The Wide Area Augmentation System, From the Beginning... Defining the Future

Celebrating twenty years, this video tells the story of the Wide Area Augmentation System, from the program’s beginnings to how it is defining the future of satellite navigation.

[@SchubertTech]

I was a 2 SOPS, Schreiver AFB (known as Falcon AFS back then), CO GPS satellite operator starting in 1991. Her reference to a non-complete GPS constellation would have been that time frame. I remember (USAF E-3 at the time, Airman 1st Class) having a US Army O-6 call me on the ops floor to ask me questions: Which satellites were on? (all of them, we don't turn them off sir) and Which direction do I aim the GPS receiver? (do you see open blue sky sir? Yes. That way sir.) When he started asking which satellites would be in view, I transferred him to my Flight Commander (USAF O-3 at the time). There were 2 Captains who got awards for repositioning a non-operational satellite so that the Middle East would be at the point it was Nadir Pointing while spin-controlled (GPS are normally 3 axis stabilized). We then turned it on so that in a non fully operations GPS constellation situation during the Gulf War, they had one more satellite.

[@scottymac62]

I was the first certified WAAS technician in the FAA. At ZTL.