Sigma inflation for the local area augmentation of GPS

The Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) is the differential satellite navigation architectural standard for civil aircraft precision approach and landing. While the system promises great practical benefit, a number of key technical challenges have been encountered in the definition of the architecture. Perhaps chief among these has been the need to ensure compliance with stringent requirements for navigation Integrity. In this context, this research investigates the sensitivity of integrity risk to statistical uncertainties in the knowledge of reference receiver error standard deviation (σ_{pr_gnd} ) and error correlation across the multiple reference receivers to be used in the LAAS ground segment. A new, detailed approach toward mitigating the integrity risk due to parameter statistical uncertainty is presented