Proposed Provision of Navigation Services for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) Transition to Performance-Based Navigation (PBN)

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) seeks comments on a proposed transition of the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) navigation infrastructure to enable performance-based navigation (PBN) as part of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). The FAA plans to transition from defining airways, routes and procedures using VHF Omni-directional Range (VOR) and other legacy navigation aids (NAVAIDs) \1\ towards a NAS based on Area Navigation (RNAV) everywhere and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) where beneficial. Such capabilities will be enabled largely by the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). The FAA plans to retain an optimized network of Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) stations and a minimum operational network (MON) of VOR stations to ensure safety and continuous operations for high and low altitude en route airspace over the conterminous US (CONUS) and terminal operations at the Core 30 airports.\2\ The FAA is also conducting research on Alternate Positioning, Navigation and Timing (APNT) solutions that would enable further reduction of VORs below the MON. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------