Objective
Pulsars are fast rotating neutron stars that emit electromagnetic radiation, which is received on earth as a series of very stable fast periodic pulses with periods in between 1.4 milliseconds and 8.5 seconds. These periodic pulses and the known positions (in celestial coordinates) of the neutron stars make them ideal beacons for navigation.
Air traffic management and aircraft operations are currently dependent on the use of ground-based navigation systems. Still, many areas on earth are not equipped with this kind of infrastructure. In oceanic flights and isolated areas, aircraft fly procedural tracks assisted by inertial navigation and/or GPS. as no ground equipment is available to guide them along their tracks.
We propose a new navigation system, based on the signals received from pulsars. Pulsar navigation enables a means of navigation without the need for ground-based or space-based equipment.
If pulsar navigation is feasible, at least 5 advantages are identified for aviation
1 Overcome GNSS vulnerabilities
2 Reducing operational cost of air transport
3 Contribute to greener transport by enabling secure formation flying of commercial airplanes in oceanic and remote areas
4 improve flexibility and accessibility of air transport
5 Contribute to a common reference time frame for aviation
The objective of this study to investigate the feasibility of pulsar navigation for aviation, and if found positive, to analyse the impact on aviation and to identify and develop (sections of) the path towards a useable real-time navigation and timing system.
Fields of science
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomystellar astronomyneutron stars
- social sciencessocial geographytransportnavigation systemssatellite navigation systemglobal navigation satellite system
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringaircraft
- social sciencessocial geographytransporttransport planningair traffic management
Call for proposal
FP7-AAT-2012-RTD-L0
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research projectCoordinator
1059 CM Amsterdam
Netherlands