L-3 Says ACSS SafeRoute System Set for Certification

L-3 announced that Aviation Communications and Surveillance Systems (ACSS) a company jointly owned by it and Thales, submitted TSO (technical standard order) documentation to the FAA for its ADS-B (automatic dependent surveillance)-based arrival sequencing and surface navigation system.  UPS Airlines plans to begin a fleet-wide installation of the system, called SafeRoute, beginning this summer.

SafeRoute's arrival capability, referred to as M&S (merging and spacing) uses each aircraft's position information, datalink communications, and the airline's own ground-based traffic-optimization tools, to provide UPS pilots with a situational display and spacing commands that allow aircraft to follow one another at the most efficient interval possible from cruise altitude to the runway .  M&S will also enable a CDA (continuous descent arrival), which has demonstrated "the potential to achieve a 30% reduction in noise and a 34% reduction in emissions," according to Capt. Karen Lee, UPS Airlines' director of flight operations.

The surface application of SafeRoute, dubbed SAMM (surface area movement management), displays a map of the airport surface, plus the aircraft's precise position and heading.

In operation, UPS's global operational center at its Louisville hub uses future traffic movement predictions from the FAA to coordinate the departure times of all its inbound aircraft to produce a constant arrival stream at its Louisville hub.  It does this by using the "ADS-B out" broadcast data from all of its approaching aircraft, to calculate the optimum time and interval for each to join the arrival stream.

The merging instructions are presented to pilots on their EFB displays, about an hour before arrival, along with the relative positions and intended merge paths of all other aircraft in the vicinity, and the target airspeed needed to maintain correct spacing.  The calculated top-of-descent point for the system's CDA is based on flight-idle thrust from the start of descent to an altitude of 1,500 feet at the final approach fix, about five miles from the runway end.  The system continues to show the aircraft's progress relative to preceding traffic all the way to touchdown, where the aircraft's EFB displays switch to the SAMM presentation.

While SAMM helps the pilot navigate on the runway surface, it can also be used by UPS's ground traffic managers to decrease taxi delays or inefficient routing to and from parking positions.  Its runway incursion prevention feature converts runway outlines to red on the pilot's display whenever they are used for take offs or landings, and to yellow when a landing aircraft is decelerating after touchdown.

SafeRoute's CDTI (cockpit display of traffic information) is hosted on a Boeing class-3 EFB (electronic flight bag), supplied by Astronautics Corporation of America, using software also developed by Astronautics according to L-3 specifications.  The system's AGD (ADS-B guidance display), which interacts with its surveillance processor, was developed for ACCS by Gables Engineering.  The system's airborne navigation charts, as well as SAMM information, are also displayed on the Boeing EFB, using Jeppesen databases.

UPS has put preproduction SafeRoute systems on some of its B-757s for procedure evaluation and development and certification purposes.  It plans to install the system on the balance of its B-757 and B-767 fleet over the next two years.  06-20-2007.

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