Ground stations enable many use cases for electronically conspicuous traffic. Currently, the general aviation community operates hundreds of ground-based traffic data receivers. This data is already used to some extent, but it is not available for aerial use. To enable the aerial use of all this data for in-flight traffic awareness, ground-based transmitters will be needed.
This recommendation for ground-based stations is aimed at all groups (aerodromes, associations, drone companies, ...) or individuals (pilots, aviation enthusiasts, ...) who wish to operate one or more stations, thereby contributing to the development of the i-conspicuity system. Thanks to that, as many aircraft signals as possible will be received on the ground and retransmitted in a bundled way: duly equipped aircraft will then dispose of an nearly complete digital image of the surrounding traffic.
Safety can be improved by receiving traffic data on multiple frequencies and protocols on the ground (ADS-B, ADS-L, Mode S replies, FLARM, FANET, etc.) and rebroadcasting this traffic data as a consolidated ADS-L traffic uplink, as envisaged in the ADS-L SRD 860 technical specification issue 2 (to be published in the second half of 2025; more information is available upon request).
Technology recommendation:
1. Receiver for ADS-B 1090 MHz, ADS-L SRD 860 (M band and O band), FANET, FLARM, Mode S replies, and optionally Direct Remote ID as specified in ASD-STAN prEN 4709-002:2023 "Civil Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS); Part 002:Direct Remote Identification".
2. Transmitter for ADS-L SRD 860 traffic uplink (O band) in accordance with the ADS-L SRD 860 technical specification issue 2.
3. The received traffic data could be made available to multiple networks, such as the Opensky Network, Open Glider Network (OGN), AERO Network, Pilotaware, Safesky, etc.
