Runway incursions have become an increasing problem at airports across the country. The National Safety Board has listed them among their "Most Wanted" safety improvements. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have been developing systems intended to reduce and prevent the number of runway incursions. Both agencies have been working on systems utilizing the Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) as the position sensor for the Automatic Dependent Surveillance and Broadcast (ADS-B).
The Avionics Engineering Center of Ohio University has been involved with the development of the NASA sponsored Runway Incursion Prevention System (RIPS). The main responsibility for the Avionics Engineering Center has been the installation, operation, and maintenance of the LAAS ground facility as well as providing expertise and assessing the system’s performance.
The testing for RIPS took place at the Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport from 24 September 2000 until 26 October 2000. This thesis provides a detailed position accuracy assessment of the LAAS installation used for the NASA RIPS. This assessment provides statistical information on position accuracy as compared to industry standards for airborne LAAS receivers and recommendations for the application of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning equipment in supporting surface guidance.