Some Options to Reduce Testing Costs for GPS and Embedded GPS User Equipment in Future Acquisition Programs

Steven L. Saks and Allen J. Snowball

Abstract:	Falling defence budgets have led to a number of initiatives aimed at reducing the cost of running acquisition programs. These initiatives have been running in parallel with technological advances in navigation systems, which have produced the current generation of highly capable and reliable equipment at a dramatically reduced unit cost. This has brought into sharp focus the cost of equipment testing, which has remained largely static irrespective of acquisition strategy employed. There is a need for the test procedures to be streamlined, but not simply by reducing the level of testing. This paper will examine current acquisition strategies, and the methods used to test avionics equipment. Following this review suggestions will be made concerning some alternative methods and practices which would bring the percentage of an acquisition budget spent on testing down to an acceptable level, whilst maintaining the necessary safeguards for the operational customer. Although, some of the suggested procedures put forward in the general sense have applications beyond avionics equipment, and GPS equipment in particular, the main interests of the authors are in reducing standalone and embedded GPS User Equipment (UE) acquisition costs, therefore the main illustrations will be from the GPS UE Program with more specific references to the EGI program.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1996) June 19 - 21, 1996 Royal Sonesta Hotel Cambridge, MA
Pages:	3 - 10
Cite this article:	Saks, Steven L., Snowball, Allen J., "Some Options to Reduce Testing Costs for GPS and Embedded GPS User Equipment in Future Acquisition Programs," Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1996), Cambridge, MA, June 1996, pp. 3-10.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In