A message structure to communicate current/predicted surveillance service status

Surveillance systems such as ADS-B and Multi-Lateration Systems employ geographically distributed networks of sensors. The impacts of sensor outages on surveillance coverage can be complex, with operationally useful service retained through much of the service volume. For space-based ADS-B services, such as the Aireon system that will begin deployment this year, the service impact will have an extra dimension of complexity, since the sensors will not be stationary. The service impacts of sensor outages may be modelled a priori by the system provider, or by a service prediction tool delivered to the customer. The current and/or predicted service impacts may then be presented to air traffic controllers or system management specialists. To facilitate the transfer of geographically-based service prediction information from various surveillance systems or support tools to ATM operational platforms and integrated system monitoring platforms, a standard message structure is proposed. This message structure will support the description of a surveillance service volume as a set of tiles, and the indication of current and expected service status of each tile, individually or in groups, as a function of time. The message structure is scalable for a variety of surveillance applications, from airport surface movement to international space-based ADS-B. The message structure is suitable for implementation under the ASTERIX message protocol.