Elizabeth Leigh
Exelis has completed a round of milestones for the Federal Aviation Administration’s flagship program designed to help modernize air traffic control in the country.
The company said Sept. 25Â that it has delivered more than the required surveillance coverage for the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system while staying within cost obligations.
Exelis indicated that it has installed a total of 634 ground stations throughout the United States and its territories.
ADS-B, which comes under the agency’s Next-Generation Air Transportation System project, uses satellite navigation technology, rather than radar, to instantly pinpoint and constantly track an aircraft in flight.
Exelis said the ADS-B infrastructure was built to NIST specifications that require redundant authentication processes, encryption and other information security features to make sure transmitted flight data is accurate.
