Avionics News November 2022 - 33

ICAO aircraft tracking guidance has already been adopted
by countries worldwide and airlines are complying, but
ADT service providers, original equipment manufacturers,
airlines and other stakeholders are still working to prepare
for the GADSS ADT requirement, which applies to aircraft
with a maximum takeoff weight over 60,000 pounds
with an airworthiness certificate, which must be able to
autonomously report their location once a minute or less
when an aircraft is in distress.
Earlier this year, ACR Electronics strengthened its position
as a leader in emergency locator transmitter technology
by securing agreements with Embraer and Boeing to use
the Artex ELT 5000 Distress Tracking for GADSS compliance
on their commercial aircraft, as well as by releasing a new
portable ELT - the non-lithium survival ELT 4000S.
Distress Tracking: Artex ELT 5000 DT
" The two contracts secured by ACR Electronics
to supply the Artex ELT 5000 DT to
the world's major aircraft
manufacturers are a
powerful endorsement
for our multifaceted
distress tracking ELT
program, " said ACR
Electronics President
John Nguyen. " It
demonstrates the high
confidence in the industry
that the development
of the next generation ELT 5000 DT
will future-proof aircraft with a state-of-the-art
emergency distress signaling and tracking solution. "
Marc Medeiros, ACR Artex vice president, also stated:
" The 5000 DT has the legacy of the Artex knowledge and
understanding of beacons combined with being the only
company in the market currently that we know of with a full
solution for GADSS - both the ELT-DT and the ADT trigger -
the closest thing to a turnkey system. "
When the GADSS requirements first came into effect,
" the way the industry looked at fulfilling those requirements
was through using an enhanced ELT, but connected to a new
system, which would be an autonomous distress tracker, "
said James Hunter, ACR Artex sales and product director.
With the Artex ELT 5000 DT, Artex built the ELT DT device,
and its sister company Skytrac developed the ADT system.
The 406 MHz Artex ELT DT works as the transmission device,
relaying high-resolution 4D positions of the aircraft in real
time, and the ADT 5000 acts as the trigger.
A variety of aircraft data such as speed and altitude are
fed to the ADT module, and the unit determines if the
aircraft is in a normal state of flight or a distress state of
flight. If it's the latter, the ADT sends information to the
ELT DT, which sends signals to the ground once every five
seconds for the first 30 seconds, and then once per minute
for the next five minutes.
The distress tracking provides the precise location of the
aircraft to assist the relevant monitoring bodies in order
to respond to the alert quickly and effectively using the
Cospas-Sarsat satellite network. Pilots can also trigger the
ELT manually from inside the cockpit if necessary.
ACR is offering the Artex ELT 5000 DT in combination
with the ADT 5000 system as a complete GADSS solution,
providing both in-flight tracking and post-flight localization
in a single crash-resistant unit. The ability
to create a compliant system
by combining these
technologies makes ACR
the only company to offer
a full end-to-end GADSS
solution for airframe
manufacturers and airline
operators at this time,
according to the company.
Artex's ELT DT product
either can be used as
a component of a federated
system or connect to any EUROCAE ED
237-compliant onboard triggering avionics
- i.e., not just ACR's provided ADT 5000 trigger, but
others as well. It's " a much more sophisticated box than
the traditional ELT, " Hunter said. " It's constantly monitoring
the aircraft systems for this trigger. "
As of this writing, the deadline for the GADSS mandate
is Jan. 1, 2023, and no ELT-DT device has yet completed the
certification process by the Federal Aviation Administration,
the European Union Aviation Safety Agency or Cospas-Sarsat.
Medeiros stated Artex will meet that deadline, but " there are
strong indications that the GADSS mandate will be postponed
to Jan. 1, 2025. We have no influence in this decision, and we
continue to be on track to deliver regardless of any changes. "
" We understand major OEMs and how they need to
keep production lines running and on schedule. Support in
aviation is key, and we're very proud of the support level we
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avionics news * november 2022 33
Avionics News November 2022

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