Raytheon Systems of the UK has received a contract from Eurocontrol to install four ADS-B (automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast) ground systems to support trials aimed at validating the use of the technology as an alternative to radar for ATC surveillance.

The ADS-B systems will be located in Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands and Germany for testing expected to last two years. The first ADS-B ground station was delivered to Ireland in late August, according to Raytheon Systems. The company has developed a prototype 1090-MHz ADS-B ground station with so-called extended squitter decoding functionality.

Trials conducted over the last year have shown that the system works effectively in congested air traffic environments, extracting and successfully decoding ADS-B messages even when overlapped or garbled by other signals, the company said.