The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has cleared Honeywell's Smartpath Precision Landing System, for use at U.S. airports, providing precise navigation service based on the global positioning system (GPS). The first U.S.-approved system is located in Memphis, TN and will become operational early next year.

"The approval of Honeywell's system marks the successful completion of a partnership between the FAA and Airservices Australia to build and certify a ground based augmentation system (GBAS)," said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. "We expect GBAS to become an asset to airports around the world." Airservices Australia is expected to approve their system soon at Sydney Airport.

GBAS augments the GPS to provide precision approach guidance to all qualifying runways at an airport. It monitors the GPS signals to detect errors and augment accuracy by transmitting correction messages to aircraft via local radio broadcast. GBAS will initially supplement the legacy Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) currently used at airports.

The FAA's NextGen Implementation Plan identifies GBAS as an enabler for descent and approach operations to increase capacity at crowded airports. The Honeywell system is approved for precision approach operations down to 200 feet above the surface.

GBAS will be improved over the next few years to guide an aircraft down to the runway surface to support zero-visibility operations and provide precise positioning service to enable performance-based navigation, area navigation (RNAV) and required navigation performance (RNP) operations.

RNAV enables aircraft to fly on any desired flight path within the coverage of ground or spaced-based navigation aids, within the limits of the capability of the self-contained systems, or a combination of both capabilities. As such, RNAV aircraft have better access and flexibility for point-to-point operations. RNP is RNAV with the addition of an onboard performance monitoring and alerting capability.

"Honeywell is a pioneer in this technology, having first demonstrated the ability to use GPS for aircraft landing in the early 1990s," said TK Kallenbach, Honeywell's vice president of product management. "Our GBAS technology in SmartPath, demonstrated at more than 25 airports around the world, is ready for implementation now to enable airports to increase capacity without expensive runway expansions. Coupling SmartPath with precision arrivals can also save airline operators fuel and lowers emissions."

A single Honeywell system can support landing operations on multiple runways simultaneously, eliminating the need for multiple ILS systems at airports with more than one runway.

One SmartPath system installed in a typical airport can yield annual maintenance savings of up to $400,000 compared to a single ILS. The firm says it also offers airports improved efficiency and capacity, while offering operators greater navigational accuracy and fewer weather-related delays.

Airservices Australia, with whom Honeywell has worked on SmartPath GBAS in a coordinated effort, has been actively engaged in the use of GBAS technology since 1999 and has been operating the Honeywell SmartPath GBAS ground station in Sydney since November 2006. In Australia, more than 1,400 revenue landings have occurred using SmartPath.

Honeywell's SmartPath is operating at early adopter airports across the globe, including Bremen, Germany; Malaga, Spain; Memphis, Tenn.; and Atlantic City, N.J. Additional installations are planned at airports in the U.S., Asia, South America and Europe beginning in late summer 2009.