In-Situ Nearfield Flight Inspection of a Glide-Slope System with a UAV

Abstract

This contribution present first in-situ nearfield measurements of a glide slope antenna array by means of an un-manned aerial vehicle as possible substitution or enhancement of nowadays performed regular flight inspection with aircraft. Presented measurements are part of the NAVANT-NG project, which addresses the aspects of measurement data acquisition with a tethered UAV and postprocessing of the data for obtaining the navigation signal properties in the coverage area according to specifications of the ICAO. Successful nearfield measurements in the vicinity of the navigation system with drones have the potential to substantially contribute to flight inspection procedures both in an economical and a scientific manner. A first assessment of the measurement results shows a successful data acquisition of magnitude and phase, which can be matched to the measurement position recorded by a GPS receiver mounted on the UAV. Finally, predicted glide slope signal results based on the near field measurement data are shown and discussed with respect to possible error contributions.