Retrieving clear-air turbulence information from regular commercial aircraft using Mode-S and ADS-B broadcast

Abstract

Abstract. Navigational information broadcast by commercial aircraft in the form of Mode-S and ADS-B messages can be considered a new and valid source of upper air turbulence measurements. A set of three processing methods is proposed and analysed using a quality record of turbulence encounters made by a research aircraft. The proposed methods are based on processing the vertical acceleration or the background wind into the eddy dissipation rate. All the necessary parameters are conveyed in the Mode-S/ADS-B messages. The comparison of the results of application of the processing against a reference eddy dissipation rate obtained using on-board accelerometer indicate a significant potential of those methods. The advantages and limitation of the presented approaches are discussed.

Aviation Turbulence

“…The cost may be decreased by using a combination of fairly sparse routine reporting and event-based reporting (which causes an immediate downlink of data when a certain energy dissipation rate (EDR) threshold is exceeded) and optimizing data reporting strategies ). In the future, transmission costs may ultimately be avoided entirely when implemented into the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data stream (Alarc on et al 2013;Kopeć et al 2015). The other problem, associated with its proprietary treatment, must be worked out for the common good.…”

“…These data would also be valuable for researchers to better define turbulence climatologies and examine in detail largescale to small-scale connections. Communication costs are an issue, but one way they may be minimized is to use ADS-B (e.g., Alarc on et al 2013; Kopeć et al 2015) or other broadband communications networks.…”