SESAR Prototype CAT III GBAS in Operation

The European SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) program took an important step toward the objective of optimizing runway capacity under low visibility conditions today at Frankfurt Airport, when a prototype NORMARC 8100 CAT III Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) went into operation. SESAR is the public-private partnership that represents the technological dimension of the Single European Sky initiative, intended to give Europe a high-performance air traffic control infrastructure.

Developed by Indra Navia (as a partner in NATMIG) under SESAR Project 15.3.6, the NORMARC 8100 GBAS is a new generation of satellite-based landing systems with an architecture that is well suited to comply with ICAO’s GAST D (CAT III) requirements. GBAS augments signals from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to make them accurate and reliable enough to use during aircraft approaches and landings. GBAS will enable increased air traffic capacity, provide opportunities for noise abatement and accommodate flexible operations such as curved approaches and landing on close parallel runways.

The successful installation and commissioning of the NORMARC 8100 CAT III prototype at Frankfurt Airport marks the start of system validation testing, being led by Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS) in cooperation with EUROCONTROL and other members of the project team. Prior to installing the system at Frankfurt, the NORMARC 8100 GBAS underwent successful interoperability testing against Honeywell’s CAT III prototype avionics in January and Factory Acceptance Testing in April.