Canadas ADS-B

Just to make sure you understand whats up, lets review. In the U.S., weve got excellent radar coverage, so all those radar sites have been modified to understand your aircrafts ADS-B out transmissions. In those areas where radar sites dont quite have adequate coverage, the FAA has added ground stations specifically to receive your ADS-B Out. The bottom line is that the FAA has sufficient ground-based coverage to know where you are almost all the time, using your ADS-B Out.

Frank Bowlin

Tuesday, October 01, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

U.S. ADS-B equipage, particularly UAT (978 MHz), is insufficient for Canada, which relies on satellite-based ADS-B and exclusively requires 1090 MHz ADS-B Out.
Meeting Canadian ADS-B mandates necessitates a 1090 MHz transponder system with "Diversity," requiring both top and bottom antennas connected to a single unit, which is significantly more expensive than basic U.S. solutions.
Canada's ADS-B implementation is phased, with deadlines beginning February 25, 2021, for higher airspace, and pilots planning to fly there must equip with a Diversity-capable 1090 MHz ADS-B Out transponder.

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Now that many of us have already met the U.S. January 1, 2020 deadline for ADS-B equipage, and most of the procrastinators are at least making plans, along comes a general awareness that what we do in the U.S. is unlikely to permit us to fly into Canada after their equipage deadline. Uh, now what?

Quick Review

Just to make sure you understand what’s up, let’s review. In the U.S., we’ve got excellent radar coverage, so all those radar sites have been modified to understand your aircraft’s ADS-B out transmissions. In those areas where radar sites don’t quite have adequate coverage, the FAA has added ground stations specifically to receive your ADS-B Out. The bottom line is that the FAA has sufficient ground-based coverage to know where you are almost all the time, using your ADS-B Out.