Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Monday launched the GPS-aided geo augmented navigation (GAGAN) system, which would make airline operations effective on a much lesser cost.

Developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in collaboration with Airport Authority of India (AAI), the satellite based navigation system aimed to serve as a low cost substitute for Instrument Landing System (ILS).

Total cost of the project is Rs 774 crores. Out of which government of India’s grant is Rs 378 crores, AAI investment is 226 crores and ISRO support is Rs 170 crores.

GAGAN will offer seamless navigation to the aviation industry. Director general of civil aviation M Sathiyavathy said, “Benefits to the aviation industry are enormous. This includes improved efficiency, direct routes, increased fuel savings, approach with vertical guidance at runways, significant cost savings due to withdrawal of ground aids and reduced workload of flight crew and air traffic controllers and also less carbon emission to benefit the environment”.

GAGAN will provide augmentation service for GPS over the country, Bay of Bengal, south east Asia and middle east expanding up to Africa.
“GAGAN expansion and usage by countries in Asia Pacific region will make India as the main leader for GNSS operations in the Asia Pacific region. The footprint provides capability of GAGAN services to both continents of Africa and Australia,” said minister of civil aviation P Ashok Gajapathi Raju.

Secretary Civil Aviation R N Choubey said, “The system is believed to perk up airport and airspace access in all-weather conditions along with smoothening environmental and obstacle clearance constraints. Initially there will be 50 airports to start following GAGAN”.

R K Srivastava, Chairman AAI said, “It is also being viewed as a system to augment reliability and trim down delays by defining more exact terminal area procedures that feature parallel routes and environmentally optimized airspace corridors. GAGAN is expected also to enable airlines to save time and money by managing climb, descent and engine performance profiles of aircraft.”

Things you should know about GAGAN satellite-based navigation system
 

• GAGAN provides autonomous, high precision geo-spatial location information of the user in terms of latitude, longitude and height along with velocity and time.

•  GAGAN will use a satellite based augmentation system known as Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS).

• GAGAN is the first SBAS in the world certified for Approach with Vertical Guidance operating in the Equatorial Ionospheric Region and the third SBAS to have achieved this feat after WAAS of USA and EGNOS of Europe. MSAS of JAPAN is currently certified for only lateral navigation.

•  GAGAN is expected to make available corrections for GPS signals which will provide accuracy in civil aviation. The system will enhance the landing approach of the aircraft.

•  India plans to use the GAGAN system initially in 50 candidate airports that will require CAT-1 or close to CAT-1 capability in the near future.