GAGAN

Ayush Prashant Tatwesh Jash

Fall 2016
Abstract
This is a simple paragraph at the beginning of the document. A brief
introduction about the main subject.

1
1.1

Introduction to GAGAN
What is GAGAN?

GAGAN or GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation allows the usage of regional Satellite-Based Augmentation System. It also allows the improvement of
the Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS) receiver by providing reference
signals.Orbital radius of GAGAN is around 26,600 km.
The implementation of GAGAN by the Indian Government would be the
first step to the introduction of modern communication navigation, surveillance
and Air Traffic Management system over Indian airspace.The Indian government
has stated that it intends to use the experience of creating the GAGAN system
to enable the creation of an autonomous regional navigation system called the
Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).
Current rules say two aircraft must maintain a distance of 18 kilometres
between them to ensure safe operations. With Gagan, that distance can be
reduced to as little as 360 metres.
Gagan is much more precise in informing about the location of the plane
than the radar-based system most of the world still uses.The location that Gagan
provides is exact and the error, if any, could be only of up to 7.6 metres.However,
it has been found that the error has been only of 1 to 1.5 metre.
With the help of reference and uplink stations, Gagan will essentially provide
corrections to the GPS signal to improve air traffic management. It is believed
to be 10 times more precise than GPS.

1.2

What is the aim?

GAGAN aims for providing navigation system for all phases of flight over the
Indian airspace and in the adjoining area. It allows pilots to navigate in the

Indian Airspace with an accuracy of upto 3 kms. This will be extremely helpful for landing aircraft in tough weather and terrain like Mangalore and Leh
airports.

1.3

Advantages of GAGAN

1. GAGAN will increase safety by using a three-dimensional approach operation with course guidance to the runway, which will reduce the risk of
controlled flight into terrain i.e., an accident whereby an airworthy aircraft, under pilot control, inadvertently flies into terrain, an obstacle, or
water.
2. It will also offer high position accuracies over a wide geographical area
like the Indian airspace. These positions accuracies will be simultaneously
available to 80 civilian and more than 200 non-civilian airports and airfields and will facilitate an increase in the number of airports to 500 as
planned. These position accuracies can be further enhanced with ground
based augmentation system.
3. Its safety benefits include:
Vertical guidance improves safety, especially in adverse weather conditions.
Reduction of circling approaches.
4. Environmental benefits include:
Approach with Vertical Guidance procedures will help facilitate better energy and descent profile management during the final approach.
5. Global seamless navigation for all phases of flight including arrival, departure, oceanic and en route.
6. It allows direct routings, multiple approaches resulting in considerable fuel
savings to airlines and provide for capacity enhancement of airports and
airspace.
7. Additional benefits also include:
Improved efficiency
Direct routes
Reduced work load of flight crew and air traffic controllers
Improved safety
Ease of search and rescue operation

1.4

Changes Required

1.5

How does it work?

Mathematics in GAGAN

Mathematics in GPS systems is a complicated procedure which involves measurements from atleast 4 sattelites to uniquely determine the position of a point
on earth. This involves factoring in relativistic effects and finding the intersection of 4 ellipsoids. We will ignore such a complicated procedure and present a
highly simplified model which ignores relativity and is illustrative in scope.

2.1

Using the Cosine Rule

The cosine rule also known as the law of cosines is actually a set of three equations relating the lengths of the sides of a triangle to the cosine of one of its
angles. Our primary concern here would be its applications in the GAGAN
system. Mathematically they are,
a2 = b2 + c2 + 2bccos

(1)

b2 = c2 + a2 + 2cacos

(2)

c2 = a2 + b2 + 2abcos

(3)

where a, b, c are the length of the sides of the triangle and the corresponding
greek letters , , are the corresponding opposite angles.

2.2

A Problem

A large airplane A flying at 31000f t sights a smaller plane B travelling at an

altitude of 28000f t .The angle of depression is 37 What is the line of sight
distance between the two planes?

2.3

The Solution

We will first visualise the situation in form of a diagram.

Let the required value be It is clear that 4ABC is a right angled at C
BC = AP P Q

(4)

Thus applying trignometry in 4ABC we get,

sin = BC/

(5)

= BC sin 37

(6)

Using the approximate value of sin 37 which is 3/5, the answer comes out to
be = 5000f t
Implicit here is the assumption that the earth is very large compared to the
distance between the planes. This allows us to assume the earth as a flat surface
and not a sphere. If we ignored this assumption and try to find a exact answer
we will have to use the sin and cos rule. The exact solution is given Appendix
1. Another point which justifies our approximation is that our answer is less
than a thousand of the earths radius.