Demonstration of WAAS Aircraft Approach and Landing in Alaska

Christopher Comp, Todd Walter, Richard Fuller, Andrew Barrows, Keith Alter, Demoz Gebre, Roger Hayward, Chad Jennings, Andrew Hansen, Eric Phelts, Douglas Archdeacon, Per Enge, Dave Powell, Brad Parkinson

Abstract:	In August of 1998, a team of Stanford researchers demonstrated the effectiveness of the Wide Area Aug-mentation System (WAAS) to guide aircraft through precision approaches in Alaska. The flight trials focused on the capital city of Juneau where poor weather, severe terrain, and a lack of traditional navi-gation aids cause problems for pilots. Overall, 48 ap-proaches were performed and 24 hours of flight time were logged, making this the most extensive WAAS flight test campaign ever in Alaska. Data from the FAA’s National Satellite Test Bed (NSTB) was processed in real-time at Stanford’s wide area master station. The resulting WAAS corrections were packed in a 250 bps message and broadcasted through the Inmarsat III Pacific Ocean Region geosta-tionary (GEO) satellite to the Stanford test aircraft. WAAS results from a remote static Alaskan reference station demonstrate 1.8 m 95’% vertical accuracy and 99. 155% availability. Preliminary flight test evaluation shows approximately 2 m horizontal accuracy. More detailed results will be available in the near future.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 11th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1998) September 15 - 18, 1998 Nashville, TN
Pages:	177 - 184
Cite this article:	Comp, Christopher, Walter, Todd, Fuller, Richard, Barrows, Andrew, Alter, Keith, Gebre, Demoz, Hayward, Roger, Jennings, Chad, Hansen, Andrew, Phelts, Eric, Archdeacon, Douglas, Enge, Per, Powell, Dave, Parkinson, Brad, "Demonstration of WAAS Aircraft Approach and Landing in Alaska," Proceedings of the 11th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1998), Nashville, TN, September 1998, pp. 177-184.
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