KARLSRUHE, Germany - The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) of the United Arab Emirates has purchased a Quadrant ADS-B air traffic surveillance ground station from Comsoft GmbH in Karlsruhe, Germany, as part of the UAE’s air traffic control automation system upgrade.
The deal comes as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Washington is considering bids for its own ADS-B system, the first step of the FAA’s next-generation air transportation system, known as NextGen. The Quadrant ADS-B system is part of an integrated solution being proposed to the FAA for NextGen by Raytheon, who lead a consortium that includes QinetiQ in Farnborough, England.
Raytheon’s FAA proposal is supported by Verizon Business, ARINC, XM Satellite Radio, Sun Microsystems, Flight Explorer, Apptis, and Intelligent Automation. The FAA is expected to announce its preferred bidder later this summer.
Air transport experts say they believe that ADS-B will be the leading global air traffic surveillance technology in the near future. Aircraft equipped with ADS-B technology continuously broadcast location, airspeed and identification information to air traffic controllers.
Comsoft’s contract with the GCAA of the UAE allows for the upgrade of the UAE’s existing air traffic control system to meet the growing demands of flights controlled by the GCAA.
The program will include the pilot installation and integration of a Quadrant ADS-B system in the Abu Dhabi area before the end of the year. This will allow the GCAA to gain valuable pre-operational experience with this emerging surveillance technology and to define and validate operational standards for the use of ADS-B in a mixed environment consisting of radar and ADS-B sensors.
For more information contact Comsoft online at www.comsoft.de.
