Appendix 1 FIGURE A-2. ALTITUDE TIERS Tier Altitude Range Description High Altitude Surface to FL240 (optimum from 9100’ AGL to FL240) This altitude band extends up to the upper limit of FIS -B service (24,000’ MSL). These grou nd stations serve higher performance General Aviation (GA) aircraft (turbocharged or turbine) operating in an en route environment, and also could se rve aircraft in climb/descent (and some en route).
Medium Altitude Surface - 14,000’ AGL (optimum from 2200’ AGL to 14,000’ AGL) These ground stations serve the majority of GA aircraft operating in an en route environment. The upper band of 14,000 feet was chosen as this is typically at or above the service ceiling of the world’s most produced aircraft (Cessna 172: over 43,000 built), thus this band includes the largest quantity of aircraft.
Low Altitude Surface - 3,000’ AGL These ground stations serve the majority of aircraft (of all types) operating in a terminal environment.
Surface Surface These ground stations consist of Surface Service Volume radios which serve aircraft in the immediate vicinity of major airports.
NOTE: While the required ceiling for FIS-B is FL 240, it is expected that users can access the FIS-B service above that altitude. In the present design, approximately 90 percent of the implemented Service Volumes have FIS-B coverage at FL 400.
4. FIS-B Look Ahead and Transmission Intervals. Figure A-3 presents the product look-ahead ranges for Low, Medium, and High altitude tiers radio stations, as well as surface stations.
FIGURE A-3. PRODUCT PARAMETERS FOR LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH ALTITUDE
TIER RADIOS Product Surface Radios Low Altitude Tier Medium Altitude Tier High Altitude Tier
CONUS NEXRAD N/A CONUS NEXRAD not provided CONUS NEXRAD imagery
CONUS NEXRAD imagery Winds & Temps Aloft 500 NM look ahead range 500 NM look ahead range 750 NM look ahead range 1,000 NM look ahead range Page 5
Appendix 1 Product Surface Radios Low Altitude Tier Medium Altitude Tier High Altitude Tier METAR 100 NM look ahead range 250 NM look ahead range 375 NM look ahead range CONUS: CONUS Class B & C airport METARs and 500 NM look ahead range Outside of CONUS: 500 NM look-ahead range TAF 100 NM look ahead range 250 NM look ahead range 375 NM look ahead range CONUS: CONUS Class B & C airport TAFs and 500 NM look ahead range Outside of CONUS: 500 NM look-ahead range Regional NEXRAD 150 NM look ahead range 150 NM look ahead range 200 NM look ahead range 250 NM look ahead range NOTAMs D, FDC, TFR 100 NM look ahead range 100 NM look ahead range 100 NM look ahead range 100 NM look ahead range AIRMET/SIGMET 100 NM look ahead range 250 NM look ahead range 375 NM look ahead range 500 NM look ahead range PIREP/SUA N/A 250 NM look ahead range 375 NM look ahead range 500 NM look ahead range Page 6
Appendix 1 FIGURE A-4. FIS-B OVER UAT PRODUCT UPDATE AND TRANSMISSION
INTERVALS Product FIS-B Over UAT Service Update Intervals1 FIS-B Service Transmission Intervals2 AIRMET As available 5 minutes Convective SIGMET As available 5 minutes METAR 1 minute/as available 5 minutes NEXRAD Composite Reflectivity (CONUS) 15 minutes 15 minutes NEXRAD Composite Reflectivity (Regional) 5 minutes 2.5 minutes NOTAMs-D/FDC/TFR As available 10 minutes PIREP As available 10 minutes SIGMET As available 5 minutes SUA Status As available 10 minutes TAF 8 hours/as available 10 minutes Temperature Aloft 12 hours 10 minutes Winds Aloft 12 hours 10 minutes 1The Update Interval is the rate at which the product data is available from the source.
2The Transmission Interval is the amount of time within which a new or updated product transmission must be completed and the rate or repetition interval at which the product is rebroadcast.
Appendix 1
5. Use of Airport Size as a Parameter. For selected FIS-B products (METAR and TAF), the size of the airport is used as a filtering parameter for FIS-B broadcasts. Out of the total of U.S.
METAR reporting locations:
• Less than 2 percent are Class B airports (with the highest volume of air traffic).
• Less than 6 percent are Class C airports (with medium traffic volume).
a. METARs. High-altitude radio stations provide METARs for the largest airports across all of CONUS (all class B and C airports), while low-altitude radio stations provide METARs for all stations (regardless of airport size) within a more limited look-ahead range. This provides high-altitude en route users with nationwide weather information (as every location in CONUS is within at most 382 NM of a Class B or Class C airport), at a significant savings in radio bandwidth.
b. TAFs. The same filtering applies to the TAF product. Out of the total U.S. TAF forecast locations, 28 percent are Class B or C airports (three Class C airports do not have TAFs).
