The Airports Authority of India (AAI) successfully completed a brief trial utilising GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation) based LPV Approach Procedures at Kishangarh Airport in Rajasthan today.
As a result, India becomes the first country in the Asia Pacific Region to accomplish such a feat. Without the requirement for ground-based navigational infrastructure, LPV (Localizer Performance with Vertical Guidance) allows aircraft-guided approaches that are operationally almost similar to Cat-IILS. The service is dependent on the availability of ISRO-launched GPS and GAGAN Geo Stationary Satellites (GSAT-8, GSAT-10, and GSAT-15). GAGAN is a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) developed jointly by AAI and ISRO in India. It is the first system of its kind established for India and the equatorial region’s surrounding countries. The DGCA validated the GAGAN System for Approach with Vertical Guidance (APV 1) and en-route (RNP 0.1) operations in 2015. India (GAGAN), the United States (WAAS), Europe (EGNOS), and Japan are the only countries with space-based augmentation systems (MSAS).
GAGAN is the first system of its kind built for India and its tropical neighbors. Indigo Airlines used GAGAN Service to fly an Instrument Approach Procedure (IAP) with an LPV minimum of 250 feet utilizing their ATR aircraft. The tests were carried out at Kishangarh Airport as part of the maiden GAGAN LPV flight testing, with a DGCA crew on board. The method will be ready for use on commercial flights once it has received final clearance from the DGCA. Many tiny regional and municipal airports will be able to land using LPV approaches since they do not have pricey Instrument Landing Systems. In bad weather and low visibility, lowering the decision height to 250 feet gives a significant operational benefit. As a result, any airport that previously required greater visibility minimums will be able to accept aircraft that benefit distant airports that lack precision approach capability equipment. A number of airports, including those covered by the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), are being surveyed for the development of GAGAN-based LPV Instrument Approach Procedures so that suitably equipped aircraft can reap the greatest benefits in terms of improved landing safety, reduced fuel consumption, reduced delays, diversions, and cancellations, among other things. GAGAN Message Service (GMS) was launched by AAI in collaboration with the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), which sends out alarm messages to fishermen, farmers, and disaster victims in the event of natural catastrophes and calamities such as floods and earthquakes.
GAGAN’s extra capabilities are being investigated for use in non-aviation fields such as railways, surveying, agriculture, power generation, mining, and so on.
