Aircraft Tracking Using GPS Position and Velocity Reports

Ran Gazit

Abstract:	A new approach to Air Traffic Control (ATC) calls for every aircraft to periodically broadcast its GPS de- rived position. The position reports will be received by ATC controllers, and will be used for aircraft track- ing and conflict prediction. This technique is expected to increase the quality and extent of ATC surveillance coverage, and to provide a highly accurate Collision Avoidance System. In this study we identify the required elements of the appropriate tracking algorithms, and estimate the im- provement in tracking accuracy that can be obtained by using this technique. A measurement error model that matches the correlation functions of both position and velocity errors is identified. This model is com- bined with two aircraft models in an adaptive Kalman filter. A switching logic provides the best position and velocity estimates during all phases of flight, and guar- antees smooth transition of the estimates during satel- lite constellation changes. The filter performance is checked in a Monte Carlo simulation, using real GPS data and simulated aircraft motion. The simulation includes the effect of an imper- fect radio data link due to message interference. The tracking accuracy is then compared to the performance of modern ATC radar trackers. The effect of the im- proved surveillance accuracy on minimum separation standards is demonstrated.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 8th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1995) September 12 - 15, 1995 Palm Springs, CA
Pages:	281 - 290
Cite this article:	Gazit, Ran, "Aircraft Tracking Using GPS Position and Velocity Reports," Proceedings of the 8th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1995), Palm Springs, CA, September 1995, pp. 281-290.
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