Airport-size filtering is only applied to high-altitude CONUS radio stations, as locations outside of CONUS do not have the same bandwidth concerns (due to much lower geographic density of reporting stations), and locations outside of CONUS do not have a sufficient number of Class B and C airports to offer a reasonable en route view of weather.
c. Example for the User (Pilot) Perspective. On a 650 NM flight from Washington Dulles International (KIAD) to Orlando Executive Airport (KORL), the pilot will only receive the METAR for Orlando International Airport (KMCO) in the early portion of the flight (while within coverage of high-altitude tier radios). Once arriving within a closer radius (within 500 NM if under coverage of a high altitude tier radio; 375 NM if under coverage of a medium altitude tier radio; or 250 NM under coverage of a low altitude tier radio), the METAR for the smaller airport that is the specific destination (KORL) would become available.
Appendix 2 APPENDIX 2. EXAMPLES OF AERONAUTICAL INFORMATION
BASELINE SYNCHRONIZATION SERVICE/AERONAUTICAL UPDATE SERVICE # AI Categories AI Products/Services/ Subcategories Product(s)/Features Type/Comments BSS AUS Examples of Baseline Synchronization Service (BSS) Products 1 Aerodrome/Airport Mapping Data quality standards defined in RTCA’s DO-272C/EUROCAE ED-99C. Data exchange standards defined in DO-291B/ EUROCAE ED-119B. Database format standards defined in ARINC 816-2.
Includes land-and-hold-short operations (LAHSO) information. Also includes the virtual Aerodrome Surface Routing Network (ASRN).
ASRN supports RTCA’s SC-217/EUROCAE WG-44 CPDLC and manual entry D-Taxi application.
X 2 Aerodrome/Airport Information Standards not defined Includes advisory information such as airport traffic pattern and altitude information, Fixed-Base Operator (FBO) information, hotel, restaurant, and rental car information, phone and contact numbers for air traffic control (ATC), available services, including medical and fuel availability, fuel type and quality (e.g., the Department of Defense’s (DOD) “F” number) for diversions.
X 3 Airspace and Communications Partially defined in RTCA DO-201/ARINC 424 Could include Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B)/Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Rebroadcast (ADS-R) and Flight Information Service-Broadcast (FIS-B) Universal Access Transceiver (UAT)/ 1090 Extended Squitter (ES) Ground Broadcast Transceiver (GBT) service volumes. Includes static Special Activity Airspace (SAA) data X Page 1
Appendix 2 # AI Categories AI Products/Services/ Subcategories Product(s)/Features Type/Comments BSS AUS exclusive of dynamic temporary flight restrictions (TFR). Could also include new airspace restrictions over national park areas if S.1813 with SA.1779 is enacted.
4 International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Mode S Aircraft Addresses and ADS-B Aircraft “Clip Art” Silhouettes Standards not defined Enables “3D” ADS-B traffic depictions X 5 Electronic Charts Standards for electronic charts are not defined.
Chart definitions are defined in SAE ARP 5989 “Electronic Aeronautical Symbols” and ARP 5621 “Standards for the Electronic Display of Aeronautical Information (Charts).
• Airport/Aerodrome/Heliport X
• Standard Instrument Departures (SID) X
• Engine Out Procedures X
• Instrument flight rules (IFR) en route charts (low- and high-altitude) Includes static SAA definition data X Page 2
Appendix 2 # AI Categories AI Products/Services/ Subcategories Product(s)/Features Type/Comments BSS AUS
• Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STAR) X
• Instrument Approach Procedures (IAP) X
• Charted Visual Approach Procedures Example: KDCA Runway 19 Visual X
• Noise Abatement Procedures X
• Visual Aeronautical charts
(e.g., visual flight rules (VFR) sectionals and VFR terminal area charts) Also includes static SAA data X
• Special Airport/Aerodrome Qualification Page Example: Jep Page “10-18.”
Future depiction applications may make use of animation.
X 6 Geopolitical Standards not defined Includes cities, county, and state borders.
Includes major roads.
X 7 Magnetic Field/ Magnetic Flux Standards not defined X 8 Navigation Data quality standards defined in RTCA’s DO-201A/EUROCAE ED-77. Data exchange standards defined in ARINC 424-20.
Database format standards At the last Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee (AEEC) / System Architecture and Interfaces (SAI) meeting, three ARINC Project Initiation/Modifications (APIM) were presented that will: (1) split the work being done in ARINC 424 into two different documents, and X Page 3
Appendix 2 # AI Categories AI Products/Services/ Subcategories Product(s)/Features Type/Comments BSS AUS defined in ARINC 424A (dev). (2) introduce a new format standard for terrain and obstacles DBs. These APIMs are as follows:
• APIM 11-005A – Classic;
• ARINC 424 NDB introducing XML and the XSD (data exchange standard);
• APIM 12-005 - NDBX 2015 (replacing 06-003) (DB format standard); and
• APIM 12-006 - Terrain and Obstacle (new DB format standard).
