Avionics News July 2019 - 25

Like all ADS-B In products, the FAA cautions that they
are advisory-only services.
The breakdown of TIS-B
TIS-B - the FAA's Traffic Information ServicesBroadcast - is a traffic reporting system that uses the near800 ADS-B ground stations along with ATC radar data to
transmit aircraft position data to aircraft cockpit displays.
In essence, TIS-B allows pilots in the cockpit to see what
controllers see: Other aircraft, their altitudes, direction of
flight, and speed vectors as displayed on their ADS-B In
display screen.
The theory behind TIS-B is simple: Augment pilots'
vision with tools that highlight other air traffic on a
display by decoding the squits of ADS-B Out and the
graphical traffic input of the air traffic service. And in
doing so, help pilots more-quickly, more-accurately,
identify other traffic in range of their aircraft.
The aircraft's ADS-B receiver will interpret the data
and display it on a screen in the cockpit. Typically, traffic
is displayed as a small triangle with a line showing the
aircraft's direction and speed, and the altitude readout
somewhere next to the aircraft's triangle icon.
The actual interface on which TIS-B will be displayed
will vary with the various different types of avionics on
the market today, but it will most likely be incorporated
into a flight management system or an electronic flight bag
to some standard degree.
Some companies' EFB software offers added services
that augment TIS-B's graphics with added information.
For full access to the TIS-B data, pilots should
remember that no traffic data gets broadcast if the nearest
ground station is dormant, waiting for an ADS-B Out
signal to awaken it and start broadcasting TIS-B data. So
to get the full TIS-B picture, an aircraft should be using
ADS-B Out.
Some of the many ways to access ADS-B In
Two years ago, the fledgling company uAvionix
introduced at AirVenture 2017 a tiny dongle made to
work with the ForeFlight electronic flight bag program.
The Scout immediately attracted long lines and deep
crowds as ForeFlight users, both existing and new,
queued up to pay a mere $199 for the pen-size, dualband ADS-B In receiver.
Just add power and run the setup through your choice
of Bluetooth iOS display device.
Scout's integrated Wi-Fi network supports up to four
devices. Use ForeFlight's Cockpit Sharing feature to
quickly and easily share routes between all devices on
Scout's network. It can even be its own form of in-flight

entertainment by sharing the Scout's output with a copilot and passengers. They can not only follow along,
they can be an informed extra set of eyes on traffic and
weather.
The options continue from here.
Appareo to BendixKing, Avidyne to Garmin, and
on, the market is flush with ADS-B In options. Some
complement an ADS-B Out system from the same
avionics maker, others are integral to a complete ADS-B
UAT package, and others can work with any Out
package, once installed and connected to a compatible
display device.
Speaking of display devices, some of the mostattractive ADS-B Out packages cover both In and Out
while offering operators flexibility on display options -
wireless to portable displays as well as wired to a panelmounted screen.
And then there are the many options to obtain a set of
plans and build an ADS-B In receiver. Contacts who've
gone the home-rolled route to an ADS-B In receiver
typically spend less than $100 for their receiver.
Of course, for those with similar budget constraints
- and lacking in the ability to solder connections - the
uAvionix Scout remains a viable option for those using
ForeFlight and an iOS display.
The ADS-B In question:
Is the juice worth the squeeze?
Questions such as this don't tend to come from pilots
and operators who've already voted with their wallets
- years ago - by installing active traffic-avoidance
hardware and subscription-based satellite weather
receivers: "Is it worth the costs?"
Asking that of a system available for a few hundred
dollars seems a wholly ironic question from people
who've spent thousands on hardware, installation and
subscriptions for the combination of a traffic-avoidance
system and weather-data receiver. Many pilots in this
group sniffed at the prospect of such free services - often
commenting that ADS-B held no benefits for them since
they were already equipped with traffic and weather
avoidance tools.
But irony aside, few pilots who lacked the budget for
those older options doubt the potential safety benefits of
the products available via ADS-B In. How could nearlylive traffic and minutes-old weather products fail to be
beneficial to the safety of flight?
It's been a case of "show me the data," from many.
Now we have data and, yes, it shows that accidents
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Avionics News July 2019

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