Surveillance and data link communication performance analysis for NextGen

This study investigates the effects of two technical enablers, Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) and digital data link communication, of the Federal Aviation Administration's Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) under two separation assurance (SA) system architectures, ground-based SA and airborne SA, on overall separation assurance performance. Data link performance such as successful reception probability in both surveillance and communication messages, and surveillance accuracy are examined in various operational conditions. Required SA performance is evaluated as a function of subsystem performance, using availability, continuity, and integrity metrics to establish overall required separation assurance performance, under normal and off-nominal conditions. A Monte Carlo simulation was developed with data link performance attributes, i.e., availability, continuity, and integrity to evaluate tradeoffs of the separation assurance performance.