Story ID: 
Aireon To Expand Aircraft Surveillance in Africa
By: Jerry Siebenmark
Caption: Aireon to expand its space-based ADS-B surveillance in collaboration with the Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar.
Word Count: 172
Aireon and the Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar (Asecna) will go live on January 1 with a space-based surveillance system for ADS-B-equipped aircraft in Asecna’s six flight information regions—Antananarivo, Brazzaville, Dakar Terrestrial, Dakar Oceanic, N'djamena, and Niamey. Implementation of Aireon’s system will give Asecna 100 percent real-time air traffic surveillance over 16.1 million square kilometers of its controlled airspace.

“Expanding ATS surveillance across key oceanic airspaces will allow us to more easily partner with regional [air navigation service providers] in these important corridors,” said Asecna director-general Mohamed Moussa. “Today’s announcement reinforces our decades-long commitment to creating a seamless African sky.”

Since July, Aireon terrestrial surveillance data currently reaches Asecna centers in Dakar and Abidjan, which is then distributed to its other centers by way of very small aperture terminals. The space-based system allows for service expansion over water and connects ADS-B data that will enable Asecna to safely reduce aircraft separation minima, adding more capacity and permitting preferred routes for airlines.