【ACARS System】What is it and how does it work? ▷ 2022

If you are one of the people who have ever wondered how a communication system between an aircraft in flight and the airline worksyou have the opportunity to know what is the mechanism used in these issues.

This system of automatic and manual information between air and ground is called ACARS. Which issues reports of different factors, such as the possibility of landing in certain situations, fuel level or aircraft breakdowns. Thanks to its different functions, it allows you to control the airspace and have better performance in fleet logistics operations.

Know in detail what is the airborne information system ACARS, and why it is said that its operation is very similar to an email.

What is the ACARS communication system and what is it for?

The system “Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System” o ACARS is a method of communication used in aviation. It was created to be able to have a permanent transmission between the aircraftwhen in flight, and the different maintenance centers of the company that owns the ships.

In this way, it is possible to have precise control over breakdowns, weather conditions and complementary operation, among other issues. The transmission is via VHF and HF radio wavesis currently also broadcast through satellites.

It basically consists of having on the plane a that transmits information automatically to different centrals, which can be air traffic control, the owner of the airline or the owner of the system. While on land there is everything in equipment that allows access to automatic communication.

This part of the system is very important since, if the aircraft does not issue a warning for a certain time, the ground equipment will launch a “ping” to obtain information.

Just as these transmissions are done automatically, they can also be done manually. With which it is possible to obtain printed reports and access important results when there are air accidents.

There are three kinds of messages, the descendants that originate from the ship and are destined for the ground maintenance stations and the ascending, which have the reverse path. There are also the communications that allow an aircraft to communicate, when it is in the air, with other aircraft of the same company or fleet. We can call this class of messages lateral communication.

What are the main features and functions of an ACARS system?

Within the main functions of ACARS we can distinguish the following:

• allow the air traffic control between airports or agencies in charge of free spaces.
• Manages to monitor logistics operations of the airline, as well as acting in the negotiations between the crew on board and the airline.
• Accurate reports can be accessed of the performance of the aircraft in different situations, whether climatic or operational, especially in takeoffs, stops and landings.
• Thanks to this tool, the airline knows everything that happens inside the plane when in flight, so it can warn of unfavorable situations for the aircraft.
• Also, a pilot manages to notice adverse moments when he is in the airwhether generated by mandatory deviations or actions outside of a normal flight.
• By being able to measure all the components that the aircraft has, the different maintenance centers can study in advance any technical irregularity. And in this way they can plan their intervention.

How does an ACARS system work to achieve effective ground-air communication?

The operation of the ACARS system is based on reports that are transmitted through bases located on the ground, called ARINC, which automatically issue the communication without the intervention of people. In this way there is a control dedicated to maintenance, logistics and commercial operations for each aircraft, which has a unique identifier.

The frequencies of VHF using ACARS It depends on where in the world the ship is located, for example 131.550 MHz is the main world frequency or 131.725 MHz is the primary one in Europe.

The system ACARS has the particularity that it has similarities with an emailsince the messages are stored on a server until a terminal downloads them and can read them.

When the plane is in flight, automatically issues reports of its operating status, detecting breakdowns or certain failures. Thanks to this technology, aircraft maintenance personnel know in advance all the problems or defects that the plane presents before landing. In this way the work is done more efficiently.