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Procedia Engineering 17 (2011) 415 – 421

The 2nd International Symposium on Aircraft Airworthiness (ISAA 2011)

Study on Airworthiness Requirement for the Position Quality of

ADS-B System
YAN Fang*, MA Zan
Civil Aviation University of China, Jinbe Road, Tianjinm, 300300, China

Abstract

This paper introduces the rationale of ADS-B systems, studies the airworthiness requirement to be complied with during designing
and manufacturing 1090ES ADS-B OUT system. The paper makes focus study on the airworthiness standards of the position
quality indicator and the encoding rules, and puts forward the conversion between the different rules. The paper provides the
technical guide for the manufacturers and the airlines.

© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Airworthiness Technologies
Research Center NLAA, and Beijing Key Laboratory on Safety of Integrated Aircraft and Propulsion Systems, China

Keywords: ADS-B, airworthiness requirement, position quality indicator

1. Introduction

With the rapid increasing of the air traffic flow, the aircraft surveillance capability and service quality have been
improved significantly, which results in the on-going development of surveillance system in civil aviation. Currently
there are various surveillance techniques, such as the primary radar, the secondary radar (including A/C mode and S
mode), Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Contact, Automatic Dependent Surveillance- Broadcast (ADS-B)ˈetc.
ADS-B is a surveillance technique which delivers the traffic surveillance and flight information by the air-air, air-
ground data communication. The ADS-B communicates by the air-ground/air-air data link, and acquires the navigation
data from the navigation systems and other airborne systems. Compared to the traditional radar surveillance techniques,
ADS-B has the advantage of low cost, small accuracy error and strong surveillance capability. It can be applied in the
non-radar-airspace (NRA) surveillance service, the air traffic service of the high-density flight area, and airport surface
surveillance service. Therefore it has been playing a more and more important role in the future surveillance system of
civil aviation, and has become an important part for Future Air Navigation System (FANS) project of International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Especially ADS-B systems are essential to enhance the flight safety in the
middle-west of China where a large amount of the Non-Radar-airspace exists.
Some airlines in China have had the ADS-B capability, or are prepared for the ADS-B retrofit. Meanwhile
industries have started the development of ADS-B systems. This paper studies the airworthiness standards which are to
be complied with during the designing the ADS-B, and studies the airworthiness requirements for the position data
quality of ADS-B systems.

1877-7058 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2011.10.049
416 YAN Fang and MA Zan / Procedia Engineering 17 (2011) 415 – 421

2. Rationale of the airborne ADS-B System

ADS-B is a surveillance technique which delivers the traffic surveillance and flight information by the air-air/ air-
ground data communication. It broadcasts automatically periodically the ICAO 24-bit address, position, altitude,
velocity, and some other parameters. It also receives the parameters from ground or other aircrafts in order to keep
watching over the timely flight environment. ADS-B system is applied in surveillance of non-radar area, air traffic
service of high density flight environment, and surveillance of airport surface. As shown in fig.1, an ADS-B system
consists of the airborne ADS-B system and the ground stations.
ADS-B means:
x Automatic: not dependent on manual operation and the negotiation from the ground station.
x Dependent: all the information is based on airborne systems.
x Surveillance: provide position and other surveillance data.
x Broadcast: the data is broadcasted for all the customers equipped with the appropriate devices, not the particular
ones.

GNSS

airborne

AD
S-B

S-B
AD
S-B
AD

Ground
station
:HDWKHU
Down surv-info FIS-B info
JDWHZD\
ADS-B ground station
7,6%LQIR

