GBAS for UAV operations : the positioning service, vertical integrity and operational lessons learned

Fischer, Valentin; Jochems, Sophie; Jäger, Michael; Sarperi, Luciano; Felux, Michael

doi:10.33012/2023.19288

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-29123

Publication type:	Conference paper
Type of review:	Peer review (publication)
Title:	GBAS for UAV operations : the positioning service, vertical integrity and operational lessons learned
Authors:	Fischer, Valentin Jochems, Sophie Jäger, Michael Sarperi, Luciano Felux, Michael
et. al:	No
DOI:	10.33012/2023.19288 10.21256/zhaw-29123
Proceedings:	Proceedings of the 36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023)
Conference details:	36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023), Denver, USA, 11-15 September 2023
Issue Date:	Sep-2023
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	Institute of Navigation
ISBN:	978-0-936406-35-0
ISSN:	2331-5954
Language:	English
Subject (DDC):	629: Aeronautical, automotive engineering
Abstract:	In continuation of previous work, this paper addresses three challenges regarding the GBAS positioning service for UAV navigation. Firstly, the concept of ensuring the position integrity not only in the horizontal but also vertical domain is explored. As the GBAS positioning service as it is currently defined does not foresee vertical integrity, a vertical protection level, similar to the horizontal one, is developed. Secondly, the architecture and implementation of the system is shown such that real-time navigation is enabled. For this, the GBAS messages are received close to the GBAS ground station. They are then forwarded to a server via a TCP socket, stored into databases, and used for position calculation and error bounding. To ensure the timely message transmission and application we monitored the latency introduced by the architecture. Thirdly, during a dynamic flight the attitude of a drone may change frequently resulting in loss of track of satellites leading to a degradation of the navigation and integrity performance. This challenge is addressed by using a gimballed antenna mount. A test flight was carried out in May 2023 using a UAV at the glider airfield in Winterthur. For positioning and integrity evaluations corrections from the GBAS ground station at Zurich Airport (18 km away from Winterthur) were used. Results showed that the accuracy of the navigation solution was generally well below 1 m, horizontally and vertically. The protection level remained below 3.5 m horizontally and 9.5 m vertically. In both cases, the protection level were driven by the ephemeris error bounds. The monitoring of the latency indicated that the calculation lasts 0.09 s on average. This means that the calculation is sufficiently fast to prevent latency. Finally, using a gimballed antenna mount showed no significant improvements, as also for the static mount no significant number of satellites were lost.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/29123
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	Licence according to publishing contract
Restricted until:	2024-05-01
Departement:	School of Engineering
Organisational Unit:	Institute of Signal Processing and Wireless Communications (ISC) Centre for Aviation (ZAV)
Appears in collections:	Publikationen School of Engineering

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Fischer, V., Jochems, S., Jäger, M., Sarperi, L., & Felux, M. (2023, September). GBAS for UAV operations : the positioning service, vertical integrity and operational lessons learned. Proceedings of the 36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023). https://doi.org/10.33012/2023.19288

Fischer, V. et al. (2023) ‘GBAS for UAV operations : the positioning service, vertical integrity and operational lessons learned’, in Proceedings of the 36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023). Institute of Navigation. Available at: https://doi.org/10.33012/2023.19288.

V. Fischer, S. Jochems, M. Jäger, L. Sarperi, and M. Felux, “GBAS for UAV operations : the positioning service, vertical integrity and operational lessons learned,” in Proceedings of the 36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023), Sep. 2023. doi: 10.33012/2023.19288.

FISCHER, Valentin, Sophie JOCHEMS, Michael JÄGER, Luciano SARPERI und Michael FELUX, 2023. GBAS for UAV operations : the positioning service, vertical integrity and operational lessons learned. In: Proceedings of the 36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023). Conference paper. Institute of Navigation. September 2023. ISBN 978-0-936406-35-0

Fischer, Valentin, Sophie Jochems, Michael Jäger, Luciano Sarperi, and Michael Felux. 2023. “GBAS for UAV Operations : The Positioning Service, Vertical Integrity and Operational Lessons Learned.” Conference paper. In Proceedings of the 36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023). Institute of Navigation. https://doi.org/10.33012/2023.19288.

Fischer, Valentin, et al. “GBAS for UAV Operations : The Positioning Service, Vertical Integrity and Operational Lessons Learned.” Proceedings of the 36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023), Institute of Navigation, 2023, https://doi.org/10.33012/2023.19288.