NovAtel Inc. received a contract from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to develop the next generation Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)receiver. The contract covers receiver development and qualification work over a 21-month period and also includes an additional option for the development of a new broadband WAAS antenna. The basic contract has a value of $2.4 million U.S. and the option is worth $835,000 U.S.

The new WAAS receiver is based on the NovAtel OEM4 dual frequency GPS receiver with added L2C/A tracking. It also includes a new generation of the patented MEDLL multipath reduction technology and has a provision for subsequent upgrade to add L5 receiving capability. The receiver firmware also incorporates Signal Quality Monitoring (SQM)and will be qualified to RTCA DO-187B level D.

NovAtel's WAAS receivers are deployed in the national WAAS/SBAS ground networks in the U.S., Japan, China and Europe. These complex receivers incorporate NovAtel's patented Narrow Correlator and MEDLL technologies, process WAAS signals from geo-stationary satellites and include dual frequency L1/L2 processing.