Status of the Loran Recapitilization Project (An Enhanced Vision of Loran)

G.K. Weeks Jr., M. Campbell, K. Carroll

Abstract:	Guard Cutter RED CEDAR, formerly homeported at Portsmouth, VA. CDR Weeks received his BS degree from the Coast Guard Academy and his MS degree from U. S. Naval Postgraduate School, in Monterey CA. Michael J. Campbell has been a civilian employee of the United States Coast Guard Loran Support Unit (LSU), and its predecessor, the Coast Guard Electronics Engineering Center (EECEN), for a total of 29 years, and has been directly involved with the Loran-C radionavigation system for 20 of those years. He managed, or participated in projects that installed and calibrated the timing and transmitting equipment at 14 As the Loran Recapitalization Project progresses, the sustainability, maintainability and reliability of the USCG Loran system continues to improve in leaps and bounds. With each critical success, new avenues have opened for Loran to support radionavigation and critical infrastructure throughout North America. One of these new initiatives, Enhanced Loran, will provide increasingly accurate and available, independent 2-D positioning and Stratum 1 timing. Data transmissions on the Loran signal will provide critical integrity, timing and increased accuracy information. Unlike WAAS, the Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) or Nationwide/Maritime DGPS, during planned or unplanned GPS outages, enhanced Loran will continue to provide crucial positioning and timing information to the nation’s critical transportation, telecommunications and timing infrastructure. The Loran Recapitalization Project’s (LRP) primary effort is to modernize the North American Loran-C radionavigation infrastructure in order to reduce total ownership costs and better meet critical availability, accuracy, integrity and continuity requirements. Manpower intensive legacy systems are making way for systems that may enable the Coast Guard to reduce or completely eliminate personnel at the Loran Transmitting Stations, will greatly reduce all required equipment maintenance, and eventually allow the Coast Guard to outsource all maintenance, operations, training, and depot repair of the entire Loran System. Along with LRP, two critical study groups have been stood up to determine Loran’s capability to meet aviation’s Required Navigation Performance (RNP) 0.3 nm and maritime’s Harbor Entrance and Approach requirements. The Loran Integrity Performance Panel’s (LORIPP) work is being separately reported. The Loran Accuracy Performance Panel, LORAPP, a working group of the LORIPP, has been tasked to specifically address accuracy issues for aviation, maritime and the timing and frequency community. This paper presents the current status of the work performed under LRP and the initial activity of the LORAPP. The goals of increased maintainability, lowering total ownership costs, all while better meeting required availability, accuracy, continuity and integrity will be specifically addressed in this paper.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2003 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 22 - 24, 2003 Disneyland Paradise Pier Hotel Anaheim, CA
Pages:	574 - 580
Cite this article:	Weeks, G.K., Jr., Campbell, M., Carroll, K., "Status of the Loran Recapitilization Project (An Enhanced Vision of Loran)," Proceedings of the 2003 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, Anaheim, CA, January 2003, pp. 574-580.
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