A safety assessment framework for the Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) system

The ATM system is currently undergoing various fundamental changes to improve air travel performance. A key change is the transition from a mainly reactive and tactical system to a significantly more predictive and strategic system. This is encapsulated in the concept of 4D trajectory based operations, currently being developed in Europe and the USA through the Single European Sky (SES)/Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) and the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGEN) respectively. At the core of this transition, is the need for improved situational awareness, shared between relevant stakeholders. The Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) system is a key enabler of this concept, targeted at distributing real-time positioning and navigation information to stakeholders. Therefore, the safety and credibility of the ADS-B system to support various ground and airborne applications are key, and need to be assessed and validated. This paper reviews existing safety assessment methods, identifies key limitations and proposes a novel, comprehensive and rigorous safety assessment framework for the ADS-B system.