An Air Traffic Control tower. Photo: Aireon

[Via Satellite 05-25-2016] Aireon has completed a service delivery point factory acceptance test with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), Ireland’s Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), confirming that the ANSP’s service delivery equipment is performing up to standards. Completion of this first milestone clears the path for the additional steps needed to integrate space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data into an operational setting and provide Aireon’s Aircraft Locating and Emergency Response Tracking (ALERT) service, the company’s free global emergency-tracking service, to the world’s aviation stakeholders, including ANSPs, airlines, regulators and search and rescue organizations.

The factory acceptance test verified the system functionality and assembly. It also measured the associated hardware design elements. Aireon and the IAA are working toward additional milestones over the next 18 months, including site acceptance testing, which will verify the system functionality, and implementation service acceptance testing to verify the accuracy of the data.

Aireon’s space-based ADS-B network is launching as a series of hosted payloads aboard the Iridium Next constellation, which is scheduled for completion by the end of 2017. Aireon’s service is slated to begin operations in 2018.