* date tentative
** specific location tentative
For more information on the activities of this Special Committee,
please contact the Secretary of the Committee, Jonathan Hammer at:
About RTCA SC-186:
Perhaps the best evidence of the
sweeping changes and improvements envisioned to be enabled by ADS-B
is the complex structure of the RTCA Special Committee for ADS-B,
SC-186. The structure
and focus of the Special Committee changes as applications are defined,
and regulatory challenges are addressed.
Currently, RTCA SC-186 has six working groups, with some working
groups supported by a number of sub-groups, and some of the sub-groups
divided into even more subgroups.
RTCA SC-186 ADS-B Special Committee Structure,
Descriptions and Contacts:
Special Committee 186 (ADS-B)
Co-chairs:
Rocky Stone (UAL) and Vincent Capezzuto (FAA)
RTCA SC-186
is responsible for the defining ADS-B and other airborne surveillance
system standards. This charter includes developing system
standards for ADS-B, ASA, and TIS-B, and developing requirements
for the actual ADS-B broadcast data links, and defining and developing
requirements for applications using these technologies.
The plenary sessions review and approve all documents produced
by the six working groups.
Working Group 1 – Operations
and Implementation Working Group
Co-chairs:
Jim Walton (UPS) and Randy Bones (MITRE)
This
group is responsible for developing application descriptions and
providing the operational data required to prepare application requirements
documents, as well as to work toward implementation of these applications.
WG 1 worked with WG4 during development of the ASA MASPS,
contributed the operational concepts and descriptions for all of the
surveillance applications contained in the document. WG1
define new applications for future revisions to the ASAS MOPS.
In addition, WG1 members are supporting the two other SC-186 working
groups: The RFG, which is working to harmonize applications for
worldwide compatibility, and the CDTI subgroup of WG-4B, which is
developing the CDTI standards section for the ASAS MOPS..
Working Group 2 – Traffic Information
Services – Broadcast (TIS-B)
Co-chairs: Ken Staub (Trios Assoc.)
and Andy Zeitlin
(MITRE)
This
working group is tasked with developing standards for TIS-B.
Revision A of the TIS-B Minimum Aviation System Performance Specifications (MASPS)
was published by RTCA,
Inc. as DO-286A on April 7, 2005. This update to the TIS-B
system standards includes a means to uplink ADS-B-like information about
non-ADS-B equipped aircraft and to serve as a multi-link gateway
to enable ADS-B aircraft using different ADS-B data links (1090MHz, UAT, or VDL-4) to see each other.
Working Group 3 - ADS-B 1090
MHz Extended Squitter MOPS
Co-chairs:
Thomas Pagano (FAA Technical Center) and Bob Semar
(United Airlines)
This
working group is responsible for the Minimum Operational Performance
Standards (MOPS) for
ADS-B systems using the 1090 MHz Extended Squitter data link.
Revision A of the 1090 MHz MOPS was approved and published by RTCA, Inc.
in April 2003 as DO-260A. Revision A included many changes from the
original MOPS including harmonization
with revision A of the ADS-B MASPS (DO-242A), and suggested implementations of enhanced reception techniques, and TIS-B message definitions and management requirements for the 1090
MHz data link. This group worked closely with the FAA to
publish TSO C166 which contains an Appendix detailing additional
changes required to both DO-260 and DO-260A in order to build
certifiable avionics on the 1090 MHz data link. This group is
currently working to separate the Appendix from the TSO and publish
two change documents as separate sets of changes to both DO-260 and
DO-260A for States that wish to produce transmitting systems based
solely on the DO-260 standard versus the DO-260A standard.
Working Group 4 - Aircraft
Separation Assistance Systems
Co-chairs:
Jonathan Hammer (MITRE) and Steve Koczo (Rockwell Collins)
This
working group is tasked with developing requirements documents for ADS-B
applications. The
group completed work on the ASA MASPS with its publication in
December 2003, which defined the end-to-end system performance
standards for an Airborne Surveillance Applications. While a
revised
version of the ASA MASPS is expected to be produced in concert with
EUROCAE WG51, the work focus of this group has currently shifted to
supporting the development of the ASAS MOPS, which will specifically define the operational requirements
of a Aircraft Separation
Assistance Systems. Due to this shift in activity and
expansion of interested parties, the group has officially been split
into two different groups:
WG4A, the ASA MASPS working group.
