Modeling GPS Receiver Performance in Civil Aviation Trajectories Using Current GPS Constellation Performance

P.A. Seward, M.L. Boggs, B.R. Larson

Abstract:	Many modern aircraft depend on the Global Positioning System (GPS) for navigation. This reliance on GPS navigation in conjunction with the addition of more GPS satellites in earth's orbit in the near future dictates that there be a means of simulating the effects of GPS performance during the takeoff and landing flight trajectories for commercial airliners to ensure the safety of the passengers. The GPS/INS Branch at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division in China Lake, California was given the task of determining a means of simulating the performance of GPS over the takeoff and approach trajectories of the commercial airlines at two airports across the world under actual GPS performance rather than specified performance. Data representative of aircraft approaches to London Heathrow airport are presented in this paper. This simulation was conducted by modeling GPS performance (i.e. CEP, DOPs, etc.) for representative civil aviation trajectories at the two airports using MATLAB. Performance was modeled via a Monte Carlo technique to minimize impacts of constellation geometries over time. This paper begins by discussing the issues that determined the need for this simulation. Following this discussion, the paper focuses on the assumptions needed to model the actual performance of the Global Positioning System in the simulation, the implementation of the simulation, and the results found during the simulation.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 59th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation and CIGTF 22nd Guidance Test Symposium (2003) June 23 - 25, 2003 Hyatt Regency Hotel Albuquerque, NM
Pages:	317 - 322
Cite this article:	Seward, P.A., Boggs, M.L., Larson, B.R., "Modeling GPS Receiver Performance in Civil Aviation Trajectories Using Current GPS Constellation Performance," Proceedings of the 59th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation and CIGTF 22nd Guidance Test Symposium (2003), Albuquerque, NM, June 2003, pp. 317-322.
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