Traffic Awareness for General Aviation (TAGA)

Abstract

A project called “Traffic Awareness for General Aviation (TAGA)” was performed in the Federal Republic of Germany. The project focused on investigating the feasibility and identifying possible safety benefits of performing the “Enhanced Visual Acquisition for See & Avoid” application within German VFR airspace in the vicinity of Frankfurt/Main. The following hypotheses were to be assessed in the project:•It is possible to enhance the traffic detection probability of General Aviation pilots flying under visual flight rules by means of a Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI).•General Aviation pilots are able to monitor a CDTI and to detect in time potential conflicting aircraft on the CDTI during a normal flight performed under visual flight rules.•It is possible to derive traffic information for the performance of a see-and-avoid application from a Traffic Information Service Broadcast (TIS-B).In order to meet the objectives of the project, an experimental TIS-B ground system based on the VDL Mode 4 data link technology was installed. The TIS-B service was based on radar surveillance data from the ground radar data network. Three General Aviation aircraft were equipped with appropriate airborne equipment, and a flight trial campaign was performed during May 2002 and April 2003.