This group is currently dormant.
WG4B, the ASAS MOPS working group.
This group consists of three subgroups, corresponding to the three
major ASAS subsystems: Surveillance Transmit Processing (STP), Aircraft
Surveillance Application Processing (ASAP), and the CDTI display,
which was realigned from WG1 to streamline the work.
Working Group 5 - ADS-B UAT
MOPS
Co-chairs: George
Ligler (PMEI) and Richard Jennings (FAA)
This
working group is responsible for the Minimum Operational Performance
Standards (MOPS) for
ADS-B systems using the Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) data
link. The initial UAT MOPS was approved and published by RTCA, Inc.
in June 2002 as DO-282. Revision A of the UAT MOPS was approved and
published by RTCA, Inc. on 29 July 2004 as DO-282A.
Revision A reflects additional operational experience with UAT,
lessons learned in certification of UAT avionics equipment, and further
inputs from the International aviation community during the
development of ICAO SARPs for UAT, which are expected to become
effective in November 2007.
Working Group 6 - ADS-B MASPS
Co-chairs: J. Stuart Searight (FAA Technical
Center) and Tom Foster (Retired consultant)
This
working group is responsible for defining the system standards of ADS-B
systems. These Minimum Avionic System Performance Standards
(MASPS) are published in RTCA document DO-242. Revision A
of the ADS-B MASPS was approved by the SC-186 plenary in April,
2002 and was published by RTCA, Inc. as DO-242A. WG6 is coordinating with Eurocontrol and EUROCAE
in an attempt to have the next revision of the MASPS be a joint
US/European document.
Requirements Focus Group (RFG) Working Group
Co-chairs: J. Stuart Searight (FAA
Technical Center) and
Randy Bones (MITRE)
The ADS-B Requirements Focus Group (RFG) is
a international group consisting of members from the FAA, RTCA,
Eurocontrol, EUROCAE, and other interested parties. The primary
object of the RFG is to internationally harmonize operational
concepts and minimum safety and performance requirements for ground
surveillance (GS) and aircraft surveillance (AS) applications.
These GS and AS applications are defined in
Package 1 which lists initial applications to be implemented
based on the Principles of Operation for Airborne Separation
Assistance Systems (PO-ASAS).
Documents Available through
RTCA, Inc.:
Documents completed and approved by RTCA SC-186:
ADS-B MASPS, Revision A: published June 25, 2002 as RTCA DO-242A
Change 1 to DO-242A, published December 13, 2006
Application Descriptions for Initial Cockpit Display of Traffic
Information (CDTI) Applications: RTCA DO-259
1090 MHz ADS-B/TIS-B MOPS, Revision A: published April 10, 2003 as
RTCA DO-260A
Change 1 to DO-260, published June 27, 2006
Change 1 to DO-260A, published June 27, 2006
Change 2 to DO-260A, published December 13, 2006
(Also see FAA TSO C166A, published December 21, 2006)
Concept of Operations for Airborne Conflict Management: RTCA DO-263
UAT MOPS, Revision A: published July 29, 2004 as RTCA DO-282A
Change 1 to DO-282A, published December 13, 2006
(Also see FAA TSO C154B, published December 21, 2006)
TIS-B MASPS, Revision A: published April 7, 2005 as RTCA DO-286A
Airborne Surveillance Applications (ASA) MASPS: published
December 9, 2003 as RTCA DO-289
Change 1 to DO-289, published December 13, 2006
Surveillance Transmit Processing (STP) MOPS,
published December 13, 2006 as RTCA DO-302
Documents currently under SC-186 development:
Aircraft Separation
Assistance Systems (ASAS) MOPS: WG-4B
TIS-B MASPS, Revision B: WG-2