TSO Issued for ADS-B Applications

The FAA has issued Technical Standard Order (TSO) C-195a covering ADS-B Aircraft Surveillance Applications. The TSO means that new ADS-B surveillance applications, both systems and equipment, must meet minimum operational performance standards outlined in RTCA DO-317a, issued December 13 last year. The new TSO addresses three equipment functionalities, including surface and airborne cockpit display of traffic information and airborne surveillance and separation assurance processing. One of the more interesting of the latter functionalities is in-trail procedures (ITP), which according to the TSO “supports a new separation standard in procedural airspace. ITP application enables aircraft that seek flight-level changes in procedural airspace to achieve these changes more frequently, thus improving flight efficiency and safety. The ITP achieves this objective by permitting a climb-through or descend-through maneuver between properly equipped aircraft, using a new distance-based longitudinal separation minimum during the maneuver.” ACSS, an L-3 and Thales company, has been testing ITP as part of its SafeRoute software running on its Tcas equipment installed on British Airways, Delta Air Lines and US Airways flights on some North Atlantic tracks.