generation satellite constellation, Desch said. Iridium plans to start launching Next, a constellation of 66 satellites, between 2015 and 2017, and Aireon will be fully operational by 2017, he said. Desch said the payloads for the constellation will be developed by Harris Corp. and the payloads will be the backbone of Aireon.
Through automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast receivers (ADS-B) built into the Iridium satellites, Aireon will extend the reach of ground stations in Canada, the U.S. and around the world, said Don Thoma, Aireon CEO and Iridium marketing executive vice president. The ADS-B receivers “will provide 100 percent coverage of the earth,” and the space-based receivers will integrate tracking information into air traffic control systems, he said. Exelis, operator of the FAA’s ground-based ADS-B system, will provide systems engineering and design work, he added.
What GPS did to transform global navigation, Aireon will do for global surveillance, said Russell Chew, managing partner at NEXA Capital Partners and former chief operating officer at the Federal Aviation Administration in the George W. Bush administration. Because of Aireon’s data services, planes will have the ability to use optimal profiles and fly at more optimal altitudes, he said. Airlines are expected to save $6 billion to $8 billion and to reduce carbon emissions, Chew said. Desch said the investment in Aireon “is in the hundreds of millions."
Desch said the FAA is involved in setting the specification requirements of the space-based ADS-B surveillance system for Aireon, but hasn’t said it will become a customer. At this time, the agency has not established a formal agreement for service, an agency spokesperson said. NAV Canada is on board to become Aireon’s first client, Iridium said. Iridium is working with U.S. airlines and keeping them informed of Aireon’s progress, Thoma said.