USCG HH-65A/SRR GPS Integration and Test Results

Lamar T. Seifuddin

Abstract:	The USCG HH-65A helicopter was designed primarily for short range search and rescue operations. Secondary mission roles include law enforcement, patrol and observations. The HH-65A and flight crew are required to perform these various missions in less than ideal conditions. These conditions require operations from prepared and unprepared areas, both day and night, under visual and instrument flight rules while providing automatic navigation to a point and automatic guidance to a precision hover. With a majority of its missions offshore (i.e. rescue, narcotic missions) and an expansion of mission operation areas, the use of current Navaids such as Loran, Tacan, VOR is limited. Thus, the integration of GPS into the HH-65A avionics system is of vital use in the enhancement of Coast Guard mission capability. Naval Air Development Center (NADC) is the lead technical agent for integrating GPS on coast Guard aircraft and ship platforms. The HH-65A became the first Cbast Guard platform to be integrated with GPS. With Collins Government Avionic& Division (CGAD) under contract, the major integration tasks included utilizing GPS as 1) a navigation sensor providing data into the mission computer unit, 2) a MIL-STD-1553B controlled back-up navigator fully coupled to the existing HH-65A Flight Director System and multifunction display system. Other integration considerations included secure Selective Availability/Anti-Spoofing (SA/AS) operation, system status monitoring and failure mode management, synthesizing flight displays from GPS 1553 output data, and incorporating GPS data into the existing flight instrument displays in which to provide Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) coupled performance in both normal and back-up modes. The HH-65A avionics suite integrated with GPS provides the aircraft with the mission benefits of enhanced navigation accuracy for offshore operations and a high accuracy back-up navigation capability. The HH-6SA helicopter is one of the first platforms to be "fully integrated" with GPS. This paper will begin with a brief background description of the HH-65A avionics system, then will describe the integration of the Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS) User Equipment (UE) into the HH-65A avionics. The paper will summarize the results from the various phases of testing such as lab, ramp, and flight tests. The flight tests were conducted by Collins and Naval Air Test Center (NATC). The paper will summarize the resulting operational considerations and benefits of incorporating GPS into an integrated avionics system.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2nd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1989) September 27 - 29, 1989 The Broadmoor Hotel Colorado Spring, CO
Pages:	245 - 251
Cite this article:	Seifuddin, Lamar T., "USCG HH-65A/SRR GPS Integration and Test Results," Proceedings of the 2nd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1989), Colorado Spring, CO, September 1989, pp. 245-251.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In