ATM Modernization Perspectives: Accelerating Free Flight Imagine never again experiencing a flight delay. Imagine flying from point A to point B via the most direct route possible. Impossible? Not really. We all know that the technology to enable…
Business & GA Product Focus: Inmarsat Swift64 Expands Inmarsat’s 11-month-old Swift64 high-speed data service, based on the Inmarsat-3 constellation, has carved out a niche in government and corporate aviation. As of December, more than 100 terminals apparently had been sold,…
Business & GA Chips That Think: RF Design In the 1980s radio frequency (RF) engineers developed microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits that revolutionized the reliability and controllability of RF systems, while significantly reducing their size and cost. But now a…
ATM Modernization Safety: Safety vs. Entertainment There is a saying in the nation’s capital that "money is policy." Which is to say, ignore all the declaratory political rhetoric and look to the hard numbers in the government budget.…
ATM Modernization Industry Scan New Washington Area TRACON A new terminal radar approach control (TRACON) facility that consolidates five TRACONs in the Washington-Baltimore area began operation in late 2002. The Potomac Consolidated TRACON in Warrenton, Va.,…
Business & GA Precision and Flexibility, Too Precision, accuracy, stability – these are what a pilot wants in a precision instrument approach. The instrument landing system (ILS) has provided these qualities for years; however, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)…
ATM Modernization Nav Canada Towers–Big and Small Of all the ground facilities in aviation’s total infrastructure, few are more interesting than airport control towers. Whether serving smaller communities or large metroplexes, airport towers provide one of the best close-up…
ATM Modernization System Design: Evaporating Data Recently, we have seen evidence in our shop of a disturbing fault trend that merits wider discussion in the avionics community. My coworkers and I happen to be involved in a great…