Active Beacon Collision Avoidance System (BCAS) Logic Performance during Operational Flight Tests

摘要

Between 13 July and 9 September 1980, operational flight tests of an Active BCAS Experimental Unit (BEU) were conducted. The flight tests included 129 approaches to 28 different airports during 60 hours of flight: 14 unplanned encounters which gave rise to BCAS alerts were recorded. In each of the encounters, the aircraft carrying the BEU came into a conflict with another aircraft entirely by chance. The other aircraft was not associated with the BCAS test program in any way. The primary purpose of the flight tests was to determine how many unplanned alerts would occur during normal flight operations and to assess whether each was a desirable or unwanted alert. In addiiton, alert correctness, timeliness, and utility were considered along with the potential impact of BCAS on the ATC system. The data was also used to determine approximately the region(s) where desensitization of BCAS threat logic should be applied to limit unwanted alerts.