Data transfer-merge ATS automation

system center

Fig. 1. ADS-B system

2.1. Data link technique

ADS-B is an air-air, or air-ground data link technique based on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)
(here refers to the global positioning system (GPS) in the paper) used for the aircraft operational surveillance. Data
link, which broadcasts important surveillance information such as aircraft status, position, velocity, is a major
component of the ADS-B system.
Currently there are three kinds of data link applicable for ADS-B: Mode S 1090MHz Extended Squitter (ES), VHF
Digital Link (VDL) MODE 4, and Universal Access Transceiver (UAT).
To own the capability of VDL MODE 4 and UAT, new devices must be installed in aircrafts. However, majority of
the commercial transport aircrafts have been equipped with Mode S transponders whose hardware supports the
transmission of Mode S 1090MHz ES ADS-B data. Only minor modification such as updating the software and
installing the interface components is needed to realize 1090MHz ES data link. Compared to the VDL Mode 4 and
UAT data links, less workload and lower cost are introduced due to the installation of 1090 ES data link. A special
transponder can be installed for the general aviation aircraft on which Mode S transponder installation is not
mandatory.
1090MHz ES is based on the Mode S extended squitter function of the secondary radar. Both the negotiation signal
and response signal have a 56-bits (short message) and 112-bits (long message) data block whose first 24 bits
 YAN Fang and MA Zan / Procedia Engineering 17 (2011) 415 – 421 417

represent ICAO address code, and other bits are used to transmit the parameters of the aircraft. 1090MHz ES is the
technique based on Mode S long message.

2.2. Rationale of the Airborne 1090MHz ES ADS-B OUT

Airborne 1090MHz ES ADS-B OUT systems are currently popular in transport aircraft of civil aviation. Its work
principle is shown in Fig.2. Airborne ADS-B systems receive the navigation data from the sources such as GNSS
which is transformed to the appropriate message sent out via the processing of format conversion, compression and
random vibration. An airborne 1090MHz ES ADS-B OUT system is composed of data sources, report generation, and
report transmission.

GNSS

Baro
altitude
Report Report
Other Nav Ground ADS-B
source generat transmi
ion tion receiving system

Pilot
input Airborne ADS-B

...
Data
source

Fig. 2. Airborne 1090MHz ES ADS-B OUT

3. Analysis of Airworthiness Requirement to ADS-B system

Same as other airborne system/equipment, the ADS-B system can get an airworthiness approval for the equipment
itself. The equipment which meets the minimum standards of the CTSO-C166b can get Chinese Technical Standard
Order Authorization (CTSOA) from Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The equipment which has got
TSOA under FAA TSO-C166, or FAA TSO-C166b, can get Validation of Design Approval or CTSOA from CAAC.
The airworthiness approval to equipment does not include an installation approval. To be installed in aircraft, the
ADS-B equipment which has CTSOA or VDA has to get appropriate installation approval [1]. The installation of
ADS-B equipment could be approved in the form of Supplemental Type Certificate, Validation of Supplemental Type
Certificate, and Modification Design Approval. The original manufacturer can get the installation approval in the form
of Type Certificate, Validation of Type Certificate and Type Design Approval, and in the form of modification to
these certificates [2].
In order to guide the industry to develop and operate ADS-B system, guidance materials are issued by airworthiness
authorities as follow:
x AMC20-24“Certification Considerations for the Enhanced ATS in Non-Radar Areas using ADS-B Surveillance
(ADS-B-NRA) Application via 1090MHZ Extended Squitter” was issued in February 2008 by EASA. It is
applicable only for application of Mode S 1090MHz ES ADS-B OUT system in Non-Radar Areas. It is the first
guidance material which provided basis for other authorities to develop policy.
x AC 120-86“Aircraft Surveillance Systems and Applications” was issued in September 2005 by FAA and has been
canceled. AC 20-165 “Airworthiness Approval of Automatic Dependent Surveillance- Broadcast (ADS-B) Out
Systems” was issued in May 2010 by FAA, and is applicable for ADS-B OUT system based on Mode S 1090MHZ
datalink and UAT data link.
x AC-91-FS/AA-2010-14 “Airworthiness and operation approval guidance for 1090MHz ADS-B-NRA” was issued
in May 2010 by CAAC. It mainly based on EASA AMC20-24 and CANADA AC700-009. It is only for the
application of ADS-B OUT system, which based on Mode S and 1090MHz data link in Non-radar area.
418 YAN Fang and MA Zan / Procedia Engineering 17 (2011) 415 – 421

RTCA DO-260 is the minimum performance standard referenced in TSO, CTSO and AC issued by several
authorities. It has become the fundamental basis for ADS-B system design. Table 1 specifies the correspondence and
difference between airworthiness policy and RTCA DO-260 serial.

