Airport Surface RNP (Required Navigation Performance) - Implications for GNSS

Rick Cassell, Scott Bradfield, Alex Smith

Abstract:	One of the anticipated applications of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), including the Global Positioning System (GPS), is aircraft navigation on the airport surface. With the implementation of local area differential GNSS, technology will be available to enable aircraft to obtain accurate position information when taxiing on the airport. Currently, navigation performance standards do not exist for aircraft operations on the airport surface. Standards are under development by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) All Weather Operations Panel (AWOP) for Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control Systems (A-SMGCS) and by the RTCA Airport Surface Navigation and Surveillance subgroup of Special Committee 159. Under contract to NASA Langley Research Center as part of the Terminal Area Productivity Program, Rannoch is developing the RNP requirements for surface movement guidance. The results of this work are being coordinated with ICAO, RTCA and the FAA, and form the basis for surface navigation standards. This paper presents a summary of RNP development including definition of the operation target level of safety and proposed requirements for the four RNP parameters-integrity, continuity, accuracy and availability. In addition to definition of system level requirements the paper presents proposed allocations for navigation sensor performance, which defines the performance needed by a GNSS-based system to satisfy system RNP requirements.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 1997 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 14 - 16, 1997 Loews Santa Monica Hotel Santa Monica, CA
Pages:	71 - 80
Cite this article:	Cassell, Rick, Bradfield, Scott, Smith, Alex, "Airport Surface RNP (Required Navigation Performance) - Implications for GNSS," Proceedings of the 1997 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, Santa Monica, CA, January 1997, pp. 71-80.
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