Canada ADS-B Diversity Requirement

[Diamond_Dan]

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/can ... g-in-2023/

"the mandate for Class C, D and E controlled airspace will be phased in starting no earlier than 2026 to allow time for equipage... ...but for U.S. operators, the vast majority of whom have already spent thousands of dollars to install ADS-B systems that do not have antenna diversity, it means installing a device that can power a roof-mounted antenna or buying one of the dual-purpose systems before they can conveniently fly to Canada."

So for Canada, Diversity will be mandatory after 23-Feb-2023 over 12,500 ft, and most everywhere by 2026. I signed up for CANPASS right before COVID thinking we might fly there a few times a year but it looks short lived. The GTX 345R with Diversity lists for $8500 and can't be had with GPS. Will GDU 15 ever come? Does Garmin offer an upgrade/trade-in? Another antenna and another hole in the fuselage. I feel bad for my friends north of the border with no solution yet. Am I missing something or will GA travel to Canada decrease significantly?

[Lou]

There is very little effort by regulators to accommodate GA in Canada. In much of the country there will be no short-term impact but in the West it will now be impossible to cross the mountains in IFR for aircraft like ours since the minima are typically 13000’.

Hopefully a work-around will be found, but our government is not known for its listening skills.

[CFIDave]

Ironically, it's Diamond Canada (working with Transport Canada for certification) that's taken way too long to certify GDU Version 15 software for Legacy G1000 DA40s. (GDU V15 software is already available for DA42s and DA62s with WAAS Legacy G1000.)

Why is GDU Version 15 needed? Because Garmin's GTX345DR (diversity antenna version of the GTX345R with top and bottom-mounted antennas) must use GIA63Ws or GIA64Ws as a source for GPS positioning information. There's no GTX345DR with its own built-in GPS, as there is today with all of the GTX345Rs currently installed in DA40s.

So Legacy G1000 DA40 owners can't just replace their GTX345Rs with GTX345DRs to meet Canada's top-mounted ADS-B requirements without certification of GDU V15 Legacy G1000 software.

If there's any good (less bad) news in all this, Diamond owners with Avidyne TAS600 series active traffic units already have both top and bottom-mounted antennas capable of transmitting a 1090 MHz ES signal. So it might be possible to install a splitter to re-use the TAS600's top "shark fin" antenna with the GTX345DR to meet Canada's new ADS-B requirements.

But my guess is that once Canada GA owners, and Canadian businesses dependent on US GA aircraft, realize and complain about how unrealistic the new 2023 rules are, Transport Canada will back off.

[Charles]

I thought I read somewhere that Diamond was working on demonstrating that the bottom mounted antenna offered a sufficiently strong signal upward through the composite airframe to dispense our planes from the top-mounted antenna requirement. Does anyone know if there's any truth to this?

I also hope that TC will back off, or at least limit the requirement to class A airspace, especially since I installed a brand new GTX345 a couple of years ago...

[Rich]

I do note that the 335D is available (ADS-B out only) and with a bit of a discount from list. (I didn't dig for "...DR") The same limitation of built-in GPS precludes diversity, and conversely. But adding another antenna on top isn't trivial: placement, ground plane, etc. and I didn't see any real guidance in this area in the installation manual.

There was a time when I was routinely making trips into Canada (just barely - Victoria/Vancouver area mostly) but haven't done so in years. I have been toying with replacing my KT74 with a 335, but waffle with whether I would slide along the extra feature trap. Anywhere from an extra 2 AMU to 8, I would guess.

[VickersPilot]

If there's any good (less bad) news in all this, Diamond owners with Avidyne TAS600 series active traffic units already have both top and bottom-mounted antennas capable of transmitting a 1090 MHz ES signal. So it might be possible to install a splitter to re-use the TAS600's top "shark fin" antenna with the GTX345DR to meet Canada's new ADS-B requirements.

That would be VERY interesting if valid Dave. Space based ADS-B is the correct path forward worldwide where there is less infrastructure.

[Ed McDonald]

The following is an email I sent to COPA (AOPA Lite) on this issue yesterday. I also shared this with Trevor Mustard at DAC and it is on their agenda.
If the FAA ever talks about privatizing air navigation services like it was done in Canada, take to the streets in protest. It is the worst of all worlds or, as we ask in Canada "NAV CANADA is the world's second best air navigation service provider. Who is first: everyone else."

Ladies,

I see in a recent Canadian Aviator article that NAV CANADA is continuing it headlong rush to foist 1090 MHz (satellite-based ADS-B) on not just aviators in Canada but also those from the US.

What we are witnessing is a death by a thousand cuts as NAV CANADA continues on the path that they set out their investment in Aireon many years ago. While there is no disputing the need for a space-based ADS-B network in Canada for remote (Northern) airspace and for the oceanic operations, the space-based solution makes little sense of Southern Domestic Airspace particularly in light of what our neighbours in the US implemented in 2020.

