The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), convened by the United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU), made a decision to set aside a dedicated radio frequency for satellite systems tracking aircraft flight paths.

The new regulations require civil aviation aircraft to emit a signal reporting their position at least once every 15 minutes, to be implemented by November 2016.

Influenced by the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 last year, representatives from over 160 countries worldwide made the above decision at a meeting held in Geneva on November 11.

Existing aircraft tracking systems often rely on ground radar, allowing real-time tracking over only 30% of the Earth’s surface. The current World Radiocommunication Conference hopes to improve on this, increasing this figure to 100%.

Regarding the Global Flight Tracking system, the ITU has specifically established an official website for publicity.

The specific plan involves allocating the 1087.7-1092.3 MHz frequency band to satellite aeronautical mobile service (Earth-to-space), for use by space stations receiving Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) signals transmitted by aircraft transmitters.

The 1087.7-1092.3 MHz frequency band is currently used for the transmission of aircraft ADS-B signals to ground stations within line of sight. The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) has now allowed the allocation of this band to the Earth-to-space direction, permitting transmission from aircraft to satellites. This extends the range of ADS-B signals beyond line of sight, facilitating the collection of positions from ADS-B-equipped aircraft anywhere in the world, whether over oceans, the poles, or other remote areas.

Satellite ADS-B enables air traffic controllers to see the relative positions of aircraft at any time, regardless of their distance from the Tower. This capability will achieve the following goals: Flights can alter their Heading in unprecedented ways to avoid severe weather; Aircraft can use more efficient routes, thereby reducing flight time for passengers and reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide; And faster rescue of survivors in the event of an accident - the aircraft’s position can be known immediately.

The following video from the ITU is well done and is worth a look.

On the ICU website, there is an interview with Dr. Fang Liu, Secretary-General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which explains the superiority of the GFT plan: “Based on existing Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) technology, whereby aircraft broadcast position reports at 1090 MHz, ADS-B essentially provides all the information needed for flight tracking. However, this technology has a significant limitation: the aircraft’s broadcast can only be received by ground stations within line of sight, making it unusable in remote areas and over high seas where flight tracking is most needed.

To eliminate this limitation, the industry is deploying new satellite constellations. The new satellites can capture ADS-B reports from aircraft in polar regions, oceans, and other remote areas, and then transmit them to ground flight tracking systems. An important advantage of this solution is that it can leverage and supplement the performance of existing aircraft ADS-B without requiring modifications to the aircraft.”

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Note; Fang Liu is the first female Secretary-General of ICAO and the second Secretary-General from the Asia-Pacific region. Born in 1962, she holds a PhD in Private International Law from Wuhan University and a Master of Laws in Air and Space Law from Leiden University in the Netherlands. Fang Liu formerly served as the Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation and Affairs of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. She joined ICAO in 2007, serving as Director of the Administration and Management Bureau. She assumed her post this year in August 2015, and the term of the ICAO Secretary-General is 3 years. She is also the first Secretary-General of ICAO of Chinese nationality.