EUROPEAN ORGANISATION FOR THE SAFETY OF

AIR NAVIGATION

EUROCONTROL

EUROCONTROL STANDARD DOCUMENT

FOR

SURVEILLANCE DATA EXCHANGE

Part 20 : Category 247

Version Number Exchange

Edition : 1.2
Edition Date : February 2008
Status : Released Issue
Class : General Public

EUROPEAN AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

 DOCUMENT IDENTIFICATION SHEET

DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION

Document Title
Version Number Exchange

EWP DELIVERABLE REFERENCE NUMBER

PROGRAMME REFERENCE INDEX EDITION : 1.2

EDITION DATE : February 2008
Abstract
This document describes the application of ASTERIX messages to the transmission of category
version number report.

Keywords
ASTERIX
Data Item Category 247 UAP Version Number

CONTACT PERSON : A. Engel TEL : +32-2-729 3355 DIVISION : DAP/SUR

DOCUMENT STATUS AND TYPE

STATUS CATEGORY CLASSIFICATION

Working Draft † Executive Task † General Public ;
Draft † Specialist Task † EATCHIP †
Proposed Issue † Lower Layer Task ; Restricted †
Released Issue ;

ELECTRONIC BACKUP

INTERNAL REFERENCE NAME :

HOST SYSTEM MEDIA SOFTWARE(S)
Microsoft Windows Type : Hard disk
Media Identification :
Version Number Exchange

DOCUMENT APPROVAL

The following table identifies all management authorities who have successively approved
the present issue of this document.

AUTHORITY NAME AND SIGNATURE DATE

ASTERIX

Manager D. Doukas

SUR Domain

Manager J. Berends

SURT

Chairman M. Rees

EATM/DAP

Director G. Kerkhofs

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DOCUMENT CHANGE RECORD

The following table records the complete history of the successive editions of the present
document.

SECTIONS
EDITION DATE REASON FOR CHANGE PAGES
AFFECTED
0.10 October 2005 Creation of document All

0.11 November Title changed to “Version Number Exchange” All

2005
1.0 May 2007 Scope updated 1.1.2
Document Identification Sheet updated ii
Signature Page updated iii
Status updated to “Released Issue” All
1.1 November Category renumbered to 247 because of conflict All
2007 with existing category 242
1.2 January 2008 Item I247/015 (Service Identification) added 5.2.2

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DOCUMENT IDENTIFICATION SHEET.................................................................................. ii

DOCUMENT APPROVAL....................................................................................................... iii

DOCUMENT CHANGE RECORD .......................................................................................... iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................................... v

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................... 1

1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................... 2
1.1 Scope ............................................................................................................... 2

2. REFERENCES.................................................................................................. 3
2.1 General............................................................................................................. 3
2.2 Reference Documents .................................................................................... 3

3. DEFINITIONS, ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ..................................... 5

3.1 Definitions........................................................................................................ 5
3.2 Acronyms and Abbreviations ........................................................................ 6

4. GENERAL PRINCIPLES .................................................................................. 7

4.1 General............................................................................................................. 7
4.2 Time Management........................................................................................... 7
4.2.1 Definition .................................................................................................................... 7

4.2.2 Requirements for Time Stamping .............................................................................. 7

4.3 Unused Bits in Data Items.............................................................................. 7
4.4 Definitions and Addressing Concepts .......................................................... 7
4.4.1 System ....................................................................................................................... 7

4.4.2 Addressing Concepts: Assigning SAC/SIC Codes..................................................... 7

4.5 Service Messages ........................................................................................... 7
4.6 User Application Profile and Data Blocks .................................................... 8
4.7 Composition of Messages.............................................................................. 8

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5. LAYOUT OF MESSAGES ................................................................................ 9

5.1 Standard Data Items ....................................................................................... 9
5.2 Description of Standard Data Items ............................................................ 10
5.2.1 Data Item I247/010, Data Source Identifier.............................................................. 10

5.2.2 Data Item I247/015, Service Identification ............................................................... 10

5.2.3 Data Item I247/140, Time of Day ............................................................................. 11

5.2.4 Data Item I247/550, Category Version Number Report ........................................... 12

5.3 Standard User Application Profile............................................................... 13

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This document describes the general concepts and the message layout for the application of
ASTERIX category 247 for the transmission of version number information related to the
ASTERIX Categories used by a system.

