Back to the Future (of GPS Backups)

Visions of the future are the domain of science fiction-imagine a world where some fantastic thing is possible. The FAA presents its own vision in the Performance Based Navigation Roadmap, which is produced about every five years. The third edition is expected around the time you get this. In it the current status of performance-based navigation, PBN, a generalized term for RNAV and RNP (required navigation performance), is analyzed and goals are set for the near, intermediate and long term-each roughly five years apart.

jmiller

Monday, April 11, 2016 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The FAA's latest Performance Based Navigation Roadmap prioritizes "navigation resiliency," driven by the need for alternative Position, Navigation, and Timing (APNT) systems to complement or replace GPS due to its vulnerabilities.
The current Minimum Operational Network (MON) of ground-based NAVAIDS is a temporary bridge, not the long-term solution for future navigation resiliency.
Three primary candidates for APNT are being considered: expanded DME/DME coverage, a re-established and enhanced LORAN (eLORAN) system, and highly advanced but currently impractical MEMS-based inertial navigation.
eLORAN and DME/DME are the most viable near-term solutions, with eLORAN gaining traction as a potential cost-effective, land-based backup for GPS.

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Visions of the future are the domain of science fiction—imagine a world where some fantastic thing is possible. The FAA presents its own vision in the Performance Based Navigation Roadmap, which is produced about every five years. The third edition is expected around the time you get this. In it the current status of performance-based navigation, PBN, a generalized term for RNAV and RNP (required navigation performance), is analyzed and goals are set for the near, intermediate and long term—each roughly five years apart.

The roadmap has been quite accurate at forecasting the future. For example, this is from the first roadmap produced in 2003 discussing the 2016-2020 timeframe: “At the end of this period, operators will use RNP-based RNAV universally in all domains, with the retention of a minimal operational network of ground-based NAVAIDS used as backup.”