Combined use of GPS and LORAN-C in integrated navigation systems

In 1995, the Avionik Zentrum Braunschweig (in co-operation with the Technical University of Braunschweig) carried out a study to investigate the potential of a combined usage of GPS and LORAN-C together with the German MoT, DFS and LBA. One major motive for this effort was that many states and organisations felt the need for a terrestrial back-up navigation system for the existing satellite navigation systems like GPS or GLONASS. This study has been funded by the German Ministry of Defense (MoD) and focused on an investigation of user-requirements, certification and operational as well as institutional aspects. Another major emphasis was on a theoretical analysis of a combined GPS/LORAN-C navigation solution with respect to the special Northwest-European environment. As a result, an algorithm based on the raw-data from GPS as well as LORAN-C has been developed and tested in a number of simulations. In a second phase of this project, three different pilot-projects for air, land and sea will be defined and all theoretical results carried out in this first phase will be comprehensively tested in real environments in a number of experiments.