Date posted: 08/24/2009*

Engineering Fellow Tim Schempp was recently featured in GPS World as one of the top “50 Global Navigation Satellite System Leaders to Watch.” Schempp is the technical director for NCS’ Navigation and Landing Systems business and Wide Area Augmentation System program.

WAAS is a safety-critical Global Positioning Satellite system that provides the accuracy, availability and continuity required for landing aircraft throughout North America.

Schempp is a member of the WAAS Integrity and Performance Panel — a group of industry experts selected by the Federal Aviation Administration responsible for the approval of WAAS algorithms and safety design.

Of his two patents, he created a process of adding an integrity capability with a specified time to alert legacy systems with slow multi-second message rates called "Method and Apparatus for Satellite Integrity Messaging."

Capability Could Aid Current GPS System

The approach could be used to add an integrity alert message to the currently fielded GPS system, giving next-generation GPS receivers an integrity alert within six seconds of a hazardous condition, while being fully compatible with the millions of functional GPS receivers available today.

“In the coming decade, many new satellite-based navigation systems, such as GALILEO and COMPASS, will become available, opening up unprecedented accuracy, availability and continuity of service for users sophisticated enough to utilize signals from multiple systems,” said Schempp. “Satellite navigation is an important component of the FAA’s next generation of air traffic control.”

During the past five years, Schempp has written 14 papers on satellite navigation and worked with both national and international manufacturers to ensure that WAAS is fully compatible with GNSS receivers developed around the world.