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Scope

1.1.1 This document describes the message structure for the transmission of
ASTERIX categories version number reports.

1.1.2 The use of intermediate editions of a specific ASTERIX category shall be

limited to the test and development phase of a new system and/or a new
ASTERIX category. As soon as the status of both is stable, the system shall
be migrated to the use of the latest available version of a specific ASTERIX
category.

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2. REFERENCES

2.1 General

The following Documents and Standards contain provisions which, through

references in this text, constitute provisions of this Eurocontrol Document.

At the time of publication of this Eurocontrol Document, the editions indicated

for the referenced documents and standards were valid.

Any revision of the referenced ICAO Documents shall be immediately taken

into account to revise this Eurocontrol Document.

Revisions of the other referenced documents shall not form part of the
provisions of this Eurocontrol Document until they are formally reviewed and
incorporated into this Eurocontrol Document.

In case of a conflict between the requirements of this Eurocontrol Document

and the contents of the other referenced documents, this Eurocontrol
Document shall take precedence.

2.2 Reference Documents

1. Eurocontrol Standard 000-1-92. Directives for the Uniform Drafting and

Presentation of Eurocontrol Standard Documents. 1992.
2. Eurocontrol Standard SUR.ET1.ST05.2000-STD-01-01. All Purpose
Structured Eurocontrol Surveillance Information Exchange - ASTERIX.
Edition 1.29, Released Issue, February 2002.
3. ICAO Annex 5

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3. DEFINITIONS, ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

3.1 Definitions

For the purposes of this Eurocontrol Document, the following definitions shall
apply:

3.1.1 Catalogue of List of all possible Data Items of each Data Category
Data Items: describing the Data Items by their reference, structure, size
and units (where applicable).
3.1.2 Data Block: Unit of information seen by the application as a discrete
entity by its contents. A Data Block contains one or more
Record(s) containing data of the same category.
3.1.3 Data Category: Classification of the data in order to allow for, inter alia, an
easy identification.
3.1.4 Data Field: Physical implementation for the purpose of communication
of a Data Item. It is associated with a unique Field
Reference Number and is the smallest unit of transmitted
information.
3.1.5 Data Item: The smallest unit of information in each Data Category.
3.1.6 Measured Item: A piece of information (e.g. the position of a target) derived
from the sensor information and transmitted without any
smoothing.
3.1.7 Record: A collection of transmitted Data Fields of the same
category preceded by a Field Specification field, signalling
the presence/absence of the various Data Fields
3.1.8 User The mechanism for assigning Data Items to Data Fields,
Application and containing all necessary information which needs to be
Profile: standardised for the successful encoding and decoding of
the messages.

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3.2 Acronyms and Abbreviations

For the purposes of this Eurocontrol Document the following shall apply:
° Degree (angle)
ASTERIX All Purpose STructured Eurocontrol suRveillance Information
EXchange

CAT Data Category

EATM European Air Traffic Management

FL Flight Level, unit of altitude (expressed in 100's of feet)

FRN Field Reference Number
FSPEC Field Specification
FX Field Extension Indicator

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization

kt knot = NM/hour, unit of speed

LEN Length Indicator

LSB Least Significant Bit

MLT Multilateration

NM Nautical Mile, unit of distance (1852 metres)

PSR Primary Surveillance Radar

RDE-FG Radar Data Exchange Focus Group

RE Reserved Expansion Indicator
REP Field Repetition Indicator

s second, unit of time

SAC System Area Code
SIC System Identification Code
SMR Surface Movement Radar
SMS Surface Movement System
SP Special Purpose Indicator
SPI Special Position Identification
SSR Secondary Surveillance Radar
SURT Surveillance Team (EATM)

UAP User Application Profile (see Definitions )

UTC Coordinated Universal Time

WAM Wide Area Multilateration

WGS-84 World Geodetic System 84

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4. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

4.1 General
For the transmission of version number of ASTERIX categories the following
types of messages have been defined:
• version number(s) report

4.2 Time Management

4.2.1 Definition
The time stamp shall be consistent with the time of report transmission.

4.2.2 Requirements for Time Stamping

The timestamping shall comply with ICAO Annex 5.

4.3 Unused Bits in Data Items.

Decoders of ASTERIX data shall never assume and rely on specific settings of
spare or unused bits. However in order to improve the readability of binary
dumps of ASTERIX records, it is recommended to set all spare bits to zero.

4.4 Definitions and Addressing Concepts

In order to address sources in an unambiguous way, a simple abstract model

for concepts like sensors or systems has been designed.

