Hybrid APNT: Terrestrial Radionavigation to Support Future Aviation Needs

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Alternative Positioning Navigation & Timing (APNT) program is developing and examining solutions to provide terrestrial based radio-navigation capability that can support Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) even with the loss of GNSS. Two technologies being examined are improved distance measuring equipment (DME) and passive ranging from DME and automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) ground stations. This paper details the concept and operation of Hybrid APNT which combines these two options to form a solution that contains the best features of each option.