Precision landing capabilities anywhere

Raytheon Intelligence & Space’s WAAS Enables Safety

The Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) monitors and provides corrections and integrity information for GPS signals over North America to enable pilots to fly using augmented GPS data for safety of life missions like precision landing and en-route navigation.

Before WAAS, the National Airspace System (NAS) could not provide horizontal and vertical navigation for approach operations for all users at all locations. Today, using WAAS, aircraft can access more than 4,000 runways at 1,959 airports, even in poor weather conditions with minimum decision heights as low as 200 feet. Currently, 1,191 of these airports do not have instrument landing systems.

This has changed the way general aviation pilots fly, dramatically increasing the number of places they can safely access. Today, in the U.S., there are more than 80,000 WAAS aviation users and more than 125,000 aircraft equipped with WAAS in the NAS. Many others are using WAAS for non-aviation applications including agriculture, construction, first responders and surveying to name a few.

Hear Dan Brophy, a general aviation pilot, discuss how WAAS helps take workload off the pilot and enhances safety.

General aviation is expensive, and WAAS allows pilots to access more airports with more direct routes, a cost- and emissions-saving tool, according to Dan Brophy, general aviation pilot. WAAS also makes flying much safer and easier, especially in bad weather. The system gives users a sense of comfort and allows pilots to focus on other immediate tasks while in flight. This is critical for general aviation pilots, who are generally the only pilot, and WAAS allows them to focus on flying.

Raytheon and the FAA have introduced many significant changes to WAAS over the 17 years of operational service with no major impact to the user community. System performance has improved over the years in parallel with adding to the WAAS LPV and LPV-200 approach procedures catalogue, opening up most of the airports in the US for a WAAS-based landing.

With the next planned major WAAS upgrade (called Segment 2 or WAAS DFO 4B), the FAA is moving WAAS into a more modern and therefore sustainable processing and network architecture while also adding dual frequency service for those users who equip for the dual frequency capability.

To support the FAA as it transitions to WAAS Segment 2, Raytheon Intelligence & Space is actively exploring use of Agile Development, automated software testing, open architecture processing solutions, better development tools, and cloud-based communication while staying compliant to the WAAS safety architecture and integrity algorithms.

By moving to newer technologies, the FAA is positioning WAAS to be more maintainable and sustainable for another 17+ years.

The new WAAS broadcast signals need to be ready and flawless without downtime and RIS is prepared to meet that challenge—again.

Learn more about RIS’ full suite Communications & Navigation Solutions here.

All images provided by Raytheon

This page was produced by North Coast Media’s content marketing staff in collaboration with Raytheon Intelligence & Space. NCM Content Marketing connects marketers to audiences and delivers industry trends, business tips and product information. The GPS World editorial staff did not create this content.