Table 1. Analysis and comparison of airworthiness policy and DO-260 serial

DO-260 Serial EASA AMC FAA TSO FAA AC CTSO CAAC AC

DO-260 AMC 20-24 TSO-C166 AC 91-83 N/A N/A
cancelled
DO-260A AMC 20-24 TSO-C166a N/A N/A N/A
DO-260B N/A TSO-C166 AC20-165 CTSO-C166b AC-91-FS/AA-2010-
14

4. Requirements for position quality indicator

4.1. Data sources of airborne ADS-B OUT system

The data source of airborne ADS-B OUT system is illustrated in fig.3.

Emergency Other
GPS and other Aircraft
NAV source
Baro Altitude
idenetification
SPI status/ data
indication source

ADS-B receive,
process and transmit
data

Fig. 3. Data source of Airborne ADS-B OUT system

In order to give allowance to use the airborne position information in surveillance and radar-like separation service,
the parameter “horizontal position quality indicator” would be provided together with the position by ADS-B airborne
systems. The parameter which expresses the quality and credibility is based on the integrity and accuracy of the
horizontal position information which is transmitted by ADS-B. As for GPS systems, the integrity is measured by
Horizontal Protection Level (HPL) and the accuracy is measured by Horizontal Figure of Merit (HFOM).
The parameter “horizontal position quality indicator” (i.e. integrity and accuracy) should be encoded in form of
integral such as 1~9 in order to compress the message and improve the capability of communication. Navigation
Uncertainty Category (NUC) is adopted to give a combined expression of accuracy and integrity requirements through
a single parameter in RTCA DO-260. However, RTCA DO-260A and DO-260B adopt Navigation Integrity Category
(NIC), Surveillance Integrity Level (SIL) and Navigation Accuracy Category (NAC) to encode integrity and accuracy
respectively.

4.2. HPL and HFOM

HPL is the expression for the integrity of the horizontal position from GPS systems. It’s a figure which represents
the radius of a circle which is centered on the GPS position solution and is guaranteed to contain the true position of
the receiver to within the certain probability (usually 10-7), as shown in fig.4. The HPL is compared with the
Horizontal Alarm Limit to determine if RAIM is available.
 YAN Fang and MA Zan / Procedia Engineering 17 (2011) 415 – 421 419


+3
 /


 

Position err

H
FO
&DOFXO 5HDO

M
DWHG SRVLW
95% SRVLWL LRQ
Position RQ
error

Fig. 4. HPL

HFOM represents the accuracy of the horizontal position information from GPS. It’s a figure which represents the
radius of a circle which is centered on the GPS position solution and is guaranteed to contain the true position of the
receiver to within the certain probability (usually95%). HFOM is different as the position of GPS satellites measured
changing.
HPL and HFOM have the similar definition, but make different sense. HPL determines the separation between two
aircrafts for the safe flight. HFOM determines the separation that pilots should be more cautious of the collision.

4.3. NUC

NUCp (NUC-position) consists of the integrity and accuracy of horizontal position in airborne ADS-B system [4].
Table 2 shows the encoding rules. In the air traffic control, ADS-B data is accepted by the radar-like surveillance
service of the ground station only when NUCp is not less than 5, as shown in fig.5.

Table 2. NUCp Level

NUCp Horizontal protection level Horizontal position error Vertical position error
˄10-7˅ ˄95%˅ ˄95%˅
1 <20nm <10nm Baro Altitude
2 <10nm <5nm Baro Altitude
3 <2nm <1nm Baro Altitude
4 <1nm <0.5nm Baro Altitude
5 <0.5nm <0.25nm Baro Altitude
6 <0.2nm <0.1nm Baro Altitude
7 <0.1nm <0.05nm Baro Altitude
8 TBD <10m <15m
9 TBD <3m <4m
… TBD TBD TBD
420 YAN Fang and MA Zan / Procedia Engineering 17 (2011) 415 – 421

