The possible use of ADS-B data to infer turbulence encounters by commercial aircraft

The Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) is a surveillance technology for tracking aircraft as part of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Over the U. S. the majority of aircraft operating within its airspace will be equipped with some form of ADS-B by 2020. Among other things, ADS-B reports the GPS position of aircraft and updates on these at 1 second intervals. Based on previous analyses of flight data recorder traces taken during turbulence encounters this update rate should be fast enough to estimate the location of waves and turbulence that cause significant fluctuations in the measured aircraft altitude and ground speed.

A limited sample of ADS-B aircraft tracks over Boulder, CO were analyzed for possible altitude and ground speed excursions that may be related to turbulence. The concept and preliminary results of these evaluations will be presented.