Final Test Completed to Begin India's Wide-Area GPS Augmentation

The Raytheon Company has completed the final system acceptance test necessary to begin augmenting standard GPS signals over India.

Raytheon sees this latest test of India's GAGAN-TDS (GPS-aided GEO (geosynchronous-Earth-orbit) augmented navigation-technology demonstration system) as an important milestone in the worldwide transition to satellite-based navigation.

North America's WAAS (wide area augmentation system) is operational, and Japan's MTSAT (multi-functional transport satellite) augmentation system was recently commissioned by the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau.

As with WAAS and MTSAT, GAGAN will monitor GPS satellite signals for errors and generate correction messages to improve their positioning accuracy, and allow them to be used for more demanding precision instrument approaches by enhancing their accuracy and integrity.

In the latest test, the Raytheon system demonstrated that ground elements could successfully integrate with a geosynchronous satellite over India and generate a test signal that conformed to international requirements for the Indian FIR (flight information region).  Raytheon also demonstrated that the time from signal generation to transmission to the satellite and reception back on the ground was less than the required 6.2-seconds.

The test's completion sets the stage for the Indian Space Research Organization and Airports Authority of India to begin expanding India's existing ground network, add redundancy, and produce the certification analysis and documentation for safety-of-flight commissioning.  11-23-2007.

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