industry The IN CROWD ADS-B IN: THE PRODUCT RAGE FEW EXPECTED N S T O R Y B Y D A V E ot many years ago, in the shadow of publication of regulations requiring ADS-B Out by 2020, more than a few aviation-community critics offered faint praise for the Federal Aviation Administration's anticipated move. On the plus side: ADS-B-based air-traffic management should greatly improve capacity by using the precision accuracy to shrink separation H I G D O N standards in most airspace. Unarguably, ADS-Bbased surveillance provides vastly superior tracking accuracy compared to today's radar-based system - a system that requires wasteful buffer space to allow for inherent inaccuracies of our long-time radar- and transponder-based air traffic control. That's great for the FAA and will be a payoff to the airlines. But the benefits all fall to the FAA - at least that's what many pilots and aircraft owners challenged. ADS-B Out offers general aviation pilots little to no gains in exchange for the not-insignificant investment required to equip with the minimum technology needed to meet the ADS-B Out mandate. But the FAA, Department of Transportation and many others countered: The benefits for general aviation come through the companion technology to ADS-B Out - namely, ADS-B In. And this angle drew the sharpest responses from those flying aircraft already equipped with onboard datalink weather and some form of onboard traffic-avoidCourtesy of www.appareo.com ance hardware. Map of ADS-B coverage as of June 27, 2013. Coverage areas and tower locations are approximate. 18 avionics news * january 2014http://www.appareo.com