Originally published in 1995
The FAA recently awarded a $475 million contract for the development of the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) that will utilize the revolutionary Global Positioning System (GPS) to achieve a quantum leap in aviation safety, navigation, and fuel efficiency. The contract to develop and field a network of ground stations across the U.S. was awarded to a consortium led by Wilcox Electric, which will team up with Hughes Aircraft and TRW.
“This is the beginning of a new era. In the near future, satellites in space will guide how planes take off, fly, and land-replacing ground-based navigation systems, some of which have been around since the 1940’s,” said DOT Secretary Federico Pena. “With the project we will not only become the world leader, but we will also help create what experts project to be a $30 billion GPS industry in a decade, generating thousands of new American jobs.”
FAA Administrator David Hinson said that the transfer of the current ground-based navigation system to a space-based one is in keeping with the FAA’s mission to install advanced technology to guide the nation’s airspace system into the 21st Century. When fully implemented as an integrated, global system, the possibilities become virtually unlimited,” he said.
The contract calls for the development and fielding of a network of ground stations across the U.S. These stations will receive, analyze, and refine signals from the GPS satellites and transmit the information via communication satellites to all aircraft flying within U.S. airspace. The WAAS ground stations will be located at approximately 35 air traffic control facilities across the country.
Under the WAAS, aircraft will be able to fly more direct routes to their destination, saving time, fuel, and money; precision approaches will be possible into nearly any airport in the U.S. that is properly configured; older ground-based navigation systems, which are expensive to maintain and operate, can be gradually decommissioned; system capacity will be significantly improved by safely allowing more aircraft to occupy a given airspace without increased risk; system congestion and passenger delays will be reduced as a result of more efficient airspace management and scheduling; and navigational equipment on board aircraft can be reduced and simplified.
“This is the kind of revolution in navigation that we saw in computers in the 1970’s,” said Pena. “An augmented GPS system will benefit land and maritime transportation, atmospheric research, weather forecasting, surveying-in fact, almost every phase of American life.”
-Southwest Intercom
