Avionics News November 2013 - 48

feature

The Team Effort
Behind TSAA
S T O R Y

B Y

H

aving spent the vast majority of my time flying in the high-traffic area of eastern Florida, I
have developed what can best be described as
a love-hate relationship with today's TCAS, or traffic
collision and avoidance systems. And for the sake of
brevity, I'm bunching TCAS, TIS, TAS and all the
other acronyms together into one basket.

Avidyne Partners with MIT and the FAA
to Help Develop and Prove the Advanced
Math Behind the Next-generation Traffic
Situation Awareness System.
Personally, I love the way the technology has
pointed out potential conflicts well before I could spot
them. But I hate it when the system constantly chirps
"traffic" when the target is absolutely no threat to my
aircraft.
However, there's good news for those who share my
feelings on current TCAS technology; a much better
system is in sight. Based upon recent research and development work by a team that included Avidyne, the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Federal
48

avionics news

*

november

2013

D A L E

S M I T H

Aviation Administration, this new, more pilot-friendly
approach to collision avoidance capabilities is called
TSAA, or traffic situation awareness application.
Notice it's called an application; TSAA isn't a technology, but an improved way to apply the capabilities
already available with ADS-B.
A BIT OF TCAS HISTORY
Before we jump ahead, let's take a quick look at
where we are with regards to the many flavors of traffic alerting and collision avoidance systems. Most aviators are familiar with how TAS/TCAS works. They
perform active interrogations of the transponders of
nearby aircraft in order to determine distance, bearing
and altitude differential (when available), then compute traffic alerts based on the closure rate of the host
and target aircraft. All this data is then displayed as
shape and color-coded images on the cockpit display.
One of the big drawbacks to the technology is the
wide margin required in the alerting algorithms, which
leads to a wider alerting area.
"This leads to the inherent number of false or nuisance alerts that can be issued, especially in terminal
areas or other dense airspace environments," explained
Dean Ryan, general manager of Avidyne's Safety Systems Group. "Also, since they have no ground speed
or intent information from the target aircraft, they
(TAS/TCAS) have no real 'predictive' capabilities."



Avionics News November 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News November 2013

Point of Communication
AEA Now
The View From Washington
International News and Regulatory Updates
Mid-Continent's New True Blue Power
Member Profile
Counting Beans
Avionics News Through the Years
Aviation Aces
AEAviators
A Conversation With...
Member Profile
The Team Effort Behind TSSA
Audio Panels in the 21st Century
Business Basics
Jeppesen Makes Headlines at AirVenture
What's New
Marketplace Classifieds
Avionics News November 2013 - Intro
Avionics News November 2013 - Cover1
Avionics News November 2013 - Cover2
Avionics News November 2013 - 1
Avionics News November 2013 - 2
Avionics News November 2013 - 3
Avionics News November 2013 - Point of Communication
Avionics News November 2013 - 5
Avionics News November 2013 - AEA Now
Avionics News November 2013 - 7
Avionics News November 2013 - 8
Avionics News November 2013 - 9
Avionics News November 2013 - 10
Avionics News November 2013 - 11
Avionics News November 2013 - 12
Avionics News November 2013 - 13
Avionics News November 2013 - The View From Washington
Avionics News November 2013 - 15
Avionics News November 2013 - International News and Regulatory Updates
Avionics News November 2013 - 17
Avionics News November 2013 - 18
Avionics News November 2013 - 19
Avionics News November 2013 - Mid-Continent's New True Blue Power
Avionics News November 2013 - 21
Avionics News November 2013 - 22
Avionics News November 2013 - 23
Avionics News November 2013 - Member Profile
Avionics News November 2013 - 25
Avionics News November 2013 - 26
Avionics News November 2013 - 27
Avionics News November 2013 - Counting Beans
Avionics News November 2013 - 29
Avionics News November 2013 - 30
Avionics News November 2013 - 31
Avionics News November 2013 - 32
Avionics News November 2013 - 33
Avionics News November 2013 - Avionics News Through the Years
Avionics News November 2013 - 35
Avionics News November 2013 - Aviation Aces
Avionics News November 2013 - 37
Avionics News November 2013 - 38
Avionics News November 2013 - 39
Avionics News November 2013 - AEAviators
Avionics News November 2013 - 41
Avionics News November 2013 - A Conversation With...
Avionics News November 2013 - 43
Avionics News November 2013 - Member Profile
Avionics News November 2013 - 45
Avionics News November 2013 - 46
Avionics News November 2013 - 47
Avionics News November 2013 - The Team Effort Behind TSSA
Avionics News November 2013 - 49
Avionics News November 2013 - 50
Avionics News November 2013 - 51
Avionics News November 2013 - 52
Avionics News November 2013 - 53
Avionics News November 2013 - Audio Panels in the 21st Century
Avionics News November 2013 - 55
Avionics News November 2013 - 56
Avionics News November 2013 - 57
Avionics News November 2013 - Business Basics
Avionics News November 2013 - 59
Avionics News November 2013 - 60
Avionics News November 2013 - 61
Avionics News November 2013 - Jeppesen Makes Headlines at AirVenture
Avionics News November 2013 - 63
Avionics News November 2013 - 64
Avionics News November 2013 - 65
Avionics News November 2013 - What's New
Avionics News November 2013 - 67
Avionics News November 2013 - 68
Avionics News November 2013 - 69
Avionics News November 2013 - Marketplace Classifieds
Avionics News November 2013 - 71
Avionics News November 2013 - 72
Avionics News November 2013 - Cover3
Avionics News November 2013 - Cover4
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