Nav Canada’s ADS-B performance report.

[terry.mortimore]

Hi Gang: I requested a PAPR report from Nav Canada’s new report service. I have the UAvionics tail beacon X installed for about a year now and the FAA report I requested was successful and it has been working well for the last year since it was installed.

I’ve always wondered if the satellite side of the system was working as it should. When I seen that Nav Canada has the PAPR service I decided to run a report from yesterday’s flight.

I’ve attached the report to this post. Everything looks OK, except for two items in the missing elements section at the bottom of the first page. The boxes labeled Flight ID and Mode 3 A are shown as not acceptable.

The User Guide is not much help, I don’t know if I have a problem or not.

I’d appreciate any input. Terry

 

[PaulvS]

There's a couple of pointers in the user guide, per below. I suggest go flying again and generate another report. I don't believe there is a significant problem, if any.

Flight ID (partial not acceptable) Portion(s) of flight in areas where ADS-B coverage may not
be available
Mode 3A Mode 3/A code input device not providing data

 

[Snowflake]

I ran the same test on my tailbeaconX install and got back a pass across the board, just like I did from the FAA. Mine is still mounted on my tail, but I am planning to move it to the wingtip at some point.

 

[Canadian_JOY]

I've been privy now to multiple NavCanada PAPR reports. The missing Flight ID and Mode 3A is glaringly common. So much so that I've sent in a client service request to get some answers on it.

BTW, of the reports I've seen they have varied from standard belly-mount 1090ES transponders to full diversity transponders with both belly and roof mount, as well as the TailbeaconX. These two data fields are commonly missing from these reports, and it seems independent of installation type.

Also of note, the "hit rate" between FAA and NavCanada reports is vastly different. I've now seen several reports from both entities covering the same flight (the latest with a TailbeaconX) - typically the Aerion satellites are recording about 1/10th as many reports as the FAA's ground-based system, and in some cases, only 1/100th as many.

NavCanada has a LOT of work to do to make Aerion viable for General Aviation use. Be careful - they have no compunction when it comes to downloading the equipment upgrades onto our airplanes rather than onto their satellites. Their satellite network is, at best, significantly under-engineered. Too few birds, too few orbital spares, too little redundancy and robustness. A few more active satellites in the air would pretty much do away with a requirement for diversity.

 

[riseric]

Flight ID / Mode 3A

I did the request and had the same missing Flight ID and Mode 3A fields.
For the record, I'm equiped with only belly transponder and ADS-B antennas.
That particular flight was in the Quebec area.

 

[SPX]

I would not worry about your unacceptable PAPR from Canada right now as long as you believe that your equipment is working okay. I flew to Europe on Friday in the work airplane - a $40m Gulfstream. The portion from California to the east coast of the US which overflew about 200 miles of Ontario had the same failures as you have, and the portion along the 700 miles of the coast of Canada from Moncton through Gander were passing. Same flight, same aircraft. And we are equipped with top & bottom antennas. IMO, the problem is on the NavCanada side, not yours.

 

[1bigdog]

Not completed

I have twice attempted to generate a PAPR report of 2 separate flights. Both came back as not completed. One came back stating …” with flight date between 2023-09-01 19:10 UTC and 2023-09-01 20:10 UTC could not be retrieved as insufficient ADS-B messages were received for this aircraft in Canadian airspace.”. The other stating more cryptically that the data didn’t intersect Canadian airspace. No actual report generated. Just the email responses.

My setup is belly mounted with a GTX 45R on a 9A.
Flightaware receivers are certainly recording the ADS-B broadcasts without gaps. I’ve asked a friend who has an identical arrangement to try it on his RV-7.

Cheers

 

[Canadian_JOY]

Please be aware that Nav Canada has updated the software driving the PAPR process. Failures of Flight ID and Mode 3A were so commonplace that they decided to no longer report them.

(If you're losing the game, just move the goalposts!)