4.4.1 System
In the framework of category 247 a System is any device delivering ASTERIX
data.

4.4.2 Addressing Concepts: Assigning SAC/SIC Codes

By convention a dedicated and unambiguous SAC/SIC code shall be assigned
to every System.

4.5 Service Messages

Periodic Status Messages (these messages should be used by systems to

indicate their Categories version numbers periodically),

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4.6 User Application Profile and Data Blocks

4.8.1 A single User Application Profile (UAP) is defined and shall be used for both
target reports and service messages.

4.8.2 Data Blocks shall have the following layout.

CAT = 247 LEN FSPEC Items of the

first record

where:

• Data Category (CAT) = 247, is a one-octet field indicating that the Data
Block contains Multilateration data;
• Length Indicator (LEN) is a two-octet field indicating the total length in
octets of the Data Block, including the CAT and LEN fields;
• FSPEC is the Field Specification.

4.7 Composition of Messages

4.9.1 Messages shall be composed of Data Items assembled in the order defined by
the Field Reference Number (FRN) in the associated UAP.

4.9.2 When sent, items shall always be transmitted in a record with the
corresponding FSPEC bits set to one.

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5. LAYOUT OF MESSAGES

5.1 Standard Data Items

The standardised Data Items, which shall be used for the transmission of
Category Version numbers are defined in Table 1 and described on the
following pages.
Table 1 - Standard Data Items of Category 247

Data Item Description Resolution

Ref. No.

I247/010 Data Source Identifier N.A.

I247/015 Service Identification N.A.
I247/140 Time of Day N.A.
I247/550 Version number(s) of CAT used N.A.

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5.2 Description of Standard Data Items

5.2.1 Data Item I247/010, Data Source Identifier

Definition: Identification of the system from which the data are received.
Format: Two-octet fixed length Data Item.
Structure:
Octet no. 1 Octet no. 2
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

SAC SIC

bits-16/9 (SAC) System Area Code

bits-8/1 (SIC) System Identification Code

Encoding Rule :This item shall be present in each ASTERIX message

5.2.2 Data Item I247/015, Service Identification

Definition : Identification of the service provided to one or more users.
Format : One-Octet fixed length data item.
Structure:

Octet no. 1
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Service Identification

bits 8/1 Service Identification

NOTE - The service identification is allocated by the system

Encoding Rule :
This item is optional.

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5.2.3 Data Item I247/140, Time of Day

Definition: Absolute time stamping expressed as UTC.

Format: Three-octet fixed length Data Item.

Structure:
Octet no. 1
24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17

Time

Octet no. 2 Octet no. 3

16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Of Day LSB

bit-1 (LSB) 1/128 s

NOTE - The time of day value is reset to zero each day at midnight.

Encoding Rule :This item shall be present in each ASTERIX message

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5.2.4 Data Item I247/550, Category Version Number Report

Definition: Version number of Categories used.
Format: Repetitive Data Item starting with a one-octet Field Repetition
Indicator (REP) followed by at least one Version number report
for each Category used and comprising one octet CAT number
and one two octets Version Number (Main/Sub).
Structure:

Octet no. 1
32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25
REP

Octet no. 2
24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17
CAT

Octet no. 3 Octet no. 4

16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Main version number Sub version number

bits-32/25 (REP) Repetition factor

bits-24/17 CAT ASTERIX Category [0..255]

bits-16/9 Main Version [0..99]

Number e.g Vers: 1.1
bits-8/1 Sub Version Number [0..99]
e.g Vers: 1.1

Encoding Rule :This item shall be present in each ASTERIX message

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5.3 Standard User Application Profile

5.3.1 The following UAP shown in Table 3 shall be used for the transmission of
reports:
Table 3 - Standard UAP
FRN Data Information Length
Item in
Octets

1 I247/010 Data Source Identifier 2

2 I247/015 Service Identification 1
3 I247/140 Time of Day 3
4 I247/550 Version number report 1+3*n
5 - Spare -
6 SP Special Purpose Field -
7 RE Reserved Expansion Field -
FX - Field Extension Indicator (set to 0) -

where:

• the first column indicates the FRN associated to each Data Item used
in the UAP;
• the fourth column gives the format and the length of each item. A
stand-alone figure indicates the octet count of a fixed-length Data Item,
1+ indicates a variable-length Data Item comprising a first part of one-
octet followed by n-octet extents as necessary.

The maximum length of the corresponding FSPEC is one octet.

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