Wireless communications equipment provider Advantech Wireless Technologies has released a new class of Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) satellite frequency converter products designed to provide accurate GPS timing and position for critical applications such as air traffic control and aircraft precision landing.
This new line of products promises to extend the range of WAAS and EGNOS satellite frequency converters to cover higher C-Band, from 6.6 GHz and up to 7.075 GHz.
They are projected to upconvert and down-convert L1 and L5 GPS signals to/from C-band GEO satellites, in order to provide higher precision landing and timing for aircraft, and other critical applications. These frequency converters are designed to meet very stringent frequency stability requirements, exhibit very low phase noise, and experience no parametric drifting over time.
Commenting on the converters, Cristi Damian, VP Business Development, Advantech Wireless Technologies, said: “Without EGNOS and WAAS systems, precision aircraft landing at our airports is basically impossible. This is a critical service carried out by GEO satellites to augment the GPS satellites’ constellations. A number of satellite master ground stations in North America and Europe provide these services by constantly calculating the errors due to GPS signals’ propagation effects, and transmit compensated values to landing aircraft. Our dependence on GPS services continues to grow, and these systems need to operate continuously. With the lower C-band satellite spectrum now being allocated to 5G services, these frequency converters will allow WAAS and EGNOS services to easily be transported to higher C-band frequencies, in the range of 6.6-7.025 GHz, with minimum CAPEX. GPS augmentation services carried by GEO satellites are often unthought-of, but every day they avoid accidents, and save lives.”
Add Comment