NovAtel Inc. Awarded Contract for SBAS Equipment for Indian GAGAN Program  

CALGARY, Alberta, March 9/Satnews Daily/ — NovAtel Inc. (NASDAQ:NGPS), a precise positioning technology company, said it has received an order for additional Space Based Augmentation System (SBAS) equipment from Raytheon Co. (NYSE:RTN) in support of the Indian GAGAN program.

This latest contract with Raytheon follows on from an award to Raytheon by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) of a contract for the ground-based elements of the GPS and GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit) Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) Technology Demonstration System (TDS), in November 2004. NovAtel will supply receiver elements of these ground-based elements, which will be included in eight Indian reference stations, an Indian master control center, and an Indian land uplink station.

According to Raytheon, GAGAN-TDS, a cooperative effort between Raytheon and ISRO, will usher in a new era in civil navigation through use of the space-based augmentation system. When completed, GAGAN will augment the standard positioning signals from the GPS satellites with an additional signal to improve the accuracy, integrity, continuity, and availability of the aircraft receiver.

The GAGAN project is part of a worldwide movement toward space-based navigation, which has been endorsed by the International Civil Aviation Organization. It will increase safety and efficiency by allowing precision approaches to all airports and direct routing between destinations.

NovAtel has developed and produced the new SBAS reference receiver for use in the US WAAS network under contracts with Raytheon over the past two years. Deliveries of this equipment have been underway for approximately 18 months and the equipment is being fielded to expand the existing ground network in Alaska, Canada and Mexico.

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