A Predictive Model of User Equipage Costs for Future Air ... - Mitre

5 Current Aircraft Equipage States
5.1 User Surveys
As part of the work on ADS-B equipage we conducted surveys of the top airlines to determine
specifically how their fleets were equipped. This information along with data in the commercial
ACAS database was used to identify capable and latent aircraft within each airline’s fleets.
Surveys were provided to both the large air transport and regional carriers to determine the current
configuration of the aircraft with respect to Mode-S transponders, GPS capability and installation
capabilities to support ADS-B applications. Appendix C contains both the large air transport and
regional carrier surveys that were sent out. Each of these surveys are different since the part
numbers for transponders and GPS are different for the different types of aircraft.
MITRE CAASD developed the surveys and completed the identification of the equipment part
numbers. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory actually sent out the surveys and
followed up with each airline to get the responses. For the large air transport, of the 23 airlines
sent surveys we received replies from all except one airline. For the regional carriers 20 surveys
were sent out and responses were received from 13 airlines.
5.2 Commercial Databases
Until lately, commercial databases of aircraft equipage did not contain the details on avionics
equipage by model or part number. The available databases focused on other aircraft components
like engines, Auxiliary Power Units (APUs), seats, and other replaceable mechanical or electrical
equipment. Avionics configurations were not generally included with any level of detail.
However, one commercial database provider did begin to collect and report data on avionics
configurations by specific aircraft tail numbers. AvSoft has begun to provide avionics equipage
details on a tail by tail basis for airlines around the world.
The AvSoft database called ACAS was used in the MITRE analysis to determine the state of
equipage for GPS or MMR capability. The ACAS provided the necessary equipage details for
those aircraft identified in the airline surveys that are equipped with Mode-S transponders. This
allowed us to estimate and group the number of aircraft with the necessary elements to achieve
ADS-B either as latent, equipped or not equipped.
5.3 OEM Discussions
Several discussions were held with avionics OEMs to determine the specific details of their
products as they apply to ADS-B. These conversations provided very useful information on the
specific type and part numbers that are capable of or upgradeable to ADS-B functionality. This
information was used in developing informational materials for the airline surveys so that
adequate details about the equipment and capabilities were properly reported.
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