A House Aviation Subcommittee held a hearing to review issues associated with protecting and improving the nation's aviation satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) infrastructure.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) developed in the United States that provides position and timing information at any place on the globe with a high degree of accuracy. GPS will soon replace radar as the primary surveillance method, but The Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) already utilize GPS technology in a broad variety of surveillance, navigation, safety, and efficiency applications.
The economic benefits of these GPS technologies on commercial GPS users are estimated to be over $67.6 billion per year in the U.S. An estimated $3 trillion in economic activity relies on GPS for tracking, timing, and navigation. Further, according to a recent study, the GPS industry supports over 3.3 million U.S. jobs annually.
Witnesses will include Department of Transportation's Deputy Secretary John Porcari, UN Air Navigation Bureau Deputy Director Vincent Galotti, George Washington University's Space Policy Institute Director Scott Pace; industry representatives from the Air Transport Association, the Air Line Pilots Association, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, and Garmin AT Inc.