HERNDON, Va., 17 Sept. 2008.ITT Corp. has deployed the Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) essential services system for southern Florida, achieving Initial Operational Capability (IOC) by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), says a representative. ADS-B is a component of the FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) intended to increase safety and efficiency to meet the growing needs of air transportation.
The essential services IOC milestone recognizes the availability of broadcast services of air traffic, as well as weather and aeronautical data information from 11 ADS-B ground stations in southern Florida.
The stations are supported by processing from an ADS-B data center, radar data from FAA facilities, as well as a weather and aeronautical data feed from ITT team member WSI. Achieving IOC required the engineering, design, development, integration and test of system infrastructure by ITT and substantial independent test activity by the FAA.
In August 2007, ITT was awarded a $207 million initial contract by the FAA to lead a team to develop and deploy the first phase of the ADS-B ground infrastructure.
When fully deployed throughout the U.S. in 2013, the ADS-B ground infrastructure system will enable accurate aircraft position data to be delivered to air traffic controllers and will provide enhanced aircraft situational awareness. This program will allow an increasing number of aircraft to maintain safe separation, conduct more precise airport approaches and departures, and execute operations key to accommodating increased levels of civil air traffic.
