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After the baffling disappearance in March of Flight MH370, critics accused the aviation industry of "dithering" over equipping jets with real-time tracking systems. Now, with another passenger plane lost, the call for action is becoming more insistent.
Tracking aircraft by satellite and live-streaming of black box data were cited as top priorities by industry insiders after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with 239 people on board. Its fate remains a mystery despite a long underwater search west of Australia. Members of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)—the UN's aviation body—agreed in the aftermath of the incident to mandate real-time tracking.
But they did not set a timeline as airlines mulled the additional costs involved. Many carriers have been losing money for years. Now, with the apparent loss of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 on Sunday off Indonesia, the calls for immediate changes have returned with vehemence.
http://phys.org/news/2014-12-airasia-fuels-real-time-tracking.html
[Related]: http://www.airtrafficmanagement.net/2014/12/iata-no-silver-bullet-solution-on-tracking-in-wake-of-mh370/
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Tuesday December 30 2014, @09:07PM
I think suggesting a peer to peer network (on a community blogging site, no less!) is pretty much grandstanding and AstroTurf-ing as much as anything else. You are suggesting development of another radio system and associated monitoring and demands for access to every aircraft on a moment's notice to retrieve information.
The thing is that the ACARS [rockwellcollins.com] already has the capability to gather GPS coordinates along with every transmission from the aircraft. Further these systems are just about always polling the aircraft for other information, engine performance, maintenance issues, etc. In short, amateur peer to peer mesh networks developed from the ground up are simply a case of buzzword bingo.
Perhaps the solution to that is to have some of the big nations order acars to start including GPS data in every message from every (equipped) plane and provide access to that data to aviation authorities via the web as part of the cost of doing business. Let them rigorously prove costs, and write if off of their business taxes, or pass that cost to the airlines. But make it required. Then require the inclusion of GPS on every ACARS equipped plane or engine.
Still, the reality is that this simply gets first responders to the bodies quicker. It won't save any lives. It might save costs in search and rescue, a bill which nations end up footing from taxes anyway (hence the tax write-off suggestion).
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by jcross on Tuesday December 30 2014, @10:11PM
Good points. It may well save lives though, in the sense that we can't learn anything about potential failure modes from an aircraft that we can't find. Another cheap option that occurred to me is some kind of radio beacon mounted to the top of the plane in such a way that after being immersed for an extended period of time it comes loose, floats to the surface, and starts broadcasting. Ideally it would either record the location where it surfaced or be tethered somehow to avoid issues with currents. IIRC they have a similar kind of beacon for boats, but not as automatic.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday December 30 2014, @11:40PM
Install boxes that interrogates any ACARS capable airplane nearby and push it onto a mesh network that also uploads whatever it's internal storage has found whenever it's in an airport through a signed connection to multiple headquarters?
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday December 31 2014, @12:36AM
What is this pointless fascination with mesh networks?
We can't even get these things running reliably on the ground, let alone in the air.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday December 31 2014, @12:50AM
No single point of failure. But in reality they should probably be combined with a satellite link. But any solar flare would fry them.