Integration of the ground-based augmentation system in continuous descent operations

Abstract

Predictability is a necessity in today's commercial flight operations if delays are to be minimized. Possible mitigations, such as the implementation of continuous descent arrivals (CDAs), may help generate the required procedural predictability to curtail these delays. However, on the basis of its individual avionics suite, each aircraft follows a different barometric vertical descent path; furthermore, the aircraft may be given additional level‐off segments by air traffic control to compensate for possible deviations in the vertical profile. Therefore, aircraft flying the current descent profiles are too unpredictable and thus the procedures cannot be implemented in complex airspace structures or when traffic is moderate to high. This study introduces a mitigation to this problem by taking the global positioning system (GPS) one step further by integrating the GPS‐based ground‐based augmentation system (GBAS) into the new optimized continuous decent arrival procedure, subsequently, allowing for the introduction of a geometrical vertical guidance, namely, the GBAS‐CDA, which will make the aircraft flying the descent profile predictable. With the increase in availability of GBAS aircraft equipage, specifically the GPS landing system (GLS), and the approaching amendment of the Appendix E of the Minimum Operational Performance Standards for GPS Local Area Augmentation System Airborne Equipment–RTCA DO‐253D, this idea of the integration of the GBAS on the arrival/descent segment as a viable solution may be finally coming within reach.

Ground Facility Error Analysis and GBAS Performance Evaluation Around Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand

“…Using a navigation performance indicator known as protection level (PL), the GBAS needs to set a limit on the amount of positioning uncertainty that is acceptable for the aircraft. In the GBAS standard [16], [19], [20], PL are used to certify the availability, accuracy, integrity, and continuity of the GBAS. The idea behind PL is to generate a bound of acceptable errors by using real-time errors measured from the system.…”

A multi-parameter stable-distribution-based protection levels calculation method for ground-based augmentation systems integrity assessment

“…The ground-based augmentation system of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) can provide differential corrections 1 and ensure the navigation integrity of the aircraft during precision approach. 2 Integrity generally refers to the trust that can be placed in the outputs of a system and the ability of a system to alert when its outputs cannot be trusted (i. e., are unsafe to use). 3 In the GBAS integrity monitoring strategy, the integrity judgment is implemented on the user side.…”

Closed-Form Study of Undetected Range Errors Induced by Ionospheric Anomalies for GAST-D GBAS

“…As global positioning system (GPS) signals travel through the ionosphere, they experience a delay, which is proportional to the density of total electron content. A ground-based augmentation system (GBAS) augments existing GPS signals by broadcasting differential corrections and integrity information to enable precision approaches for aircraft (Hoffmann & Walton, 2018). Under nominal conditions, the ionospheric delay is partly eliminated by differential corrections, and residual ionospheric errors caused by spatial decorrelation between the ground and aircraft are bounded by the integrity parameter σ vig (Chang et al, 2021).…”