Test Results for Precision Approach and Landing Trials Using F/A-18 in Support of Aircraft Carrier Operations

Greg Johnson, Bruce Peterson, Jeff Taylor and Chris McCarthy

Abstract:	Raytheon and the U.S. Navy conducted Aircraft Carrier precision approach trials using the F/A-18 as the test platform. These trials are part of the Navy (Joint Precision and Landing System) JPALS effort to demonstrate GPS technology for aircraft carrier precision approach. The team achieved the historic milestone of the first fully coupled approach and landing to the ground in an F/A- 18 using a GPS-based navigation solution. These trials used a Raytheon Navigation and Landing System developed test bed, Rockwell-Collins 24-channel EMAGR, and U.S. Navy aircraft integration. The Raytheon test bed, known previously as (Signature Managed Air Traffic Control and Landing System) SMATCALS, performs a TACAN (Tactical Air Navigation) function for aircraft at range, air traffic control for up to 100 aircraft within 200 nmi of the ship, and Precision Approach and Landing (PAL) for up to 4 aircraft within 20 nmi of the ship. The airborne and ship segments consist of a two-way low probability of intercept data link, navigation processors, and relative navigation software based on carrier phase tracking technology. The Navy integration on the F/A-18, know as NAPIE (Naval Avionics Platform Integration Emulator), consists of the aircraft control and pilot interfaces. This paper shows data and analysis that measures and/or models accuracy of the test bed and GPS measurements. This will be done in two phases. The first phase demonstrates the performance of the existing test bed as performed real-time using ship and airborne platforms. The second phase shows post processed analysis of measurement data and a proposed relative navigation solution. Because the ship environment is unique to the precision landing technology, special considerations must be made to monitor integrity and to model continuity. These special considerations include ship flexure, RF interference, ship blockage, pseudorange multipath, carrier phase multipath, and ship dynamics. During testing GPS data was collected at five sites on the ship and inertial data was collected at two sites. These sites were distributed so that the ship effects can be readily observed and ship attitude can be determined to a high degree of accuracy. Also, because of the dynamic nature of the ship as opposed to a fixed runway, this paper presents special analyses to show blockage in a relative azimuth sense. The test and analysis results show that GPS technology provides the quality needed to perform relative precision approaches in an aircraft carrier environment.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 13th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2000) September 19 - 22, 2000 Salt Palace Convention Center Salt Lake City, UT
Pages:	1271 - 1279
Cite this article:	Johnson, Greg, Peterson, Bruce, Taylor, Jeff, McCarthy, Chris, "Test Results for Precision Approach and Landing Trials Using F/A-18 in Support of Aircraft Carrier Operations," Proceedings of the 13th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2000), Salt Lake City, UT, September 2000, pp. 1271-1279.
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