MARLBORO, Mass., Nov. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has
successfully completed the 60-day stability test for the Wide Area
Augmentation System (WAAS). The test is a critical milestone for acceptance
of the system by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) early next year.
WAAS is the FAA's next-generation global position system (GPS)-based
navigation and landing system. It augments the basic signal from GPS
satellites with another signal from geosynchronous satellites. The
augmentation signal increases the airborne receiver's accuracy, continuity,
integrity, and availability.
"The FAA has completed the analysis of the test results and has approved
the test reports," said Bob Eckel, vice president of Raytheon's Air Traffic
Management Systems. "The system ran continuously during the test period and
met all the system performance requirements. Successful completion of this
step puts us one step closer to the commissioning of WAAS next year."
WAAS is an essential part of the FAA's transition to satellite navigation.
When commissioned, WAAS will support approaches with vertical guidance over
most of the continental 48 states and parts of Alaska. New approach
procedures will be published that allow aircraft to descend gradually to the
runway, even when weather obscures the pilot's vision down to 250 feet above
the ground. Additional reference stations and system refinements will improve
vertical approach capability and increase coverage. Approaches with vertical
guidance have been shown to be as much as five-times safer than non-precision
approaches.
WAAS also supports Required Navigation Performance (RNP) operations. WAAS
is capable of highly accurate navigation performance, including RNP values as
small as RNP 0.02 (accuracy of 2/100 of mile).
The 60 day stability test began on July 18 and included all the fielded
WAAS assets, including 25 reference stations, two master stations, four ground
uplink stations, and two geosynchronous satellites. The test successfully
concluded September 16. WAAS is on track for delivery to the FAA in February
2003, with commissioning next summer.
With headquarters in Lexington, Mass., Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) is a
global technology leader in defense, government and commercial electronics and
business and special mission aircraft.
Contact:
Blanche Necessary
703.872.3409
SOURCE Raytheon Company
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Related links:
http://www.raytheon.com
CONTACT:
Blanche Necessary of Raytheon Company,
+1-703-872-3409
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