RTCA Special Committee 193/EUROCAE Working Group 44 Airport and Terrain Database Acquisition for Aviation Applications

摘要

Aviation applications such as terrain awareness and warning system (TAWS), procedure design development, synthetic vision systems (SVS), airport surface movement and control systems (A-SMACS), and aeronautical charts require highly accurate, reliable digital databases. A joint international group, RTCA-Special Committee 193/EUROCAE Working Group 44, has been working to define the industry requirements for database accuracy, integrity and resolution for the past few years in support of these applications. This paper describes methods of acquiring quality terrain, obstruction and airport feature data for use in the aviation industry. These databases must be referenced to the World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS-84). Photogrammetric and conventional survey methodologies are currently used to acquire the information for these databases. Photogrammetric methodologies are based on geo-referenced stereoscopic aerial photography. New remote sensing techniques such as light detection and ranging (LIDAR), interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR) and spaceborne imaging systems are being investigated to assist with this data collection. Data quality for the collected features will be defined by the RTCA-SC 193/EUROCAE WG44 document. The terrain and obstruction database will include tree canopies, buildings, boulders, towers, antennas and bare earth information. An airport database will contain runway coordinates and runway centerlines, taxiways, taxiway centerlines, hold short lines, parking stands, apron areas and building features. The accuracy of all digital databases must be validated. One method of validation for airport markings is to use a vehicle positioned by the global navigation satellite system (GNSS). The database features are displayed on a moving map in the vehicle and compared with the actual airport features to validate the markings.