Land-based flight radar systems are incapable of covering about 70 percent of the world's surface, so a United Nations conference has agreed to dedicate a chunk of radio spectrum for a global, space-based flight tracking system.

The Wednesday accord by the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) in Geneva was, in part, a reaction to the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 last year. Aircraft that can send signals known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, to the ground will be able to send those signals to satellites. The global plan is expected to be implemented by 2017.

"The frequency band 1087.7-1092.3 MHz is currently being utilized for the transmission of ADS-B signals from aircraft to terrestrial stations within line-of-sight. The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15) has now allocated this frequency band in the Earth-to-space direction to enable transmissions from aircraft to satellites. This extends ADS-B signals beyond line-of-sight to facilitate reporting the position of aircraft equipped with ADS-B anywhere in the world, including oceanic, polar and other remote areas," the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said in a statement.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations' aviation unit, said new tracking guidelines should be set by next November. Among the guidelines, airliners will relay their positions at least every 15 minutes.

"As adopted, the measure includes a resolution and a footnote to Article 5 of the ITU’s Radio Regulations that establishes a new aeronautical mobile satellite (route) service allocation for satellite reception of ADS-B signals transmitted in the 1 087.7 – 1 092.3 megahertz (MHz) spectrum band. ITU efforts will allow the enhanced use of ADS-B in these spectrum bands," the US government said in a statement.

Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people aboard and brought to light the shortcomings of global navigation tracking systems. In July, pieces of the Boeing 777 were found in the Indian Ocean.