The FAA has awarded an initial contract to purchase ADS-B ground-based equipment, and set a bunch of dates for implementation of the system, but what is this new air traffic control technology, and what will it mean for airplane owners and pilots? A place to start is with the letters that make up the abbreviation, ADS-B, and what they stand for. The letters are the initials of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast. Sounds obscure, but the concept is actually easy to understand, though the full FAA implementation will be anything but simple.
The automatic in ADS means that avionics equipment onboard each airplane will perform all tasks with no input from either pilots or controllers. Dependent means that each airplane depends on the other to supply necessary, accurate position information. Surveillance is the function of keeping track of the position of airplanes in the system. And the broadcast-following a dash-means that information will be broadcast to all, not just selected nearby airplanes. The “B” follows a dash because broadcasting wasn’t part of the early ADS concept.
