WAAS Up? New Acronym Stands For Better GPS Accuracy

Volume 14
•
Number 1
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January 2001

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WAAS Up? New Acronym Stands For Better GPS Accuracy

Raytheon's Raychart 320, with its improved satellite-based differential system, is consistently more accurate than two conventional DGPS units from Raytheon and Garmin — and it's less expensive.

Test group from left: Raytheon's 420 with
ûDGPS, the Garmin Map215 with DGPS and the
ûRaytheon Raychart 320.

Whatever limitations electronic position finding may have suffered during its relatively brief existence, a lack of confusing acronyms hasn’t been one of them.

From RDF through LORAN-C, SATNAV and GPS (which also involves SA and DGPS) and up to the latest wrinkle—WAAS—there’s never been a shortage of initials.

The satellite-based WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System), though, represents a real advance in the technology. And it also holds out the hope of a lower price along with the improvement.

What is WAAS, and why are all those people talking about it? Well, it’s probably worthwhile to go back a few years and take a quick look at the steps that have…

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