Ephemeris type a fault analysis and mitigation for LAAS

Abstract

The Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) has been developed by the FAA to enable precision approach and landing operations using the Global Positioning System (GPS). Each LAAS installation provides services through a LAAS Ground Facility (LGF) which is located at the airport it serves. By monitoring the GPS signals, measurements, and navigation messages, the LGF is able to exclude unhealthy satellites and broadcast real-time range-correction messages for healthy satellites to users via a VHF data link. Airborne users apply these corrections to remove errors that are common between the LGF and the aircraft. The LGF is also responsible for warning the aircraft of any potential integrity threats that cannot easily be resolved by excluding unhealthy satellites. One source of potential errors is the satellite broadcast ephemeris message, which users decode and use to compute GPS satellite positions. In LAAS, potential GPS ephemeris faults are categorized into two types, A and B, based upon whether or not the fault is associated with a satellite maneuver. This work focuses on aviation navigation threats caused by Type A faults. To detect and mitigate these threats, we investigate two LGF monitors based on comparing expected ranges and range rates (based on broadcast ephemeris) with those measured by the LGF. The effectiveness of these monitors is analyzed and verified in this paper.