Presented at the EADS stand at the Dubai Air Show, the new ADS is expected to quickly find the wreckage of a plane. We obviously think the flight AF447. Its promoters, companies and Star Navigation Paradigm, advance economic arguments as to airlines.

The crash of Air France Flight 447 was a cruel reminder, it is useless to have recorders stuffed flight parameters as we do not know or the wreck is located. On the EADS stand at the Dubai Airshow, companies ParadigmServices , British subsidiary of Astrium , and Star Navigation Systems, has the solution. This is to transmit in rapid succession a number of important information, such as the position of the aircraft. Transmission becomes continuous when abnormal event. As the " Airborne data service "( servicein-flight data, ADS), the system is meant faster, more relevant than the current Acars used to transmit data maintenance.

With the ads, too large an angle, for example, can trigger the continuous transmission of the position of the aircraft.The facility is designed to always " stay order "satellites, says Paul Fisher, head of design. Thus, if the aircraft passes over the back, the antenna on the top of the fuselage became obscured, a second antenna located under the belly, then takes over. Paradigm and Star use the Iridium constellation.

Regardless of the ongoing transmission, two refresh rates are active. Every minute, the position of the aircraft is transmitted.Every five minutes, it is now data on aircraft performance (as fuel). This information helps ground personnel to optimize the operation of airplanes. It can be save fuel or to monitor the operation of aircraft systems in the medium term (" monitoring system "). Maintenance events, such as exceeding a set threshold, cause the sending of additional data. " This is just to send the data the company needs , "said Paul Fisher. The information is sorted and partially analyzed on board before being compressed and sent. Hence the superiority of the ADS Acars, says our interlocutor.

The Paradigm-Star tandem is currently conducting tests on two planes. The first, an Airbus A310 is in service regular. The second, a Hyperbipe Sorrell, is a two-seated sports. The duo is in contact with the BEA, which grows with the introduction of such services , at least for the location. " We comply with the condition requested by the BEA: a known position close to 6 NM (even before the onset of continuous transmission) , "says Paul Fischer. For its part, ICAO is considering making these devices mandatory.

Thierry Dubois in Dubai