Description / Abstract: Introduction

This document contains Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for Flight Information Services Broadcast-System (FIS-B) with Universal Access Transceiver (UAT). These standards specify system characteristics that should be useful to designers, manufacturers, installers and users of the equipment.

Compliance with these standards is recommended as one means of assuring that the equipment will perform its intended function(s) satisfactorily under all conditions normally encountered in routine aeronautical operation. Any regulatory application of this document is the sole responsibility of appropriate governmental agencies.

This document considers an equipment configuration consisting of the airborne processing and cockpit display of aeronautical and meteorological data known as FIS-B provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).¹ Functions or components that refer to equipment capabilities that exceed the stated minimum requirements are identified as optional features.

Section 1 of this document provides information needed to understand the rationale for equipment characteristics and requirements stated in the remaining sections. It describes typical equipment operations and operation goals, as envisioned by the members of Special Committee 206 (SC-206), and establishes the basis for the standards stated in

Section 2. Definitions and assumptions essential to proper understanding of this document are also provided in this section.

Section 2 contains the minimum performance standards for the equipment. These standards specify the required performance under standard environmental conditions. Also included are recommended bench test procedures necessary to demonstrate equipment compliance with the stated minimum requirements.

Section 3 describes the performance required of installed equipment. Tests for the installed equipment are included when performance cannot be adequately determined through bench testing.

Section 4 lists the members of SC-206 who developed the document.

APPENDIX A, a normative appendix, provides formatting and encoding details of FIS-B Uplink Products, including the UAT Ground Uplink Message formatting, the Application Protocol Data Unit (APDU) header formatting and encoding, as well as each FIS-B product report in both textual and graphical representations, as applicable.

APPENDIX B gives the definition of a FIS-B report, describes the components of the FIS-B report, describes the FIS-B report relationship to the APDU that conveys it and provides guidance for identifying and purging redundant FIS-B reports.

APPENDIX C provides the update and transmission intervals for each FIS-B product uplinked.

APPENDIX D provides background information on the "tiered" approach used for assigning channel resources to each of the radio stations in the ground network.

APPENDIX E gives background on the processing of the Next-Generation Radar (NEXRAD) sensor data for uplink. It includes an accounting of the latency components along the processing chain.

APPENDIX F gives some background on the approach used within the FIS-B Radio Station in generating and uplinking the Current Report List (CRL).

APPENDIX G describes the process used by the radio stations to transmit in their assigned channel resources.

APPENDIX H gives rationale for not processing the uplink of Special Use Airspace (SUA) products.

APPENDIX I specifies an acceptable time-based method for an "all-at-once" update of the NEXRAD image on the cockpit display.

¹ The FIS-B service is part of the FAA's Surveillance and Broadcast Services System.

0 describes some potential evolution of the FIS-B Ground System with the intent to motivate manufacturers to provide some mechanism for field updateability of the FIS-B avionics.

The word "equipment" as used in this document includes all components and units necessary for the system to properly perform its intended function(s). For example, the "equipment" may include a processor that receives packetized data ported from the UAT, reassembles and then displays that selectable information on the flight deck. In the case of this example, all of the foregoing components and units comprise the "equipment." It should not be inferred from this example that each FIS-B design will necessarily include all of the foregoing components or units. This will depend on the specific design chosen by the manufacturer.

This MOPS applies to a specific defined function. The equipment may have additional features related to that function for which there is no specified minimum performance requirement. For example, FIS-B products may be displayed in alternative ways as part of value-added services. Equipment may also have additional functions for which other MOPS or Technical Standard Orders (TSOs) may be applicable or it may contain additional functions not defined by any MOPS or TSO and non-TSO function guidance may be applicable.

If the equipment implementation includes a computer software package, the guidelines contained in RTCA document DO-178C/European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE) European Document ED-12C, (or the most current published revision) Software Consideration in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification, should be considered.