NovAtel has secured a contract from the FAA to design and manufacture 40 next-generation ground uplink station (GUS) signal generators to support the agency’s WAAS navigation service. The contract also includes engineering support services for NovAtel’s portfolio of satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) products deployed by the FAA, including the WAAS G-III reference receiver platform.

Developed by the FAA, the WAAS network is a safety-critical supplemental navigation aid that allows aircraft to use the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) for all phases of flight. Since WAAS became operational in July 2003, NovAtel has provided the FAA with technology that delivers high-precision GPS receiver measurements and navigation information from WAAS reference stations and the GUS infrastructure, allowing aircraft to perform precision approaches using GPS/WAAS.

Under this latest contract, NovAtel will modernize the WAAS network by upgrading and extending support for the network’s GUS infrastructure. According to NovAtel, the next generation of GUS signal generators will include independent L1 and L5 signal paths to precisely control the frequency and phase of L1 and L5 code and carrier for dual-frequency SBAS.