SATELLITE AIDED ATC SYSTEM CONCEPTS EMPLOYING THE NAVSTAR GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

B. D. Elrod and A. Weinberg

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	The DOD NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS), expected to be implemented by the mid-1980’s, is designed to provide a highly accurate, three dimensional, worldwide navigation capability. The FAA has been investigating its use with other resources for potential ATC applications in which surveillance and data communications, in addition to navigation, are provided. Utilization of the GPS, either unmodified or modified, to support future ATC requirements, is of considerable interest because of the potential economic advantages associated with the joint use of satellites. This paper describes several concepts that have been investigated, for possible CONUS ATC applications, together with some of their significant features. These include user, space and ground segment configurations, spectrum requirements, and surveillance capacity. For the latter, two specific aircraft accessing schemes are considered-polling and time division multiple access (TDMA). The results indicate a high technical potential for providing the surveillance, navigation and data communications functions, but economic tradeoffs must still be examined in terms of user equipment complexity and overall system costs.
Published in:	NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Volume 25, Number 3
Pages:	323 - 344
Cite this article:	Elrod, B. D., Weinberg, A., "SATELLITE AIDED ATC SYSTEM CONCEPTS EMPLOYING THE NAVSTAR GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM", NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 25, No. 3, Fall 1978, pp. 323-344.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In