SBAS Flight Trials in European Eastern Countries where EGNOS is Still not Available

J. Cegarra, J. Escartín, J. Ostolaza, M. Krywanis-Brzostowska, H. de With

Abstract:	Taking into account the widespread availability of RNAV capabilities on-board the aircraft and in particular the increasing use of GNSS systems, navigation is moving from conventional towards RNAV. Area Navigation (RNAV) is a method of navigation which permits aircraft operation on any desired flight path within the coverage of referenced navigation aids, within prescribed limits of self-contained aids or within a combination of both. The RNAV method covers not just en route and terminal area but also approach, where RNP approach procedures are described by a series of waypoints, legs and altitude constraints stored in the onboard navigation database. Initially, RNAV procedures were used for en-route and terminal area navigation and for non-precision approaches, using lateral guidance only. Now, with the availability of SBAS integrity services, GNSS provides alternative and more precise navigation means allowing flying RNP approach procedures (APV SBAS -to LPV minima-). On March 2nd 2011 the EGNOS Safety-of-Life Service (SoL) was officially declared operational for aviation. Now, there are more than 40 APV SBAS procedures published in almost 40 airports in France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Also, by the end of 2011, the use of EGNOS for flying existing RNP approach procedures in Germany (82 APV Baro procedures in 38 airports) was approved meaning that they could be flown with EGNOS (for the vertical guidance too). EGNOS-based approach procedures implementation is now ramping up in Europe, with more than 100 APV SBAS procedures planned to be published in 2013. However, EGNOS service is still not available in all Europe. One of the main objectives of the EEGS2 project (EGNOS Extension to Eastern Europe: Applications) co-funded by the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission (FP7/2007-2013) under the grant agreement number 287179 and reviewed by the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is to demonstrate (through flight trials) the benefits of EGNOS in areas of Eastern Europe where EGNOS is not yet available and prepare the civil aviation authorities and navigation service providers of those areas for the future usage of EGNOS. Not only through the flight trials will the countries where EGNOS has not yet coverage familiarize with EGNOS procedures but also pilots will be able to really understand and feel the EGNOS performances and advantages. These flight trials will contribute to the adoption of SBAS systems in countries where the EGNOS signal is not yet available. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), in its Assembly meeting (36th Assembly meeting on 18th – 28th September 2007) strongly recommended the implementation of LPV approach procedures, for all instrument runway ends, either as the primary approach or as a back-up for precision approaches by 2016, with intermediate milestones of 30% by 2010 and 70% by 2014. For that purpose a system in order to conduct those flight trials has been developed. This system has been designed to be a plug and play device. It is composed of two different sub-systems. The first one, on ground, it is capable of broadcasting the magicSBAS signal in the airfield and the surrounding area, and the second one onboard which consists of an easily transportable rack plus a wirelessly operated tablet which provides guidance to the pilot. This onboard system only needs a GPS antenna as the system works autonomously with rechargeable batteries. magicSBAS is a state-of-the-art operational SBAS testbed developed by GMV to offer non-safety critical SBAS augmentation to any interested region. The algorithms implemented in magicSBAS have been fully developed by GMV and are the result of more than 15 years of experience in the development of EGNOS and other SBAS programs. The magicSBAS algorithms, originally designed to mimic EGNOS performances over the ECAC service area, have been further optimized and tuned to provide the best performances in other regions of the world (South America, South Africa, Russian Federation, etc.) and to extend EGNOS performances to Eastern and Southern Europe. On ground, a mobile base station receives the magicSBAS EGNOS-like signal through an internet connection, which is then broadcasted by a radio modem transmitter in a free UHF band. The signal is received onboard the aircraft through the radio modem receiver installed in the rack. Then, the GPS signal and the magicSBAS EGNOS-like signal are transmitted to the tablet device via Wi-Fi. The tablet contains an application SW including real-time data processing and graphical plots for monitoring and providing guidance to the pilot through a CDI/VDI display. The benefits and main features of the application are: *Plug and Play Modular System which allows easy transportation, configuration and installation both on ground and onboard. *Possibility of flying any LPV procedures defined in the airfield in places where a SBAS signal is not available. Vertical Guidance to the pilot via a CDI/VDI through a touch screen tablet device located in the cockpit without cabling. *The systems onboard work with rechargeable batteries; therefore they are autonomous from the point of view of power supply. *Real-Time, Standalone & Autonomous data processing. *Processing of GPS + magicSBAS signal or any available SBAS signal. *Easy comparison of magicSBAS and SBAS performances. *Real time processing and post processing. The first testing phase has been successfully conducted in Spain with very interesting and promising results. In the scope of EEGS2 flights trials will be undertaken during the forthcoming months in Moldova, Romania, Poland and Ukraine .The system has proved to be a powerful demonstrator for flight trials in areas where SBAS is not yet available. The system should be used together with magicSBAS, which is the SBAS signal generator, or with any other SBAS provider using SISNeT protocol. This paper will present the architecture of the system, the preparation of the flights trials and the results obtained during the different flights throughout Europe.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 26th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2013) September 16 - 20, 2013 Nashville Convention Center, Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, TN
Pages:	205 - 222
Cite this article:	Cegarra, J., Escartín, J., Ostolaza, J., Krywanis-Brzostowska, M., de With, H., "SBAS Flight Trials in European Eastern Countries where EGNOS is Still not Available," Proceedings of the 26th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2013), Nashville, TN, September 2013, pp. 205-222.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In