Philippine, Singapore inaugurate project to make flights safer

December 2, 2017

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, and the Singapore government, represented by Singapore's Ambassador to the Philippines Kok Li Peng,  Saturday inaugurated the Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) in the municipality of Bataraza in the southernmost tip of Palawan.

The ADS-B project-- a state-of-the-art surveillance technology that aims to make flights safer and air traffic management more efficient-- is a collaboration between the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said Saturday.

Also present in the inauguration were Governor Jose Alvarez of Palawan, DOTr Undersecretary for Aviation Manuel Antonio Tamayo, CAAP Director General Jim Sydiongco, and officials from CAAP and CAAS.

The ADS-B technology allows an aircraft to determine its position via satellite navigation and periodically broadcasts it, enabling it to be tracked. An aircraft equipped with ADS-B can broadcast useful information such as their identities, positions, altitudes, and velocities twice every second.

Ground equipment known as ADS-B receivers will pick up and process these pieces of information to air traffic controllers, which will then use the information to control and monitor the aircraft. With this technology, air traffic controllers will be able to plan the air traffic flow better and manage the air traffic more efficiently.

"This project is of utmost importance to the Filipino people. This will not only make air travels safer and more secure-- it will also help prevent flight delays caused by air traffic congestion. By inaugurating this, we can say that our aviation technology is now at par with technologies being utilized by other developed countries," Tugade said.

ADS-B also improves the ability to perform life-saving search and rescue missions. It can provide more accurate information about last reported positions, minimizing the search period, in such operations.

The use of ADS-B will also contribute to the global effort in reducing carbon footprint since the aircraft will be given optimal flying height, which translates to fuel savings as well as lower aviation carbon emissions.

By 2018, the transportation department, through CAAP, shall establish ADS-B ground stations in the Kalayaan Group of Islands. In 2019, additional ADS-B ground stations in Iba, Zambales and Bolinao, Pangasinan. DMS