WRC will consider spectrum allocations for global flight tracking

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has a resolution that instructs the forthcoming World Radiocommunication Conference in 2015 (WRC-15) to consider global flight tracking in its agenda.

The step follows the disappearance and loss of Flight MH370 in March 2014 with 239 people on board, which spurred worldwide discussions on global flight tracking and the need for coordinated action.

The resolution also instructs the director of ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau to submit a specific report on the matter to WRC-15.

This report will include the results of studies which have been carried out in the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) for the last two years and are being accelerated as a result of this resolution. ITU-R Working Party 5B (in charge of aeronautical-related issues) is currently meeting in Geneva and working on this same topic.

In March 2014, the Minister of Communications and Multimedia of Malaysia, Ahmad Shabery Cheek, called for an international effort to find solutions to track commercial aircraft in real time.

Industry leaders and experts from the aviation and information and communication technology (ICT) sectors, and representatives of international organisations, governments and trade associations met in Kuala Lumpur in May 2014 to explore global initiatives and current and future technological developments that could provide such solutions.

In its special meeting on global flight tracking, which took place in Montréal, 12-13 May 2014, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) encouraged ITU to take urgent action to provide the necessary spectrum allocations for satellites to support emerging aviation needs.

ICAO has developed Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) for systems that enable position determination and tracking of aircraft for air traffic control, which represents a critical element of aviation safety and security.

As a complement to the abovementioned efforts, in June 2014, ITU also established a Focus Group under the umbrella of the Telecommunication Standardisation Sector (ITU-T) on Aviation Applications of Cloud Computing for Flight Data Monitoring.

This group will study the requirements for telecommunication standards to enable an ‘aviation cloud’ for real-time monitoring of flight data, including those for the protection, security and ownership of flight data and the technical mechanisms and policies to govern access to these data.