FAA Approves First U.S. Ground-Based Augmentation System

October 5, 2009

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved Honeywell’s Smartpath Precision Landing System, clearing the way for increased safety and efficiency at airports by providing precise navigation service based on GPS. The first U.S.-approved system is located in Memphis, Tennessee, and will become operational early next year.

“The approval of Honeywell’s system marks the successful completion of a partnership between the FAA and Airservices Australia to build and certify a ground-based augmentation system (GBAS),” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “We expect GBAS to become an asset to airports around the world.” Airservices Australia is expected to approve its system soon at Sydney Airport, Australia.

Honeywell has worked with Airservices Australia on SmartPath GBAS in a coordinated effort. Airservices Australia has been actively engaged in the use of GBAS technology since 1999, and has been operating the Honeywell SmartPath GBAS ground station in Sydney since November 2006. In Australia, more than 1,400 revenue landings have occurred using SmartPath.

Precision Approach. GBAS augments GPS to provide precision approach guidance to all qualifying runways at an airport. It monitors GPS signals to detect errors and augment accuracy by transmitting correction messages to aircraft via local radio broadcast. GBAS will initially supplement the legacy Instrument Landing Systems now used at airports. According to Honeywell, ILS is an older technology with technical and operational limitations that affect flight-path flexibility and airport throughput. ILS is also susceptible to signal interference by weather and obstacles, which can result in significant disruptions to airport traffic, causing delays.

Replacing ILS with GBAS technology has been identified in the FAA’s NextGen system and Eurocontrol’s Single European Sky ATM Research Programme as critical enablers for improving air traffic capacity. A single Honeywell system can support landing operations on multiple runways simultaneously, eliminating the need for multiple ILS systems at airports with more than one runway.

Honeywell first demonstrated the ability to use GPS for aircraft landing in the early 1990s, said TK Kallenbach, Vice President of Product Management. “Our GBAS technology in SmartPath, demonstrated at more than 25 airports around the world, is ready for implementation now to enable airports to increase capacity without expensive runway expansions. Coupling SmartPath with precision arrivals can also save airline operators fuel and lowers emissions,” Kallenbach said.

The FAA’s NextGen Implementation Plan identifies GBAS as an enabler for descent and approach operations to increase capacity at crowded airports. The Honeywell system is approved for precision approach operations down to 200 feet above the surface. GBAS will be improved over the next few years to guide an aircraft down to the runway surface to support zero-visibility operations and provide precise positioning service to enable performance-based navigation, area navigation (RNAV) and required navigation performance (RNP) operations.

RNAV enables aircraft to fly on any desired flight path within the coverage of ground or spaced-based navigation aids, within the limits of the capability of the self-contained systems, or a combination of both capabilities. As such, RNAV aircraft have better access and flexibility for point-to-point operations. RNP is RNAV with the addition of an onboard performance monitoring and alerting capability.

“One SmartPath system installed in a typical airport can yield annual maintenance savings of up to $400,000 compared to a single ILS,” said Vicki Panhuise, Honeywell vice president, U.S. Defense Customers. “Honeywell’s technology offers airports improved efficiency and capacity, while offering operators greater navigational accuracy and fewer weather-related delays.”

SmartPath is operating at early-adopter airports across the globe, including Bremen, Germany; Malaga, Spain; Memphis; and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Additional installations are planned at airports in the U.S., Asia, South America, and Europe beginning in late summer 2009.