Land-based Navigation

Bismillah,

Well last Thursday I went to Aeronautical Engr. Departement to discuss NAVAID I've talked about.

As a result of NGN (Next Generation Network) concept, we could combine just almost anything. Making this world even smaller. It's motto is anywhere, anyhow, anytime, anybody, anything. With newest technology for information and communication those will not be impossible for most cases --of course, unless you find a way how to deliver goods over network instantly i.e. teleporting :)--.

Related to NGN concept on this NAVAID idea, computer-based network is utilized to inform airmen on anything related to their tasks and responsibilities. My focus here is land-based navigation, further application would cover automated weather, ACARS, on-board internet browsing, etc. At first I thought a 9,6 kbps wireless channel is adequate for aircraft position updates, but it is a term of text only. It is possible ... deliver position updates via airwave to ground station. This ground station will give corrections to the designated aircraft. I'm thinking wheter aircraft has such IP address in form of IPv4 or IPv6 to communicate.

Our discussion was temporarily suspended, but this will continue later.

The main obstacle in this navigation is how ground station corrects aircraft position. GPS gives high accuracy positioning, and Mr. Toto informed me that starting in 2005 in the US all land-based navigation (VOR,DME,NDB) will be phased out and replaced by satellite navigation --GPS--. Unfortunately ... GPS has not been used to guide aircraft down to earth.

Some engineers had developed tunnel-in-the-sky GPS based. Its purpose is to guide airmen bring their aircrafts landing safely. This is very useful for aircraft which is flying under severe weather or for novice pilots. But again ... GPS based. Terrestrial navigation is now being left as a sweet memory of previous navigation before human discover more accurate positioning. Now this is a hard challenge ... but I do believe this will lead to progress in the future. It is possible if navigation & positioning is done through computation, though.

Another thing that should be put into consideration is regulations. No matter how smart these development is built without regulation it all scrapped. FAA/CAA/ICAO regulations has to be followed otherwise human/system will not be considered as safe for flight. But that's another matter ...

Will this concept acceptable for aeronautical flight ? The truth is out there somewhere ...

--Dimas