The local area augmentation system: an airport surveillance application supporting the FAA Runway Incursion Reduction Program demonstration at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) created the Runway Incursion Reduction Program (RIRP) to reduce runway incursions throughout the National Airspace System (NAS) by increasing situational awareness, incursion monitoring, and information alerting for Air Traffic Controllers (ATC), pilots, and surface vehicle operators. A recent RIRP activity involved undertaking a technical evaluation and demonstration of a prototype system at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). A Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) was one of the major sensor subsystems included in this system. As part of the RIRP team, the Ohio University Avionics Engineering Center (AEC) installed, operated, and tested the LAAS ground facility (LGF) at DFW. LAAS is a differential GPS-based precision approach and landing system that can be used to support surface operations. This paper will provide an overview of the RIRP system architecture and an introduction to LAAS. Also included are a discussion of the LGF site selection, detailed description of LGF, the test equipment used for performing accuracy and coverage assessments, and the data collection activities performed