ATC
LAAS timeline slips by one year
While the GPS wide-area augmentation system (WAAS) is likely to be commissioned for public use in July, the local-area augmentation system (LAAS) has falle

While the GPS wide-area augmentation system (WAAS) is likely to be commissioned for public use in July, the local-area augmentation system (LAAS) has fallen back by 12 months, with commissioning of the first installation now forecast in late 2005. This setback for LAAS was revealed to attendees at a December briefing given by FAA’s Satellite Operational Implementation Team (SOIT).

Both systems are designed to provide users with enhanced GPS accuracy and with fast alerting of satellite failures and/or system accuracy drift beyond tolerances. WAAS and LAAS are FAA-funded augmentations to the DOD’s GPS for en route/terminal and precision approach applications, respectively, to meet civil requirements for use in the NAS. The basic military GPS was not designed to provide either accuracy enhancement or prompt integrity failure warnings.