After the UK’s Brexit departure from the European Union (EU), the country’s participation in the EU’s European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) ended and pilots weren’t allowed to use Egnos-based instrument approaches at many airports. Satellite operator Viasat has demonstrated, with the National Flying Laboratory Centre, satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) high-accuracy positioning services that could lead to UK-developed SBAS approaches.
The airborne testing was done in the National Flight Lab’s Saab 340B twin turboprop using broadcast capability from Viasat’s I-3 F5 satellite. According to Viasat, the "UK SBAS generates an overlay test signal to the U.S. Global Positioning System, fully compliant with International Civil Aviation Organization standards, to enable assessment of more precise, resilient and high-integrity navigation for maritime and aviation users in UK waters and airspace.”
Viasat estimates that a regional airline could have safely flown an SBAS approach and landed during 40 percent of flights that were canceled because of weather conditions. “Around the UK, 19 airports had EGNOS procedures in place prior to leaving the European Union..”
Funding for the tests came from the UK Department for Transport via the European Space Agency’s NAVISP program. A Viasat-led team is completing the trial and includes Goonhilly Earth Station, CGI UK, GMV, Ordnance Survey, Cranfield University, the Cranfield National Flying Laboratory Centre, and Pildo Labs.