PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show the performance during flight tests of the proposed GBAS Approach Service Type D navigation – intended to support autoland operations – in comparison to ILS.Design/methodology/approachAn experimental GBAS station was installed at the research airport in Braunschweig. Data processing complied with the currently proposed requirements to support automatic landings. Corrections for GPS measurements and integrity parameters were sent to a research aircraft which was equipped with an experimental GPS receiver providing raw measurement data. The received data and measurements were then processed on board in real‐time and provide approach guidance information to the experimental pilot in form of a flight director indication. To evaluate system performance the authors create a truth reference track from a post processed carrier phase solution. Finally, the GBAS outputs and the received ILS signals are compared to the truth reference.FindingsThe system performed well within all specifications and showed full availability at all times during the flight. Compared to ILS, GBAS is significantly more precise and shows almost no noise.Research limitations/implicationsThe navigation solution was flown manually according to flight director displays, therefore no automatic approaches and landings could be performed.Practical implicationsIt has been demonstrated that GBAS can support the intended operations under nominal conditions.Originality/valueThis work is part of the ongoing validation of the proposed standards for a satellite based landing system. It compares GBAS and ILS data from flight tests carried out with a representative aircraft.
In this contribution the existing RPAT concept for simultaneous approaches to closely spaced parallel runways is further elaborated to be implemented in low visibility. Besides RNP capabilities this concept uses as well ASAS spacing capabilities. The basic procedure design aspects and the required airborne functions are described. The airborne spacing will first be initiated by a 4D approach in which the trajectory of the target aircraft is being predicted based on position information provided by ADS-B or TIS-B. The ASPA function itself is then used to adjust the spacing such that after the S-curve the RPAT aircraft is parallel or slightly behind the target aircraft. Further on, results from simulations trails and initial flight trials will be presented. It is foreseen to fully flight test this concept in fall/winter 2010 at Braunschweig airport.
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