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“India should
have its own positioning satellite system” |
says K
Ramalingam, Chairman, Airports Authority of
India (AAI) while discussing the mandate and activities
of AAI related to GPS
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| What is mandate of Airports
Authority of India (AAI)? |
As
designated by International Civil Aviation Organisation
(ICAO), AAI is mandated to control and manage the Indian
airspace extending beyond the territorial limits of
the country, i.e., land airspace of 1.05 million NM2
and oceanic airspace of 1.75 million NM2. [NM Nautical
Miles] |
| What role AAI is playing
in GAGAN? |
| Yes, AAI is
committed to provide SBAS over Indian airspace as per
Communication, Navigation, Surveillance / Air traffic
Management (CNS/ATM) plan envisaged by ICAO. As you
may be aware that Indian airspace is falling between
coverage area of European Geostationary Navigation Overlay
System (EGNOS) on the West and Multi Functional Transport
Satellites (MTSAT) Satellite - Based Augmentation System
(MSAS) (Japan) on the East but defi nitely not in the
service area of both. It means that no Global Navigation
Satellite System (GNSS) integritymonitoring signal will
be available over Indian airspace. To bridge the gap
between the coverage areas of EGNOS & MSAS and to
facilitate seamless navigation to the aircraft from
West-East and vice-versa, therefore GAGAN is a requirement.
As you know that GAGAN is a
technology driven project and is still evolving. It
has been envisaged that Department of Space (DOS) /
Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) will be in the right position to drive the project
whereas AAI will provide the requisite fi nancial, technical
manpower and all the other supplementary support for
the project. |
In
what activities of AAI Global Positioning System (GPS)
are used at present? |
At present AAI
is using GPS constellation for airport cartography application
but in future GPS will be used for surveillance and
navigation purpose. AAI is planning to conduct Automatic
Dependent Surveillance –Broadcast (ADS-B) trials
over Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea where installation
of Radar is not possible; therefore surveillance becomes
diffi cult for enroute aircrafts. In this area GPS plays
an important role as position locator in user-friendly
environment. The position of the aircraft
will be displayed on ground display console, which will
help the Air Traffic Control offi cers (ATCO’s)
to monitor the progress of the flight. Secondly GPS
will be used as core constellation of GAGAN. This core
constellation will be augmented with Geo- Stationary
Earth Orbiting Satellite (GEOS) i.e. GSAT-4, which will
carry the required navigation payload for GAGAN. Thirdly
GPS constellation is being used in Airport cartography
for preparing Grid maps, zoning map etc. Therefore AAI
is /will be using the GPS constellation in the major
functions of CNS/ATM activities. |
What
is the future plans of AAI regarding GPS? |
As
such GPS core constellation belongs to Department of
Defense (DOD) US. Now US Government has plan to modernize
the GPS signal by introducing new frequency i.e. L5
which will be delivering more Carrier to Noise ratio
power and less affected by Ionosphere as compared to
the L1 and L2 frequencies. ISRO has made provision of
L5 frequency in GSAT- 4 satellite payload, planned to
be launched in the last quarter of 2006. |
What
are visible impacts of the introduction of GPS in AAI? |
It is a right
step. For civilian purposes, one does not require highly
accurate and detailed maps. The needs are different.
Hence, enabling access to non-sensitive geo-spatial
information for developmental projects and civilian
purpose is a welcome step. |
The
GPS system is under US control. Is it sensible to depend
on this system? |
As explained
earlier, in the field of surveillance, we will able
to monitor the entire Indian airspace under user-friendly
environment. This will provide great help to AAI for
safety of aircraft and reducing the congestion in the
Indian air space. In this environment new concept of
RNAV (Area Navigation) can also be implemented.
In the fi eld of navigation, it will provide seamless
navigation over Indian airspace. RNAV can be further
redefi ned with less separation and will help in reducing
the airspace congestion. GAGAN will help further to
dismantle terrestrial en-route nav-aids.
GAGAN signal will be available to the all Indian airports
for navigation as well as precision approach landing.
Only AAI has to develop the landing procedure with GAGAN
parameters. It will further improve the accuracy of
grid map and charts prepared by AAI based on the survey
done by department of cartography (AAI). |
| How do you see the dependence
of India on US based GPS system? |
As GPS system belongs to DOD US
and they took more than 20 year to bring this technology
and provided services to the civil users free of cost.
India is fourth country, which has decided to have
own augmentation system based on GPS system. One fear
will be always if US withdraws the GPS signal due
some reason, the GAGAN system will collapse. So I
feel that India should have its own positioning satellite
system like GPS.
|
How do you see the developments
regarding the development
pertaining to Galileo? |
I understand
Government of India as recently signed MOU with European
Union (EU) to participate in the Galileo Program. EU
is implementing Galileo. The core system will have 30
satellites and is likely to be available by 2008 as
per the existing schedule. Let’s see how does
it go. |
| What is the Government of
India’s policy towards GLONASS? |
GLONASS is owned
and maintained by Russian Federation. The system is
depleted and number of serviceable satellites in orbit
has depleted very much. Government, I understand, is
taking note of it. |
| January
2006 |
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Shri
Kannayan Ramalingam is the Chairman of Airport
Authority of India (AAI) entrusted with, inter
alia, the control and management of Indian air
space providing communication, navigational and
surveillance aids to air traffi c operating to
and from Indian Airports, AAI manages 126 airports
in the country. Born in Cuddalore District of
Tamil Nadu, Shri Ramalingam studied in Chennai
and did M.Tech from IIT in Electrical Engineering. |
He
obtained postgraduate degree in management (MBA)
from AIMA with specialization in information technology.
He also possesses a diploma in administrative
& Labour Laws from Annamali University.
Shri Ramalingam, 56, is on the Board of Directors
of the number of reputed organizations like Indian
Airlines and Air India. He has been nominated
for various high level Government and professional
committees. His international assignments included:
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• Vice President, Airport Council International
(ACI) - Asia.
• Member of World Governing Council of ACI.
• Member of ICAO Global Navigational Satellite
System Panel and Navigation System Panel for preparation
of standard and recommended practices.
• Executive Committee Member of Civil Air
Navigational Services Organization (CANSO), Netherlands.
Shri Ramalingam is an expert in the fi eld of
Communication, Navigational and Surveillance/
Air Traffi c Management (CNS/ ATM). He has planned
and executed installation of a number of CNS systems.
He also renders technical advice to various national
and international bodies in various projects in
the fi eld of civil aviation. Anna University
conferred Honorary Doctorate for his contribution
to the growth of civil aviation in India. |
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