Required navigation performance

About: Required navigation performance is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 343 publications have been published within this topic receiving 3477 citations. The topic is also known as: RNP.

A Trajectory Modeling Environment for the Study of Arrival Traffic Delivery Accuracy

Abstract: This pap er presents the development and preliminary results of a trajectory analysis and modeling environment developed in MATLAB and applied to the study of the effects of navigation performance on arrival timing accuracy . This work supports ongoing efforts at The Boeing Company to develop new air traffic management (ATM) concepts and procedures based on accurate navigation standards such as Required Navigation Performance (RNP) and Required Time of Arrival (RTA) . The arrival management concept studied involves th e use of advanced ground automation that perform s sequencing and spacing based on FMS paths rather than relying on controller tactical vectoring . These paths can be defined in three dimensions from prior to top of descent (TOD) to the meter fix and then to the runway , potentially including speed and altitude constraints when needed and would be communicated to the air crew via voice communication and executed to standards (e.g. RNP, RTA) by t he air navigation function embedded in the Flight Management Syste m (FMS). This concept is viewed as a transition step towards the US next generation air traffic system currently being studied by the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO).

Airport Capacity and NAS -Wide Delay Benefits Assessment of Near -Term Operational Concepts

Abstract: Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) has evaluated the airport capacity and NAS -wide delay benefits of an operational concept for Air Traffic Management (ATM) for implementation in the 2008 – 2012 timeframe. The concept enables increased airport and airspace capacity through the integration of Flight Management System (FMS) Required Navigation Performance (RNP) capabilities, ground -based Air Traffic Management (ATM) automation tools, 3D path -based operations, Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS), and advanced runway concepts for closely -spaced parallel, converging, and crossing runways. Benefit applications for these near -term capabilities are proposed and the increase in airport capacity for the 35 U. S. National Airspace System (NAS) benchmark airports is evaluated using the Boeing Airport Capacity Constraints Model. The increased airport capacities are then used by the National Flow Model (NFM) to evaluate the NAS -wide delay benefits. Results for annualized average arrival delay show that a 20 – 25% increase in airport capac ity associated with the implementation of the near -term operational concept produces a nearly 50% reduction in delay by 2020 . The capacity increases enabled by the implementation of this near -term operational concept in 2012 are adequate to serve the antic ipated traffic growth. However, by 2015, additional system improvements will be needed to maintain delay performance at or below today’s levels .

Precision Landing of Aircraft Using Integrity Beacons

Abstract: L ANDING aircraft in poor visibility imposes the very highest standards of performance for a navigation system. Required to work under extreme weather conditions and at life-critical levels of performance, a Category III (lowest visibility) landing system must meet a vertical position accuracy requirement of 2 ft (95%) with extremely demanding integrity. For each approach, the probability of missed detection of failure cannot exceed 5 x 10~. This chapter explores the augmentation of GPS with Integrity Beacons—a special type of pseudolite— to achieve the required navigation performance (RNP) for precision landing of aircraft.

Performance of category IIIB automatic landings using C/A-code tracking differential GPS

Abstract: An experimental DGPS precision approach and landing system was installed and flight tested on the NASA Langley Transport Systems Research Vehicle (TSRV). The GPS ground reference station and avionics units used 10-channel, narrow-correlator, C/A-code tracking receiver engines. The avionics drove the aircraft flight control system with ILS “look-alike” vertical and horizontal angular deviations derived solely from DGPS C/A-code tracking position and velocity. The avionics did not make use of kinematic carrier-phase tracking with on-the-fly cycle ambiguity resolution techniques. A total of 40 DGPS-guided approaches and landings were performed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, 31 of them hands-off, automatic landings. Total system error, measured by laser tracker, met the proposed Category III required navigation performance (RNP) or “tunnel concept” accuracy requirements by substantial margins. Touchdown dispersion for the 31 automatic landings also met Category III RNP requirements with significant margin.

Flight Test Evaluation of Synthetic Vision Concepts at a Terrain Challenged Airport

Abstract: NASA's Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) Project is striving to eliminate poor visibility as a causal factor in aircraft accidents as well as enhance operational capabilities of all aircraft through the display of computer generated imagery derived from an onboard database of terrain, obstacle, and airport information. To achieve these objectives, NASA 757 flight test research was conducted at the Eagle-Vail, Colorado airport to evaluate three SVS display types (Head-up Display, Head-Down Size A, Head-Down Size X) and two terrain texture methods (photo-realistic, generic) in comparison to the simulated Baseline Boeing-757 Electronic Attitude Direction Indicator and Navigation/Terrain Awareness and Warning System displays. The results of the experiment showed significantly improved situation awareness, performance, and workload for SVS concepts compared to the Baseline displays and confirmed the retrofit capability of the Head-Up Display and Size A SVS concepts. The research also demonstrated that the tunnel guidance display concept used within the SVS concepts achieved required navigation performance (RNP) criteria.