BendixKing KMD 540 - Addendum System KMD 850 - Manual (Page 14)

Revision 6 Feb/2009 KMD 550/850 FIS Addendum
1
INTRODUCTION
CONCEPT OF OPERATION
The Flight Information Services (FIS) system supplies real-time weather
information and other flight advisory information to pilots to enhance situ-
ation awareness.
FIS or XM weather is not intended to replace voice radio services. Voice
communication of weather and meteorological information, in accor-
dance with FAA operating rules, is still required.
Real-time weather is available 24 hours / day, 7 days / week. Two dif-
ferent systems are available for delivery of the weather data: a ground-
based VHF Data Link (VDL) network and Baron WxWorx weather deliv-
ered via the XM Radio satellite system. Data acquired from FAA
approved weather sources is processed and then distributed to VDL
Ground Stations and to the XM satellite network. The Ground Stations
broadcast the information over a VHF Data Link (VDL) to aircraft within
line-of-sight utilizing VDL mode 2 transmitters at a bit rate up to 31.5
kbps. The XM satellite network uses two geosynchronous satellites to
broadcast network weather to aircraft at S-band (2.3 GHz) frequencies.
This diagram illustrates how FIS VDL data is received in the aircraft.
Introduction