Graeme Cant wrote:
Ian Strachan wrote:

As I understand it, ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast)
is a system based on Satellite Navigation that automatically transmits
GPS (or GLONASS or Galileo) position and other data from an aircraft to
other receivers in ATC units and/or other aircraft. It is being tested
by the USA FAA and also in Australia and certainly seems to be the
system of the future. Here is an extract from the FAA Fact Sheet dated
2 May 2006

That is still true in part for Australia but ASA (AirServices Oz) has
recently (about 20 July) withdrawn its RFP for lower airspace ADS-B.
Upper airspace appears to still be going ahead but the application of
ADS-B to ALL aircraft - the original aspiration - appears to have been
somewhat curtailed.

Yes, this has been publicised in the aviation press. I don't regard
that as any condemnation of ADS-B which is at an early stage of
development and implementation. I guess that ASA are looking at the
bugs and working them out for the future. Very sensible.

After all, the use of prototype ADS-B in Alaska was of the nature of a
trial and it is interesting that, as a result, the magazine Aviation
Week reports that the FAA will increase the ADS-B cover to parts of the
rest of the USA.

As the FAA fact sheet said, "radar is essentially a product of World
War II technology whereas ADS-B is the future". Those of us with an
interest in the long term future of GA and Sport aircraft should latch
on to that, because SatNav-based systems are far more compatible with,
and useful to, what we do compared to radar-based systems.
Particularly if extra equipment is to be forced on some of us by
regulatory authorities on grounds of "safety" whether we think that is
a spurious argument or not.

Ian Strachan
Lasham Gliding Centre, UK