8.2 Blog Discussion: Air Traffic Control Entities
Air Traffic Control (ATC) is critical to ensuring the safe and efficient flow of aircraft. There are various ATC entities within a region, but also globally. Air Route Traffic Control Centres (ARTCC) control the flow of en-route traffic in the United States. The US is split into 22 ARTCC’s named based on the general region they cover (FAA, n.d.). ARTCC’s are vital in creating efficient flow to traffic, providing routings and reroutings, coordinating between aircraft to ensure spacing/separation and facilitating various pilot requests. Much of their work is doable because of radar to accurately pinpoint the location of aircraft. ARTCC’s cover continental airspace, as well as Hawaii. They utilize Very High Frequency (VHF) voice communication and are therefore limited to line-of-sight communication, which is why ARTCC’s only exist over land.
Oceanic airspace, such as the North Atlantic, is some of the busiest airspace in the world. However, there is no VHF coverage for most of it meaning that ARTCC’s do not function here. Instead, the North Atlantic airspace is split into oceanic control - Gander on the western half, and Shanwick on the Eastern half. These zones utilize High Frequency (HF) communication allowing for longer range communication. These zones also utilize Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) to facilitate easier communication than HF.
References:
FAA. (n.d.). Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC). Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC) | Federal Aviation Administration. Retrieved March 26, 2022, from https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/air_traffic_services/artcc
Very interesting blog! I learned a couple things by reading your blog that I didn't get through my research. First, it is nice to know that there are 22 ARTCCs across the U.S. That is a number that I am sure will increase proportionally with the increase in air travel and transportation. The second interesting thing is how ARTCCs are limited to "over land" only operations because of VHF and LOS limitations. If I understand correctly, Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) boosts HF signals to allow for longer range communication coverage or is it a completely separate system? Thanks again for the interesting and informative post!
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