Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Exclusive! India’s first GBAS set to take off

Neelam Mathews

Sept 19, 2012

Honeywell and Airports Authority of India have signed an agreement under the US-India Aviation Cooperation Program (ACP) to set up a Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) system at the Delhi International Airport. It will be launched on Oct 9, Aerospace Diary learns. Honeywell is also expected to demonstrate its SmartRunway and SmartLanding products that increase flight safety by improving situational awareness for pilots and crew during approach, landing, taxi and take-off.

USTDA, had last year concluded an agreement for $407,325 to support AAI’s efforts to install and commission a pilot GBAS at Chennai International Airport. The location was recently changed to Delhi.

Honeywell’s SmartPath Precision Landing System represents the latest technology in a CAT I certified GBAS solution for precision approach and landings, enabling aircraft to fly either complex or straight-in approaches. Easy to install, it is expected to have major cost savings compared to ILS. SmartPath accuracy enables closely-spaced parallel and curved path approaches and an improved navigation accuracy over Instrument Landing Systems (ILS). It is also more flexible than ILS – one GBAS can broadcast 26 unique approaches covering all runways at an airport. It utilizes differential GPS, and broadcasts both pseudorange corrections for each satellite in view, as well as approach path information in a digital broadcast. One GBAS can cover all ends of all qualified runways. The ILS covers only one end of one runway, requiring additional installations for complete coverage.

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