India is developing an indigenous wide area augmentation system called Geo-Aided GPS Augmented Navigation (Gagan) designed to help tackle what appears to be a monumental task: Keeping up with air traffic movements that have mushroomed since India began allowing private carriers to challenge its old state-owned airlines. The Indian undertaking, expected to cost $155 million, is the latest attempt to harness navigation satellites for civil aviation by augmenting their accuracy and reliability and guaranteeing the integrity and availability of the signal at all times. The aim is to make satellite navigation an adjunct to existing ground-based navaids and eventually, to permit it to function on a standalone basis where such aids are not available.
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