When does Frequency come into play? … Part 2
June 6, 2020
Frequency – Spark Crowdfunding – Success
July 3, 2020
The Pre-Departure
From the research we have carried out we can show that Frequency can reduce the average turn around by 2 minutes. Airborne scenarios such as those discussed, in previous posts i.e. scenarios 1 & 2 although critical with far larger benefits in terms of costs, delays and safety to the operation are less common and therefore far more difficult to gather quantitative data on.
Frequency has optimised our contact management system to allow flight teams to communicate openly and share real time information with the required parties which allows them to work together as a team to resolve any issues that arise ultimately resulting in dispatching the aircraft sooner. The key to this is being able to contact the required party and reducing the overall number of communications necessary by up to 60%.
The issue …
Currently if the pilots discover an issue with the aircraft pre departure they will use a congested companywide unsecure VHF channel, which would be used by multiply aircraft and flight crews to contact various airline departments, to speak to the Maintenance Control Centre (MCC), once they manage to get their chance to speak on the channel they then must hope that MCC is listening out. When they establish communication they will request that MCC contact their flight engineer and request them to come up to the flight deck. Once achieved MCC will likely attempt to relay an expected time of arrival of the engineer. This simple and common example of a back and forth of unnecessary relayed messages can easily take up to 2 minutes delaying the resolution of the issue.
On a flight that is Frequency enabled the flight crew will be able to easily tell if their engineer is available using our presence feature then select their assigned flight engineer and communicate directly with them over the secure uncongested system, reducing the time and resources required.
Currently …
There are currently 8 different communication systems that a pilot will use throughout the day. These eight systems have come about as technology advances new forms of communication have been able to solve a particular communication issue but none have been able to replace the previous, and therefore have been included as an additional form which has resulted in this complicated web of communication.
| Advantages | Disadvantages | |
| Mobile Phone | Unlimited Range | Not always charged |
| Expensive | ||
| Can’t be used in the air | ||
| 1-2-1 communication only | ||
| Satellite Phone | Unlimited Range | Very Expensive |
| Can be used in the air | Not always installed | |
| Voice Only | ||
| VHF | Multiparty | Short Range <200nm |
| Cheap | Voice Only | |
| Congestion | ||
| HF | Lone range | Very Poor quality |
| Voice Only | ||
| Expensive hardware & Maintenance | ||
| ACARS | Unlimited Range | Expensive |
| Limited text only | ||
| Slow and Complicated | ||
| CPDLC | Reduces VHF congestion | ATC Only |
| Not always reliable | ||
| Only pre-defined messages | ||
| Can transfer files | Rarely used | |
| Cheap | Not practical for flight operations | |
| Landline Phone | Cheap | Only in office |
Frequency …
Frequency now has the ability to be a singular unified communication system for the aviation industry. Frequency was designed by extracting the benefits of each system while discarding their individual restrictions.
Frequency at Spark Crowdfunding
