The FAA Program for GPS and GPS/GLONASS: Plans, Status and International Activities

J. F. Dortler, E. T. Bayliss and P. N. Misra

Abstract:	Since signing a bilateral agreement in 1988, both the US and USSR have been examining combined use of GPS and GLONASS for sole-means civil aviation navigation. This agreement has resulted in several bilateral technical meetings and a recent exchange of navigation receivers. The US effort, administered by the FAA, is sponsoring an experimental program at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. This progress report covers activities to date and planned milestones leading to a sole-means avionics standard. The US and USSR have thus far exchanged the respective Interface Control Documents (ICD) specifying signals for GPS and GLONASS. In October 1990 they met in Moscow to discuss the status of their programs and review technical questions generated concerning the ICDs. MIT Lincoln Laboratory has acquired and is using two GLONASS receivers built for them by Magnavox to the technical specifications provided by the GLONASS ICD. Data collection has been going on for nearly a year. This data has been analyzed to develop a basis for combining GPS and GLONASS measurements. The Soviet-built GLONASS receiver is being used to validate the results of the US-built receiver and confirm our understanding of the GLONASS signals. Combined use of GPS and GLONASS measurements relies on understanding the differences between their coordinate reference frames as well as their time standards. These differences are currently being measured. Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) will need to deal with data from both GPS and GLONASS because data from a single system is not sufficiently robust to meet the civil aviation requirements for sole-means navigation. Once the navigation and RAIM algorithms have been checked out in realistic flight scenarios, the program will be in a position to make recommendations for Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS).
Published in:	Proceedings of the 47th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1991) June 10 - 12, 1991 Williamsburg Hilton and National Conference Center Williamsburg, VA
Pages:	401 - 417
Cite this article:	Dortler, J. F., Bayliss, E. T., Misra, P. N., "The FAA Program for GPS and GPS/GLONASS: Plans, Status and International Activities," Proceedings of the 47th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1991), Williamsburg, VA, June 1991, pp. 401-417.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In