Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are becoming the primary means of navigation for civil aviation. Nevertheless, concerns about GNSS outages remain, driving the need for Alternative Positioning, Navigation and Timing (APNT) systems to provide availability and continuity for performancebased navigation services. Although the existing Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) infrastructure is able to provide Required Navigation Performance (RNP) 1.0 accuracy, it is not robust for individual station outages. Additionally, we show that in the European airspace DME is reaching the capacity limit. To address these two problems, we propose a methodology based on modular APNT. In the presented approach, the complementary ranging sources are optimally placed to obtain robustness. It is assumed that the L-Band Digital Aeronautical Communications System (LDACS) can provide this capability. As shown in the results, the modular APNT system is able to provide robust RNP 1.0 coverage for Germany using 17 new LDACS ground stations to complement the network of 73 existing DME installations in Germany.
In this paper we discuss the feasibility of prototyping radionavigation hardware, designed to operate in the ARNS band, by flight testing it in the 902-928 MHz ISM band. A central challenge in this effort was the shared nature of the ISM band, which causes high in-band interference levels and, consequently, a reduction in the signal-to-noise ratio. We propose mitigating strategies that enable operation in the ISM band, as well as a methodology for assessing the equivalence of results with ARNS band measurements.
Inertial sensors constitute an essential part in civil avionics systems. It has also been identified as a required system to meet the foreseen availability requirements in the context of Alternative Position Navigation and Timing (APNT). For example, DME/DME/Inertial (DDI) is currently considered for RNAV 1.0 operations. In this work, we look beyond DDI and investigate the possibility of an integrated inertial system with multiple APNT ranges. Thanks to our simulation framework, we evaluate in different scenarios the integration of inertial system with ranging sources using real DME locations. Based on the results, we finally analyze and comment on the limitations, implications and issues of using tactical grade instead of navigation grade inertial sensors.
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