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STAYING UNDER A

out to be an incredible communications

architecture,” he says.

“Iridium NEXT” is an interconnected

network of 66 cross-linked Low Earth

Orbit satellites set to launch between

2015 and 2017. While Iridium is not

innately linked with aviation, Thoma

explains that the concept of providing

global air traffic surveillance was a “ser-

endipitous find” by a colleague who was

attending a conference on ship tracking.

Iridium’s next-generation satellites

were designed with the ability to carry

third-party sensors and other packages

referred to as “hosted payloads.” So the

question was raised: “Why don’t we look

at putting ADS-B receivers on-board the

Iridium NEXT satellites?”

The concept took off from there. A

team at Iridium began pulling the pieces

together and consequently developed a

better understanding of the impact that

global surveillance would have on air-

lines and air navigation service providers.

After an in-depth analysis, something

became clear to Thoma and his team. If

they could leverage a satellite infrastruc-

ture that was already being deployed, and

combine it with a surveillance infrastruc-

ture that was being mandated by Europe

and the FAA, they would be able to offer

surveillance coverage across the globe.

According to Thoma, this posed “a very

valuable business proposition that could

enable substantial fuel savings for the

airlines.”

Armed with this insight, the Iridium

team began discussions with air naviga-

tion service providers. John Crichton,

President and CEO of NAV CANADA,

had done a similar analysis. “I had, for

many years, been interested in space-

based surveillance and the obvious ben-

efits it brings. So I was quite open to it.”

It appeared that a joint venture would

be a benefit to both parties. “They man-

age one of the busiest remote air traffic

corridors in the North Atlantic,” says

Thoma of NAV CANADA. “Their whole

corporate structure is built around pro-

viding efficiencies to their airline custom-

ers.” Within six months, a deal leading to

the creation of Aireon was put in place,

with NAV CANADA as the lead inves-

tor and eventually including three other

ANSPs from around the world – ENAV of

Italy, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA)

and Naviair of Denmark.

Growing demand

for global tracking

While the wheels at Aireon have been

steadily turning, calls for a global track-

ing service are coming increasingly fast

and furious. A report by the Interna-

tional Air Transport Association (IATA),

released in November 2014, highlighted

the risk to public confidence if large and

modern aircraft continued to go miss-

ing. The IATA has emphasized that they

would prefer a “performance-based ap-

proach to tracking,” allowing airlines

to steer clear of additional equipage re-

quirements. Along those lines, the IATA’s

Aircraft Tracking Task Force has recom-

mended that aircraft should transmit

information on their position, track and

altitude at least every 15 minutes in areas

where air traffic control surveillance is

unavailable.

With aircraft routinely clocking more

that 900 km/h over the ground, a 15-min-

ute window leaves rescue workers facing a

daunting search effort, should something

go wrong over rough terrain or water. As

tracking can, unfortunately, end up be-

ing more about providing answers after

ICAO HIGH

LEVEL

SAFETY

CONFERENCE

RESULTS

IN CONCURRENCE WITH the

high-profile global tracking issues

discussed at the ICAO High Level

Safety Conference in February,

Aireon LLC made two significant

announcements. The first was

that the Aireon ALERT service

will be managed from the Irish

Aviation Authority’s (IAA) North

Atlantic Communications Centre

in Ballygirreen on the West Coast

of Ireland.

“Aireon ALERT

offers precisely

the kind of service

currently being

sought after by

the International

Civil Aviation

Organization, the International Air

Transport Association , airlines

and other aviation bodies to help

locate missing aircraft as fast as

possible,” said Eamonn Brennan,

Chief Executive of the Irish

Aviation Authority.

Secondly, at

the sidelines of

the conference,

Aireon signed a

Memorandum

of Agreement

with the Civil

Aviation Authority of Singapore

to enhance aircraft tracking in

the Singapore Flight Information

Region (FIR). This includes

evaluating the requirements of

the region and developing the

needed policies to improve and

harmonize the efficiency of air

traffic management services in the

Singapore FIR. Currently, some

parts of the Singapore FIR are

not under surveillance coverage,

such as remote areas and over the

oceans.