Page 9 - Index

the cost for GPS-tracking equipment. In To70’s experience, the quantity
The layout of the airport may create of data is such that it is unlikely that a
blind spots, making data collection diffi- tool such as Excel will be robust enough
cult. This is especially true on the end of to handle the data. Every airplane and
the stands that is closest to the terminal many ground vehicles delivering a mes-
building. If an airport is considering sage once a second, day in, day out, adds
collecting data from the aprons, too, up to a lot of data very quickly. Engineer-
multiple antennas may be needed to ing scripts in Python or Matlab are the
build up a complete picture. best way forward. On top of this data
warehouse, the airport will have to invest
Making use of the data in a system that can code the translation
of the database into visual representa-
In addition to basic position and speed tions. Hexagon Geospatial’s tool, Luciad
data, additional information via Mode Lightspeed, is a good example of the sort
S Comm-B messages (e.g., Mode S EHS of software needed.
[enhanced surveillance), ELS [elemen-
tary surveillance], and meteorological
routine air reports) is only available from Conclusion
aircraft sources and not ground vehicles. The ADS-B antenna has become ubiq-
How does an airport’s safety depart- uitous in aviation, and this data source
ment get the ADS-B data into a readable provides the airport with an opportunity
form? There is a two-step procedure to analyze data for safety purposes in a
required. First, decode the data. Be- way that most airports have never had
cause bits and bytes and ones and zeros in the past, partly because the data is
occasionally get corrupted before being owned by the airport operator. We argue
that this part of the safety picture that
processed, all of the data needs to be run to quote Allianz is “largely unnoticed by
through a system that can verify it and the industry” can be improved by the
flag possible erroneous data. Pushback better use of data that is freely available
tugs moving at hundreds of knots is to airports.
a data error and not a trigger for an Experience at a number of To70’s
investigation. Occasional errors in the client airports has shown that the
call signs of aircraft, set in the cockpit by collection, analysis, and use of the data
the flight crew for each flight, will need is cost effective. The use of ADS-B data
debugging too. For more on decoding offers the airport insight into what is
transponder data, refer to Junzi Sun’s ex- normal and what occurred in specific
cellent book The 1090 Megahertz Riddle. events in a manner that is similar to the
Once decoded, the raw data from the way that air operators can use flight data
transponder’s responses must be trans- in their FDM program—something that
ferred into a database that will allow the is of great value to the airport safety
data to be used. investigator.

January-March 2022 ISASI Forum • 9