Collins GLS architecture for regional and business aircraft

Regional airline and corporate operators stand to directly gain the most benefit from early use of satellite-based navigation equipment and will continue to benefit as GNSS-based operations and procedures are expanded. Even as a supplemental system, GPS will provide these operators access to new markets by providing instrument approach capabilities at air fields currently not equipped with ground-based navigation aids. To maximize the return on investment, the market has challenged avionics manufacturers to produce equipment that will support today's limited operational capabilities and cost-effective upgrades for future applications (GNSS Landing Systems, high integrity position reporting, etc.). To facilitate growth to a GNSS landing system (GLS) capability, new functional requirements must be anticipated and basic airborne requirements (accuracy, integrity, availability, and continuity), allocated to individual aircraft components. The Collins Pro Line 4 architecture has integrated the ARINC 743A compliant GPS-4000 in a manner that supports migration to GLS by provisioning for forward-compatibility with the Collins' differential GPS (DGPS) approach sensor, the APR-4000, and leveraging the Pro line 4 existing ILS interfaces. The paper presents, by example, the ability of this system architecture to adapt and support SCAT-I, LAAS, and WAAS-based GLS operations.