China has tested a superfast aircraft tracking satellite with the aim of preventing another MH370-style tragedy.
The revolutionary technology can update the status of an aircraft every eight seconds – boasting a system twice as fast as the US – allowing an airline to accurately track planes, even if it loses contact with them.
If successful, the Beihang Kongshi 1 could transform the aviation industry forever and see “hundreds of satellites” control a global tracking system, according to state-run publication Science and Technology Daily.
After launching last November in near-Earth orbit, the pioneering radio surveillance technology and hardware was reported to have worked “quite well” after being sent up into space.
Somewhat inspired by China’s newest missile defence system, the Beihang Kongshi 1 has an antenna that can unfold in space with multiple layers.
Its multidimensional design gives it the capability to receive and characterise a larger number of similar radio waves at the same time.
Its efficiency allows radio signals emitted by each aircraft, which are notoriously difficult to monitor over such a huge scale of airspace, to be pinpointed within seconds.
Therefore even if planes lose contact – as the Malaysian Airlines passenger plane did – the Beihang Kongshi 1 could provide a more precise timeline of its path.
On March 8, 2014, the Boeing 777 – carrying 239 people on board – mysteriously disappeared from radar after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, bound for Beijing.
The plane took an unexplained U-turn from its planned flight path and headed back across the Malay Peninsula and the Malacca Strait before vanishing.
Seven years on from flight MH370, some investigators believe the plane’s captain made a series of zig-zagging movements to throw off air traffic teams and evade radar systems.
Despite aerospace engineers suggesting the aircraft could have set off invisible “electronic trip-wires”, the busy airspace makes it extremely difficult to confirm if it was the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane.
After years of unsuccessful searches, the tragedy prompted a huge focus on producing improved tracking technology that could sit in the skies.
Ground-based tracking systems are limited
Ground-based tracking systems are limited because they only have the capacity to cover 30 per cent of the Earth’s surface. Its restrictions saw the US, Germany, Canada and Denmark join the race to create a new form of technology to keep tabs on planes.
Typically, radio beaming devices known as an automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) are installed in most passenger planes, but it emits weaker signals at a longer distance.
Experts believe such signals could be more effectively tracked by satellites in orbit – if its antenna was sensitive enough – like the Beihang Kongshi 1’s unfolding “lotus flower” transmitter.
China have been keen to get one up on the US after Aireon launched the world’s first space-based tracing system with an international network incorporating over 60 new-gen Iridium satellites in 2019.
The country could knock the Western superpower off the top spot after snubbing America’s technology – reportedly due to its sensitivity regarding possible military functions.
In a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Chinese Space Science and Technology in June, Professor Chen Lihu, of the National University of Defence Technology in Changsha, said: “The ADS-B data can be used for monitoring and reconnaissance of military targets in the air.”
After trialling the Tiantuo 3 in 2015, China’s first satellite fitted with an aircraft tracking system, they have quietly advanced their technology over the years.
The nation then managed to outperform European competitors with their upgraded model, according to Professor Chen, after launching the Tinatuo 5 in August 2020.
With a detection range of more than 2,485 miles, it can receive more than 3 million messages a day and has provided the framework for the Beihang Kongshi 1.
China could now triumph over the US by steering clear of polar areas, where many of the Aireon systems are closely located, as it is a zone where planes fly.
Now, the creators are now tasked with tackling the problem of overlapping signals in areas with high aircraft density before it progresses past the experimental stage. the-sun.com
