Asiana Airlines and Air Busan select Rockwell Collins global fleet-wide aircraft tracking service

ANNAPOLIS, Md. Officials at Korea-based Asiana Airlines and subsidiary Air Busan have sought effective aircraft tracking for the airline operators’ fleets. They found their solution at Rockwell Collins in Annapolis, Maryland, selecting the company’s ARINC MultiLink aircraft tracking service.

ARINC MultiLink aggregates multiple data sources to reliably report the location of a commercial aircraft anywhere in the world, particularly in remote areas. The global flight tracking service uses Rockwell Collins’ proprietary high-frequency data link (HFDL) performance data and merges several other data sources, including ACARS position reports, ADS-C, ADS-B, ASDI radar data, and EUROCONTROL position information.

ARINC MultiLink tracks aircraft using ACARS position reports and other data feeds, with each flight colored-coded to reflect the aircraft’s exact location and what it is reporting in relation to its flight plan.

“Proactively tracking our aircraft ensures we have the most up-to-date information to manage our complex flight operations,” explains Kyungsuk Jun, IT service manager of operations control at Asiana Airlines. “We are anticipating that the seamless integration of Rockwell Collins’ ARINC MultiLink data feeds into our current situational display system under development is going to enable us to track our aircraft anywhere in the world.”

ARINC MultiLink supports flexible position reporting frequency, enabling it to meet industry recommendations of providing position reports at least every 15 minutes. Airlines can also receive notifications when an aircraft has unexpectedly stopped reporting positional data or when the aircraft has deviated from its expected flight path.

“As a carrier that focuses on providing our passengers with the lowest airfares possible, we find ARINC MultiLink to be a highly economical solution for global aircraft tracking because it did not require us to add new on-board hardware on our aircraft,” says Hyeonmin Lee, assistant manager of the Operations Control Center at Air Busan. “Reusing the data we are already downlinking for operational purposes has allowed us to implement ARINC MultiLink quickly and cost effectively.”

Rockwell Collins develops and deploys aviation and high-integrity solutions for both commercial and government applications. Flight deck avionics, cabin electronics, mission communications, simulation and training, and information management are delivered by a global workforce and a service and support network that crosses more than 150 countries.