RTCA October 2021 Digest

RTCA Releases 2-Part Series on Airport Innovation & Infrastructure

In August and September, RTCA lead conversations with airport experts on the future of passenger travel. The panel discussions, moderated by Carol Huegel of Gate 2 Gate Solutions, focused on improving the customer experience to meet expectations, ongoing efforts to improve efficiency and sustainability, and the future role of airports in transportation infrastructure.

Part 1, Airports – Critical Components in Future Transportation Infrastructure, includes panelists from ACI-NA, AAAE, L3Harris, NASAO and Saab. Chris Oswald of ACI-NA discusses capital needs for airports between now and 2025, estimated at $115 billion – WATCH https://youtu.be/Ze1hm1aP_84

In Part 2, Innovation and Airport Infrastructure, airport executives from LAWA, MCI and GTAA are joined by Collins Aerospace and discuss improving the passenger experience and sustainability efforts. Ian Redhead discusses how MCI can quickly charge airport vehicles and Michelle Schwartz discusses adding remote bag drops at car parking areas surrounding LAX – WATCH https://youtu.be/dT34IiR_uSY

New Member Spotlight: Classical Academy High School

Terry McVenes interviews Vicki Mazur, teacher of Computer Science and Robotics at Classical Academy High School. The Classical Academies is an organization of award-winning, tuition-free, California Public Charter Schools serving North San Diego County since 1999. Vicki discusses how the launch of their new drone pilot program is preparing kids for jobs right out of high school and enticing some to pursue their private pilot certificate. WATCH: https://youtu.be/ZSIgQsM4uCA

RTCA is launching a Call for Participation to inform interested parties about activities undertaken by SC-234 on Portable Electronic Devices (PED).

SC-234, jointly with EUROCAE WG-99, have developed standards ensuring PED tolerance demonstration of aircraft independently from non-aviation PED radio communication standards:

· DO-263/ED-130A Guidance for the Development of Portable Electronic Devices (PED) Tolerance for Civil Aircraft, December 2016 (incl change 1, March 2019)

· DO-307A/ED-239 Aircraft Design and Certification for Portable Electronic Device (PED) Tolerance, December 2016

Following the publication of these standards, SC-234 was sunset.

Since the publications, the scope of frequency allocation has evolved. The expansion in additional spectrum ranges of WiFi 6E, adds support for 6 GHz wireless spectrum up to 7 GHz and more, and the 5th generation cellular mobile network also known as 5G expands spectrum close to the radio altimeter spectrum.

Although the technical impact will likely be low, applicants using the guidance material for PED tolerance may find today’s documentation ambiguous regarding the spectrum expansions, because both spectrum allocations are not yet explicitly named.

The DO-263/ED-130A aircraft PED tolerance demonstration will need to include spectrum above 7GHz for Wi-Fi 6E PED tolerance clearance on non-HIRF legacy aircraft. The 5G spectrum expansion causes a need to clarify interference path loss demonstration on aircraft as per DO-307A/ED-239, table 4.7.

SC-234, jointly with WG-99, is therefore pursuing the objective of developing:

· DO-263A/ED-130B Guidance for the Development of Portable Electronic Devices (PED) Tolerance for Civil Aircraft

· DO-307B/ED-239A Aircraft Design and Certification for Portable Electronic Device (PED) Tolerance

The Kick-off meeting will take place virtually on Wednesday, November 10, 2021 (09:00-13:00 EST).

RTCA requires membership to participate in the activities subject to this Call for Participation. For information please consult: https://www.rtca.membership/.

For any additional information please contact Karan Hofmann, Program Director, [email protected].


DO-160G, Environmental Testing	October 25-29, 11am-5pm est. / December 6-10, 11am-5pm est.
DO-254, Design Assurance Guidance for Airborne Electronic Hardware	December 7-10, 11am-5pm est.
DO-178C, Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment w/Supplements	December 13-17, 11am-5pm est.

email: [email protected] for more information

RTCA Events

Upcoming Webinar:

UAS: Routine Operations in Controlled Airspace
Wednesday, October 20, 1pm ET
Register: https://bit.ly/3DqCJhF

Did you know that the FAA has already endorsed a set of standards that enable Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Uncrewed Aircraft (UA) operations in Controlled Airspace? Join RTCA and panelists for a discussion on the upcoming work of SC-228 that has applicability not just to UAS, but also Advanced Air Mobility and legacy NAS users such as General Aviation and Business Aviation. Moderated by Brandon Suarez, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. and Co-Chair, SC-228.