Russian Researchers Develop Software to Quadruple Aircraft Landing Accuracy
According to the International Desk of Webangah News Agency, researchers at South Ural State University, a partner of TV BRICS, have developed and registered software that determines the optimal placement of terrestrial navigation pseudolites. This technology can increase the accuracy of aircraft altitude determination during approach and landing by more than fourfold.
This innovation holds potential applications in both civil aviation and the landing of next-generation reusable launch vehicles. Pseudolites are ground-based facilities that serve as supplementary navigation signal sources for aircraft, particularly crucial during the descent phase where altitude determination errors can have more severe consequences.
Engineers from the Aerospace Engineering Faculty at South Ural State University have devised a solution that calculates the most advantageous locations for pseudolite installation and the optimal height for their supporting towers to boost navigation precision. The software considers two primary factors: terrain elevation and the aircraft’s landing path, to pinpoint the ideal deployment sites for these facilities. Users need only input data on regional elevations within a 25-kilometer radius and the aircraft’s typical descent trajectory.
Stanislav Lisov, a senior lecturer in the Radio Electronics Engineering Department at South Ural State University, explained, “Our software automatically assigns weighting factors to different segments of the path, giving maximum attention to the more critical stages, specifically the descent from 300 meters to ground level.”
He added, “As a result, the vertical component coefficient of the geometric factor decreases from 2.5 to 0.6, leading to an average increase in aircraft altitude determination accuracy before landing of more than four times.”
The software’s developers suggest that this new technology is well-suited for civil aviation, especially at remote airfields and in northern regions where Global Navigation Satellite System signals are often unstable. The program can also assist surveyors in identifying optimal locations for constructing runways. Furthermore, companies involved in launching payloads into Earth orbit using advanced reusable launch systems could benefit from this technology.
