Aircraft using controlled airspace above 12,500 feet in Canada will have to be equipped with ADS-B capable of transmitting to Nav Canada’s Aerion space-based ADS-B system by Feb. 23 of 2023. The firm date was announced jointly by Nav Canada and Transport Canada. To be compliant, aircraft must have ADS-B antennas on the top of the aircraft capable of transmitting 1090 MHz extended squitter signals to satellites. Belly-mounted antennas used to communicate with the U.S. ground-based systems will not be enough. Many of the airliner, charter and business aircraft that routinely use Class A (IFR-only controlled airspace above 18,000 feet) and Class B (controlled airspace between 12,500 and 18,000 feet for IFR and CVFR traffic) included in the mandate likely already have the “antenna diversity” required for Aerion. But Nav Canada has warned that a future mandate for low-level controlled airspace is on the way and that will be a costly obstacle to many U.S. light aircraft operators who want to fly to Canada.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/canada-phasing-in-space-based-ads-b-starting-in-2023