Navigation applications in the civil aviation

Radio navigation aids which are an essential element of the current air traffic control systems and have been used in civil aviation for many years, are inadequate to meet the growing volume of air traffic. Satellite navigation systems which eliminate the disadvantages of the radio navigation aids and allow to give more reliable navigation service, are becoming more widespread and popular in civil aviation applications in recent years. Satellite navigation systems which are shortly known as GNSS have been in service in a global scale and are widely used in the civil aviation applications in which precision, accuracy and safety are extremely important. These systems allow to acquire real-time, current and high accuracy positional information in any types of weather conditions 24/7. In this study, radio navigation aids, satellite navigation systems and the use of these systems in civil aviation are given. In addition, a sample application of the GNSS based flight inspection which had performed at Istanbul International Ataturk Airport is described.