SubscribeNorthrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) European subsidiary, Park Air Systems, has received an air space management industry award in the eighth annual Jane’s ATC Global Awards 2008, announced at the ATC Global exhibition and conference in Amsterdam.
The Industry category, for the most significant contribution by an equipment supplier, was awarded to Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems in recognition of its achievement in completing the world's first GPS ground-based augmentation landing system for commercial operations at Brønnøysund Airport in Norway.
Air Traffic Control Industry Award
"This award recognizes how this important technology development will help improve safety, particularly at the smaller regional airports in Norway," said Cato Engebretsen, director of navigation systems at Park Air Systems in Norway. "The SCAT-1 project replaces demanding step-down approaches with safer instrument landing precision approaches."
Six ATC Global awards are presented each year to highlight contributions made toward safer skies, capacity enhancements and increases in efficiency within the airspace management industry. The winners are selected by a panel of senior representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration, Eurocontrol, IATA, CANSO and Jane's Information Group.
Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems developed and installed the ground-based elements of the global navigation satellite system for precision approach and landing. The inaugural flight using the new landing system was an Avinor charter service from Trondheim to Brønnøysund in a Widerøe Dash 8 aircraft, which took place in October 2007.
Park Air Systems provided the ground station system under contract awarded by Norwegian air navigation service provider, Avinor.
The NORMARC 8005 SCAT-1 ground station receives and validates GPS signals and then transmits the calculated signal corrections and flight path data via a VHF data link. SCAT-1 avionics use the received signal to improve position accuracy and signal integrity along a defined flight path. One ground station can serve several approaches for both ends of the runway, creating a cost-effective solution.
The ground station at Brønnøysund Airport, located 500 miles north of Oslo on the Helgeland coast, was operationally certified in April 2007. Brønnøysund is the first airport in the world to use satellite-based landing guidance for passenger flights.
Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems, based in Peterborough, UK and Oslo and Horten, Norway, supplies communication, navigation and surveillance systems for air-space operations worldwide. Park Air Systems is part of the company's Mission Systems Europe operations.
In Europe, Northrop Grumman operates from locations in France, Germany, Italy and Norway, providing navigation, air traffic control and postal automation systems. In the UK, Northrop Grumman operates from primary locations in London, Fareham, Chester, Coventry, New Malden, Peterborough, RAF Waddington and Solihull and provides avionics, communications, electronic warfare systems, marine navigation systems, robotics, C4ISR solutions and mission planning, IT systems and software development.