Additionally, there was also an APIM introduced to address standards for data compression;
APIM 12-007 - XML Compression (new).
9 Noise Sensitive areas Standards not defined. Static data. Impacts VFR operations, advisory circular (AC) category of use, and Area Navigation (RNAV)/Required Navigation Performance (RNP) approach selection during any 24-hour period X 10 Obstacles Data quality standards defined in RTCA’s DO-276A / EUROCAE ED-98A. (Draft DO-276B approved by the SC-217 Plenary June 2012.) Data exchange standards defined in DO-291B / EUROCAE ED-119B. Database format standards may be defined in a future ARINC specification.
See Item 8, above.
X Page 4
Appendix 2 # AI Categories AI Products/Services/ Subcategories Product(s)/Features Type/Comments BSS AUS 11 Terrain Data quality standards defined in RTCA’s DO-276A/EUROCAE ED-98A. (Draft DO-276B approved by the SC-217 Plenary June 2012.) Data exchange standards defined in DO-291B/ EUROCAE ED-119B. Database See Item 8, above X format standards may be defined in a future ARINC specification.
Miscellaneous Standards not defined. Scope includes:
• Notice to Airmen Publication (NTAP) X
• Airport/Facility Directory (A/FD) X 12
• State Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) (Includes AIP supplements and amendments, Preflight Information Bulletin (PIB), and Aeronautical Information Circulars (AIC)) X
• Location of sporting stadiums, critical infrastructure, and ADS-B GBTs.
Support issuance of Aeronautical Update Service (AUS) status Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) X Page 5
Appendix 2 # AI Categories AI Products/Services/ Subcategories Product(s)/Features Type/Comments BSS AUS Examples of Aeronautical Update Service (AUS) Products 1 Aerodrome (AD)/Airport Entire AD/Airport and Heliports Public use Airport/Status Includes commissioning, decommissioning, openings, closings, and abandonments. X Rotating Beacon/Status X Seaplane Base/Status Includes commissioning, decommissioning, openings, closings, and abandonments. X Helipad/Status Includes commissioning, decommissioning, openings, closings, and abandonments. X Wildlife Hazards (Specify bird activity and location) NOTE: ICAO term is Bird Notice to Airmen (BIRDTAM). Can be listed under AD or Runway (RWY) if a specific runway is involved.
X Arresting gear/Status X Wind indicator/Status Includes wind socks and wind tetrahedrons. X Weather reporting station (on-airport)/Status Commissioning, decommissioning, out of service or unavailable. X Runway Entire Closure (full length) X Distances Available/Status Includes temporary changes to the Takeoff Distance Available (TODA), Takeoff Run Available (TORA), Accelerate Stop Distance Available (ASDA), and Landing Distance Available (LDA).
X Page 6
Appendix 2 # AI Categories AI Products/Services/ Subcategories Product(s)/Features Type/Comments BSS AUS Threshold Displacement X Safety Areas/Status X Friction Measurements X Braking Action X Surface Condition (also called FICON or field conditions) Includes winter conditions, such as depth of snow, and plowed runways or portions of a plowed runway, runway sanding or deicing, snow banks, runway light obscuration, runway cracks or ruts.
X Lighting Obscurations Example: Obstructions caused by snow or ice. X Lighted Sign Status X Ground Lighting Status X Direction - Lighting Sign Status X Direction - In-Ground Lighting Status X Direction - In-Ground Marking Status X Page 7
Appendix 2 # AI Categories AI Products/Services/ Subcategories Product(s)/Features Type/Comments BSS AUS Approach Lighting System Status Includes impact to descent / minimum decision altitudes. Includes approach lighting system status and visual approach lighting systems,
e.g., Visual Approach Slope Indicator (VASI), precision approach path indicator (PAPI), medium intensity approach lighting system with runway alignment indicator lights (MALSR), Approach Lighting System With Sequenced Flashing Lights (ALSF-2), runway end identification lights (REIL).
X Pilot Controlled Lighting (PCL) Status NOTE: May be listed under keyword AD or RWY. X PCL Frequency Change X Construction Status X Wildlife Hazards (Specify bird activity and location) NOTE: Bird activity listed either under AD or RWY, the latter if a specific runway is involved. X Runway Visual Range (RVR) System/Status NOTE: May be listed under keyword RWY or SVC. X VFR Traffic Pattern/Status Permanent procedures listed under BSS. X Properties Change X Taxiway Closure (e.g., partial, full length, and crossing restriction changes) X Page 8