In addition, the US 978 MHz ADS-B provides a whole host of other benefits including traffic, weather, and other features which 1090 MHz does not (to the best of my knowledge). It is ironic that the US solution provides incredible value for an ADS-B installation in an aircraft with US aircraft owners who do not pay any air navigation surcharge yet here in Canada where all Canadians pay NAV CANADA fees, including with the airline tickets, we get no value whatsoever. It is kind of backwards - pays lots, get little or no benefit versus pay nothing and get lots of value and benefit.

The use of ADS-B for traffic avoidance alone is a huge safety benefit to the aviation community. I recently ferried an aircraft back from London, Ontario and while over flying Sault St. Marie we saw every aircraft in the circuit at the American Sault but nothing at the Canadian Sault airports - this provided a stark contrast between the two countries. The US has a system befitting a first world country while Canadian are being treated to a second rate system (and paying directly for it too).

On a safety basis alone, 978 MHz should be the de facto ADS-B system in Southern Canada. It is acknowledged that line-of-sight ADS-B from a ground-based system like that is both physically impossible and impractical across the vast Canadian airspace. But it is possible throughout most of Southern Domestic Airspace where the vast majority of GA traffic flies.

I would propose that NAV CANADA provide 978 MHz ADS-B at all the sites where NAV CANADA has existing communication infrastructure. This would include not only airports and aerodromes provide either FSS or ATS service but also navigation aids (or what is remaining of ground-based navigation aids) and remote communication facilities supporting the VHF communication network. By providing ADS-B service from these locations its would address the vast majority of where GS flies in this country, i.e. Southern Domestic Airspace. Yes, there will be gaps however it is better than nothing, particularly for traffic avoidance.

While the "private ADS-B" service that is being created by that organization in Stratford (or Oshawa), Ontario is laudable, providing aeronautic information is the legal responsibility of NAV CANADA for which we all pay NAV CANADA charges.

Could you please advise me what COPA's position is regarding 978 MHz ADS-B in Canada, what efforts have been made to have the regulator (Transport Canada) to have NAV CANADA fulfill its responsibilities, and any future plans to see 978 MHz implemented for the benefit of GA aircraft owners and pilots.

Thank you.

[Rich]

Ed, if I read your post correctly, I think you misunderstand the US system.

The ADS-B ground stations receive both 1090ES and 978UAT. They transmit FIS-B (weather, etc.) on 978 and TIS-B (Traffic) on both frequencies. The system adds in certain additional traffic to the TIS-B that is not ADS-B compliant. The typical plane in the US transmits its positional information on either 1090 or 978 and receives incoming transmissions on both frequencies. The towers serve no traffic function for mutually equipped ADS-B in/out in any reasonable proximity to each other, assuming they both listen on both frequencies. But they do feed into the ATC system, analogous to Aireon.

It appears the Aireon system only feeds into CANADA ATC. Two aircraft that are suitably equipped as in the US (sans diversity) will have the same direct mutual positional communication as we do here.

[Lou]

COPA (Canadian OPA, not Cirrus OPA) lobbied on the basis of a number of arguments with the Minister and Nav Canada: functional equivalency, higher Class B (that is the class of airspace above 12,500 in Canada) in Western Canada to permit crossing the mountains; weather info. It’s clear they hit a brick wall. I am not surprised. The 2026 deadline is to permit equipment development. For aircraft that can use Sky Beacons (Pipers and Cessnas) this will not be an issue. For Diamonds and Cirri, it will be. But the thought that the government will change the regulation to accommodate (maybe) a couple of hundred pilot-owners, or visiting US pilots, is highly unlikely. You may have noticed in the news recently that our national government is not known for listening to people.

[Ed McDonald]

Ed, if I read your post correctly, I think you misunderstand the US system.

The ADS-B ground stations receive both 1090ES and 978UAT. They transmit FIS-B (weather, etc.) on 978 and TIS-B (Traffic) on both frequencies. The system adds in certain additional traffic to the TIS-B that is not ADS-B compliant. The typical plane in the US transmits its positional information on either 1090 or 978 and receives incoming transmissions on both frequencies. The towers serve no traffic function for mutually equipped ADS-B in/out in any reasonable proximity to each other, assuming they both listen on both frequencies. But they do feed into the ATC system, analogous to Aireon.

It appears the Aireon system only feeds into CANADA ATC. Two aircraft that are suitably equipped as in the US (sans diversity) will have the same direct mutual positional communication as we do here.

Rich,

Thank you for clarifying this for me. I was not aware of some of the nuances you have pointed out.

The bottom line withe Aireon system is that is all take on the part of NAV CANADA (sending them the surveillance data) and no give (nothing in return such as weather, enhanced traffic, TFR's, etc.). At least in the US you get something in return for your investment.

Last summer with the forest fire season many airports and their instrument approaches were shut down due to TFR's for the forest fighting aircraft. If TFR's were uplinked (via 978), pilots would be able to display the TFR's, avoid them and the instrument procedures would not be NOTAM'd as Not Authorized. Paradoxically, just when you need instrument approaches for medical or civilian evacuation with poor visibility, they are not available.

Canada and GA is getting a 2nd rate ADS-B product - it's embarrassing.