We are a consortium of professional aviation organisations with experience in EC, surveillance, research, innovation and airspace regulations.

Most of our testing is conducted around Goodwood Aerodrome. Thanks to our previous research Goodwood FISO today benefit from one of the most advanced low-cost, CAA compliant Flight Information Displays (FID).

This project is concerned with  TIS-B and its potential to improve situational awareness for pilots, especially in an environment where Modes S is the dominant form of EC.

See Benefits of TIS-B for more information.

Today, ADS-B is the most comprehensive and technologically advanced form of EC. However, full-scale certified installations are costly and are not universally mandated in the UK, where Mode S remains the primary form of EC among recreational GA aircraft. Some pilots adopt low-cost portable ADS-B solutions to become conspicuous to others (ADS-B ‘OUT’) and to be able to see other traffic (ADS-B ‘IN’).

Challenges in the current environment include: Mode S can’t be displayed by ADS-B ‘IN’ devices; and portable EC devices have relatively low transmitter power and their performance is affected by a wide range of factors.

Dedicated ground infrastructure can be used to “see” Mode S and re-transmit on a licensed aviation frequency of 978 MHz (UAT).

We would like to ask for your input by completing our questionnaire A regarding general views, opinions and concerns about TIS-B implementation in the UK.

A separate questionnaire B is designed for pilots who may be operating in the Goodwood area during the trial dates. Such pilots are invited to provide their feedback of their first-hand experience of receiving TIS-B transmissions.

The dates of such transmissions will be NOTAMed and also published on this website as soon as confirmed. A briefing sheet will also be available on NATS website.

Please check How to configure your equipment page for more relevant guidance.

TIS-B would still be useful to ensure best possible coverage and reception of traffic onboard as well as laying a foundation for FIS-B (broadcast of flight information and dynamic airspace updates).

Some EC technologies today are trying to rebroadcast multilateration of Mode S in a way that might resemble TIS-B, yet such devices currently operate on unprotected spectrum and reliability/delay/accuracy is not fully assured. As part of this study we will also look at those aspects of TIS-B.

The service volume (i.e. the airspace volume from which Mode S targets are being re-transmitted) is 10 NM within Goodwood Aerodrome. 

The reception range of TIS-B signal can be more or less than 10 NM depending on receiving equipment placement and altitude.