NEC develops ground-based augmentation system — Delivered to Haneda Airport

On February 28, NEC announced that the ground-based augmentation system (GBAS) that it developed and delivered has officially begun operation at Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) from January 23. This was the first time of the official deployment of the GBAS in Asia.

The existing instrument landing system (ILS), which uses radio waves from the ground to guide aircraft when landing, is a guidance system that uses GPS to assist aircraft approach and landing. The GBAS has the same level of accuracy. It supports safe approach and landing of aircraft through generating and broadcasting reinforcement information on the ground to guarantee the accuracy and safety of GPS positioning. To accommodate multiple runways and bidirectional landings, the ILS requires multiple pieces of equipment on the ground, whereas the GBAS requires only one system.

To keep up with the increasing demand for air travel every year, the aviation industry must take steps to improve aircraft operating efficiency, such as by shortening routes, while ensuring safe operations. Therefore, GBAS, which provides aircraft with digital data information on approach routes, has been established as an international standard by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Its introduction is being sought internationally.

In Japan, the Civil Aviation Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is also working on aircraft operation using the GBAS. NEC received an order from the bureau for the "manufacture of one set of the GBAS-16-type GBAS system" and completed its delivery. The system is now officially in operation at Haneda Airport. The GBAS was developed by NEC using its proprietary technology and patents owned by the Electronic Navigation Research Institute and is characterized by its resistance to the effects of the ionosphere.

The system allows reduction in positioning errors even in low-latitude magnetic regions that are susceptible to the effects of ionospheric fluctuations. NEC is the only company in the world that has developed this technology. In the future, they will deploy the GBAS at airports around the world, including those in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, in line with the government's overseas deployment strategy for infrastructure systems.