ERA has installed the first round of ground stations of its MSS-5 system as part of a program to improve the ADS-B coverage of German airspace.
Czech ATC technology company ERA is installing a network of 16 Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) ground stations of its MSS-5 system for Germany’s air navigation service provider Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (DFS). The ADS-B network will be able to monitor almost the entire airspace of the Federal Republic of Germany and thus increase the safety of the congested air traffic routes there.
ERA already installed eight ground stations in South Germany from the French border in the east to the Upper Palatine Forest and one stand-alone ADS-B station, placed in the DFS control centre in Langen. The installation of seven more stations, located in the east part of Germany, from Leipzig north to Rügen island will follow before the summer.
MSS-5 is the fifth generation of the Multi-sensor Surveillance System (MSS) developed for air traffic management combining multilateration and ADS-B.
ADS-B is a surveillance technology that comprises a broadcast element from aircraft and stations to receive the broadcast. The technology, which uses satellite positioning to establish location.
The system provides accurate real-time localization, tracking and identification of all objects equipped with transponder: at the airport surface, in TMA and en-route. MSS-5 answers the five main challenges of Air Traffic Surveillance nowadays: traffic density, deployability, time synchronization, safety and security.
“The fact that the installation of our ADS-B ground stations by ERA went so smoothly is the result of the excellent cooperation between our project teams. We are very satisfied with ERA's work. The initial tests show that the MSS-5 operates with outstanding performance. DFS is proud to have ERA at its side as a reliable and competent partner for the implementation of its ADS-B network,“ said Maxmilian Menk from DFS.
ERA company has a long partnership with DFS and has previously of multilateration solutions. There are several ERA MLAT (multilateration) surface systems functioning at Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Cologne, Braunschweig, Berlin and Langen airports in Germany.