- The prime objective of SkyEcho is air-air surveillance. However, the CASA AC envisages SkyEcho being used for situational awareness.
- In Australia, it is envisaged that Airservices Australia will, in due course, enable the display of SkyEcho with a different symbology for the purposes of ATC situational awareness.
- Different symbology is required so that the ATC know that this symbol is not to be used for aircraft to aircraft separation, because the device, including the GPS, has not been certified to support that level of performance.
- The Australian device, unlike the UK variant, transmits a SIL=1 and SDA=1 with the objective of enabling ATC visibility and visibility to certified ADS-B IN applications.
- In 2020, the Airservices Australia ATC system has not yet been modified to display SkyEcho. With a new ATC system on the way, and with the COVID crisis, there is uncertainty about when this capability may be delivered by Airservices Australia.
- Of course, to be visible to ATC, SkyEcho will also need to within range of an Airservices Australia ADS-B ground station. SkyEcho does not transmit the same power as a “normal” ADS-B capable transponder, so will not have the same range as a transponder.