HPL/HFOM NUCp
Ground
ARINC 429 Trans- station/
GPS
ponder 0 ATC
1 Center
2
3
4
5
6
7 OK
8
9

Fig. 5. Produce of NUCp

4.4. NICp, SIL and NACp

Except for the NUCp, another measurement for position data quality exists using the following indicators:

x NIC: express the integrity containment radius, i.e. encoding the HPL. Table 3 shows the encoding rules.
x NACp: express the position accuracy. Table 3 shows the encoding rules.
x SIL: specify the probability of the true position lying outside that containment radius without alerting. Table 4
shows the encoding level [5-6].

Table 3 Encoding rule for NIC and NACp

NIC Max Rc˄nm˅ NACp Range (95%)

11 0.004 11 3m
10 0.013 10 10m
9 0.04 9 30m
8 0.1 8 0.05nm
7 0.2 7 0.1nm
6 0.6 6 0.3nm
5 1.0 5 0.5nm
4 2.0 4 1nm
3 4.0 3 2nm
2 8.0 2 4nm
1 20 1 10nm
0 >20 0 unknown

Table4 SIL Level [3]

SIL Probability of exceeding NIC radius containment

0 no integrity
1 10-3/FH
2 10-5/ FH
3 10-7/ FH
 YAN Fang and MA Zan / Procedia Engineering 17 (2011) 415 – 421 421

4.5. Comparison Analysis of the Indicators

Based on analysis above, it is concluded that with the currently air traffic flow significantly increasing, and the
requirements for the capability of indicating integrity and accuracy is enhancing. NUCp gives a combined expression
of accuracy and integrity requirements through a single parameter in RTCA DO-260. However, the express way in
DO-260A/B is more precise using the parameters NIC, NACp and SIL because of helping the controllers determine
the more reasonable interval minimum, which facilitated the air traffic controller to determine the more reasonable
minimum separation. And the conversion of the indicators from one to three is also the main difference between the
ADS-B system designed under DO-260 and those under DO-260A/B.
Table 5 shows the conversion rule between the two encoding rules.

Table 5 NUCp conversion to NIC and NACp

NUCp NIC NACp

9 11 11
8 10 10
- 9 9
7 8 8
6 7 7
5 6 6
4 5 5
3 4 4
- 3 3
- 2 2
2 1 1
1 1 1
0˄no integrity˅ 0 0

5. Conclusion

Because of its low cost, high precision, low error and great surveillance capability, more and more attention is paid
to ADS-B system. This paper introduced the fundamentals of ADS-B system, especially the ADS-B system via
1090MHZ extended squitter, studied the airworthiness requirements and industry standards which guide designing and
manufacturing, focused on encoding rules and the airworthiness requirements for the quality indicator of the position
data, and provided the conversion relationship between different encoding rules. Since ADS-B technology is under
developing, ADS-B In technique which is not mature was not involved in this paper. It is hoped that this paper could
provide valuable reference for the ASD-B system design in China.

References

[1] CAAC CTSO-C166b, 1090MHz Extended Squitter ADS-B and TIS-B, 2010.4.30.
[2] Transport Canada AC700-009, Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast, 2008.7.31.
[3] EASA AMC 20-24, Certification Considerations for the Enhanced ATS in Non-Radar Areas using ADS-B Surveillance (ADS-B-NRA)
Application via 1090 MHZ Extended Squitter, 2008.2.5 .
[4] RTCA DO-260/EUROCAE ED-102, Minimum operational performance standards for 1090MHz Automatic Dependent Surveillance-
Broadcast (ADS-B), 2000.9.13.
[5] RTCA DO-260A, Minimum operational performance standards for 1090MHz Extended Squitter Automatic Dependent Surveillance-
Broadcast (ADS-B) and Traffic Information Services – Broadcast (TIS-B), 2003.4.10.
[6] RTCA DO-260B, Minimum operational performance standards for 1090MHz Extended Squitter Automatic Dependent Surveillance-
Broadcast (ADS-B) and Traffic Information Services – Broadcast (TIS-B), 2009.12.2.