By Rob Stapleton
Alaska Journal of Commerce

International interest in Alaska-tested aviation equipment is increasing as delegations from all over the world visit the state to see and test the equipment firsthand.

"Advanced aviation technology tested and used here in Alaska is becoming very popular with countries abroad," said Charlene Derry, international liaison officer for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Interest in aviation technology developed and tested for Alaska by other countries centers around a lack of aviation infrastructure, according to Derry. More than 20 different delegations have visited Alaska recently to see the equipment firsthand.

After seeing the dramatic improvement in safety experienced in Alaska, Germany and Japan as well as nations in Central America are interested in new navigation technology used in Western Alaska.

Known as Capstone in Alaska and outside of Alaska ADS-B or Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, the technology provides weather reports, terrain maps and live air traffic tracking right in the cockpit. The use of ADS-B in Alaska has reduced accidents 43 percent during the last three years in the Yukon-Kuskokwim River Delta, an area not served by conventional radar.

ADS-B-equipped aircraft broadcast their precise positions in space via a digital datalink along with other data, including airspeed, altitude, and whether the aircraft is turning, climbing or descending. ADS-B receivers that are integrated into the air traffic control system or installed aboard other aircraft provide users with an accurate depiction of real-time aviation traffic, both in the air and on the ground.

This system is particularly well-suited to countries that have no airspace control or radar coverage for aircraft.

"Some of these countries have identical problems that we have here in Alaska," Derry said. "Lack of surface infrastructure or any aviation infrastructure, no radar, mountainous terrain, bad weather; these are the things that these countries have in common with Alaska."

Last year the University of Alaska sent a delegation to Africa to demonstrate how the equipment could work there.

Derry said that Germany and Japan are the most recent to send delegates to Alaska, and that Japan has leased a test aircraft and is carrying out testing from Anchorage's Merrill Field.

"The Japanese have acquired an aircraft outfitted with ADS-B," Derry said.

After flight-testing the equipment here in Alaska, the aircraft and situational awareness technology will be exported to Japan.

"Once they finish phase two of their testing the ADS-B aircraft, several of the ground based transceivers or GBTs will be sent to Japan for a year-long study there," Derry said. "If this is successful, then the Japanese will start nationwide implementation of the ADS-B equipment for their air traffic control."

According to Derry, the Japanese brought high-level manufactures along for the tests to see how the equipment works.

Pioneer Navicom and Fuji Industries are looking over the U.S. version of the equipment for consideration to manufacture the equipment in Japan, according to Derry.

"It has always been the U.S. position that we welcome other manufacturers into the picture," Derry said. "This will stand to benefit ADS-B users eventually with lower prices for the equipment."

The more competition there is among manufacturing, the more the price will come down. Current price for the equipment is around $14,000 per aircraft, and $150,000 for the GBTs.

The FAA's Capstone Program had considered a plan to require self-equipage by aircraft owners in Alaska, and at one point had even suggested a 90/10 subsidy. The subsidy would pay for 90 percent of the equipment, if the aircraft owner paid only 10 percent. No new information is available from the FAA on this proposal.

In the meantime, countries around the world without air traffic control or more expensive radar have found ADS-B a viable alternative.

In 2005 China entered into an agreement with Anchorage-based ADS-B Technologies LLC for more than 50 ADS-B units for use on training aircraft and promised to purchase 150 units to go into new Cessna aircraft.

ADS-B Technologies has also deployed ADS-B for use between the Republic of Palau and the Northern Mariana Islands in the South Pacific.

While the technology is ground-based worldwide now, it is estimated that it could be used in a satellite-based system in as little as 2 1/2 years to cover some areas of the planet.

Derry says that Central American countries are interested in the Universal Access Transceiver used in Alaska for aircraft flying at lower altitudes than commercial aircraft that use ADS-B on a higher frequency.

The Alaska Export Assistance Center is working with ADS-B Technologies and Garmin Industries, one of the main U.S.-based manufacturers of the equipment, to help export the equipment to developing countries.

Rob Stapleton can be reached at rob.stapleton@alaskajournal.com.