Evolution from 3D to 4D radar

The increase in air traffic has the immediate consequence of creating new techniques for air traffic control, as well as new procurement data procedures and data reporting. For these purposes, secondary radars have been developed under the standard ADS-B that should be implemented in coming years on a mandatory basis. In this article, an application of ADS-B radars, capable of introducing the air traffic in real time using a simple form of 4D representation and a free graphical interface. This application, consisting of a network of computers arranged in three layers (Layer of ADS-B Data Acquisition, Business Logic Layer and Presentation Layer), offers numerous advantages to flying clubs, academies of pilots, control towers, air traffic controllers, aircrafts (IN ADS-B), airlines (green trajectories), airport service vehicles, and so on. Key-Words: ATM, ADS-B, Virtual Radar, Google Earth, 4D Visualization, GIS. 1 Current Air Traffic Management The agents involved in the air traffic management system, ATM (Air Traffic Management), are currently conducting a thorough review because of the large increase in the number of flights and the need to improve the conservation of the environment [1], [2] and [3]. An important contribution to air traffic control is improving the location and identification of aircrafts, which are both in flight and on land [4]. At the present, air location is performed personally through the radio or automatically based on radars, among which can be distinguished: PSR (Primary Surveillance Radar) and SSR (Secondary Surveillance Radar). The main feature of primary surveillance radars is to be able to detect and monitor air traffic in two dimensions. This implies major infrastructure requirements. On the other hand, the secondary radar SSR is capable of controlling the aircrafts that emits through a transponder. This SSR transponder gives the location in three dimensions, like the GPS [5], as well as the identification and other parameters of the aircraft. This procedure is required by the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization), FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and Eurocontrol (the European air traffic manager) for future air traffic control of civil aviation. The combination of primary and secondary radars will provide higher security and significant environmental improvements in the flight of aircrafts. According to a proposal from the FAA [6] the technique of aerial surveillance ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) [7] and [8] has been chosen as the surveillance system for the next generation, being mandatory its implantation for the year 2020 inside all aircrafts. ADS-B systems, as opposed to the current radars, generate position reports more frequently and not lose accuracy with distance. These reports are broadcast regularly by radio and they can be received both by other aircrafts and by ground control systems. Receivers receive the information emitted by aircrafts, process it and generate a visual representation similar to the primary radar. Within these reception systems we can find various equipments capable of processing the ADS-B signals provided by aircrafts equipped with it. Two manufacturers of simple ADS-B reception equipments are: Kinetic [9] and AirNav Systems [10]. In general, secondary or virtual radars based on ADS-B have many advantages: lower cost, they can be installed in terrestrial stations (OUT ADS-B) or on the own aircrafts (IN ADS-B), they make a detection in all directions, they allow the identification of the WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on ELECTRONICS Maria Gutierrez, Gerardo Aranguren, Miguel Rodriguez, Javier Bilbao, Javier Gomez ISSN: 1109-9445 468 Issue 12, Volume 5, December 2008 flight, we can know the trajectory, altitude, speed, they have a low consumption, etc.