GPS access may facilitate automated aircraft-carrier landing

London, June 17 : Automated landing on aircraft-carriers can be made possible if both the ship and the aircraft are in sync with each other via GPS, say scientists.

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a sea-going airbase.

However, landing on an aircraft carrier is quite tricky and dangerous as complex movements of both aircraft and ship need to be considered.

For instance, while an aircraft carrier is heaving, swaying and pitching, right at that very moment the aircraft would also be pitching, yawing and rolling. Still the pilot has to successfully land the aircraft on to the carrier with precision.

As of now, handing this work to a computer has proved to be difficult owing to the fact that the signal between ship and aircraft might be lost at any time due to intentional jamming or unintentional interference, reports New Scientist.

James Waid and colleagues from US firm Honeywell International have said that automated landings can now be possible if the flight computer has access to GPS measurements of both ship and aircraft.

And if in case the signal between ship and aircraft, or between GPS devices and GPS satellites, is lost, the system will be able to calculate the data for concluding if a safe landing solution exists and if not, can dismiss the landing.

ANI