DFS presents new air navigation systems

The GPS signal still has an inaccuracy of plus/minus ten metres. But with the GBAS ground station, the signal is augmented to ensure that precision landings may now be performed by means of satellite navigation. Since September 2007, a Boeing 737 of the airline TUIfly has been regularly using the Bremen ground station in visual meteorological conditions. A few days ago, the next step was taken, i.e. using the station in instrument meteorological conditions. DFS hopes that the ground station will be certified within the course of this year. It would be the first certified GBAS station in the world. The 4D Planner optimises the approach sequence at busy airports like Frankfurt or Munich and thus expedites the traffic flow. The 4D Planner registers all arriving aircraft within a range of 150 kilometres around the airport. It then continuously calculates the remaining flight time on the basis of different parameters, such as speed, descent rate and traffic volume, and thus defines an optimal approach sequence.