The problem many innovators face in the U.S. is one where powerful special interests have access to intelligence information, Wall Street investment streams, Congress and government agencies. Personally, my (9) U.S. patents and pioneering GPS work were initially met with curiosity, then with outright hostility when powerful interests realized the GPS technology could put their currently marketed products in the Smithsonian.

My favorite quote from a radar executive is: “Bob, your technology does too much for too little, there’s no money in it.”

The 2001 Volpe GPS Jamming Assessment Report put GPS into a tailspin. It’s been ten years, and a new generation of multi-frequency GPS satellites are available as are terrestrial carrier phase back-up systems that make GPS a robust system for life critical applications. When you compare primitive inaccurate 2-D radar technology, with its single point of failure to a GPS system with augmentation, it’s a hands down win for GPS.

Radar is the biggest single factor impeding the modernization of the aviation system, although keeping radar as a back-up of last resort has some benefits. Unfortunately, current radar processing software is really not compatible with high accuracy, high frequency GPS information. Simply put, the radar processing software was never written to take advantage of high accuracy 4-dimensional GPS data that streams in once per second. Putting precise GPS data into obsolete software only perpetuates radar’s limited capabilities and eliminates the true benefits of GPS based ADS-B.

Another favorite quote of mine is from a Wall Street, Investment Banker, “Why should I invest in your technology, I’m selling a dozen antennas now, with your system I’m only going to sell three.”

With Compass, Glonass, and Galileo improving everyday, America falls further and further behind when it clings on to the obsolete technology of the past.

H. R. Pilley
Inventor of the seamless airport environment.
Demonstrated to the FAA August 12, 1993.