SBAS Knowledge Base

Research Log - 2026-05-03 PBN Procedure-Design Source Hardening

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Research Log - 2026-05-03 PBN Procedure-Design Source Hardening

Purpose

This log documents the PBN procedure-design source-hardening cycle executed on 2026-05-03. The cycle created institutional-grade source notes for ICAO PANS-OPS/PBN and FAA/EASA procedure-design material, then hardened all five Aviation/ procedure pages (LPV, LNAV/VNAV, RNAV, RNP, GBAS) to remove unsourced numerical claims and add proper source routing.

Problem statement

The Aviation/ procedure pages (LNAV/VNAV, RNAV, RNP, GBAS) contained:

  • Unsourced numerical claims: accuracy values, alert limits, detection times, decision heights, weather minima, wind limits, fuel savings percentages, cost figures, and pilot-training hours
  • Emoji in titles (not institutional grade)
  • Broken or corrupted wikilinks (especially GBAS)
  • Mixed wikilink syntax (using Obsidian wikilink syntax plus an extra Markdown path, instead of a plain Obsidian wikilink)
  • No boundary statements distinguishing equipment capability from procedure design
  • No links to procedure-design source notes (which did not yet exist)
  • Missing frontmatter fields (verification_status, status)

The LPV page had been partially hardened in a previous cycle but still lacked procedure-design source routing.

Research conducted

ICAO sources

  1. ICAO Doc 8168 Volume II (PANS-OPS)

  2. ICAO Doc 9613 (PBN Manual)

    • ICAO Store page: https://store.icao.int/en/performance-based-navigation-pbn-manual-doc-9613
    • Edition: 5th Edition, 2023
    • Full title: Performance Based Navigation (PBN) Manual
    • Purpose: “Identifies the relationship between RNAV and RNP applications and the advantages and limitations of choosing one or the other as the navigation requirement for an airspace concept”
    • Additional: “Provides practical guidance to States, ANSPs and airspace users on how to implement RNAV and RNP applications”

FAA sources

  1. FAA Order 8260.3G (TERPS)

    • FAA page: https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/orders_notices/index.cfm/go/document.information/documentID/1042947
    • Date issued: 2024-07-01
    • Status: Active
    • Full title: United States Standard for Terminal Instrument Procedures (TERPS)
    • Purpose: “Prescribes standardized methods for design and evaluation of IFPs prescribed under Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 97 as well as other IFPs and ATC procedures not specified under part 97”
    • Applicability: Pertinent to 14 CFR parts 1, 71, 77, 91, 95, 97, 121, 125, 129, 135 and 171

  2. FAA Order 8260.58D (PBN Instrument Procedure Design)

EASA sources

  1. EASA Easy Access Rules for ATM/ANS Equipment

  2. EASA PBN Operations Transition

Files created

  1. Sources/Source - ICAO PANS-OPS Doc 8168 and Doc 9613 PBN Manual.md — NEW institutional source note with ICAO Store metadata, scope statements, boundary statements, downstream routing, and extraction template
  2. Sources/Source - FAA and EASA Procedure-Design and PBN Material.md — NEW institutional source note with FAA/EASA public catalog metadata, boundary statements, downstream routing, and extraction template

Files modified

  1. Aviation/LNAV-VNAV-Approach-Procedure.md — REWRITTEN: removed all unsourced numerical claims, added scope/boundary statements, added source anchors, fixed wikilinks, institutional grade
  2. Aviation/RNAV-Approach-Procedure.md — REWRITTEN: same treatment as LNAV/VNAV
  3. Aviation/RNP-Approach-Procedure.md — REWRITTEN: same treatment, with emphasis on onboard monitoring/alerting distinction
  4. Aviation/GBAS-Approach-Procedure.md — REWRITTEN: same treatment, fixed corrupted wikilinks, added SBAS/GBAS architectural distinction
  5. Aviation/LPV-Approach-Procedure.md — UPDATED: added procedure-design source anchors to source section, updated See also links
  6. Standards-Regulation/SBAS Standards Source Matrix.md — UPDATED: added procedure-design source notes to claim-routing matrix and claim-type matrix; updated recommended sequence; updated modified date
  7. Sources/SBAS Source Backlog.md — UPDATED: updated procedure-design section; marked item 4 as completed in suggested execution order; updated modified date
  8. MOCs/SBAS-in-Civil-Aviation-MOC.md — UPDATED: changed editorial status of LNAV/VNAV, RNAV, RNP, GBAS from “draft educational scaffold” to “reviewed; source-scaffold-linked”; added source-routing table; updated modified date

QA results

Pre-commit checks to run

  • Prettier formatting pass on all modified files
  • Quartz build (expect 113+ Markdown files, no errors)
  • Wikilink audit (expect 0 broken wikilinks)
  • Publication/privacy audit (expect no local paths, secrets, or backup paths)

Boundary decisions

  1. Two source notes instead of four: Combined ICAO Doc 8168 Vol II and Doc 9613 into one ICAO source note, and FAA TERPS/8260.58D/EASA material into one FAA/EASA source note, following the pattern of the FAA/EASA TSO/ETSO pair from the previous cycle.

  2. Verification status: Both new source notes use public-catalog-reviewed-not-source-extracted to signal that public catalog metadata supports document identity and purpose, but direct text extraction has not been performed.

  3. Procedure pages: All five Aviation/ procedure pages now use the same institutional structure as the previously hardened LPV page, with explicit scope/boundary statements, no numerical claims, proper wikilink syntax, and source routing.

  4. No EASA direct text extraction: EASA AMC/GM material is referenced in the FAA/EASA source note but not directly extracted. Future cycles should identify exact AMC/GM document numbers and editions for PBN operational approval.

  1. Direct extraction of ICAO Doc 8168 Vol II: Extract procedure-design criteria for instrument approach procedures, obstacle clearance surfaces, and SBAS/APV/LPV-specific material.
  2. Direct extraction of ICAO Doc 9613: Extract RNP navigation specifications, RNAV/RNP comparison material, and implementation guidance.
  3. Direct extraction of FAA Order 8260.3G and 8260.58D: Extract U.S. TERPS criteria and PBN procedure-design criteria.
  4. Service-provider source notes: Create source notes for WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS, GAGAN, BDSBAS, KASS, SouthPAN service definitions before publishing comparative performance tables.
  5. Annex 10 extraction: Continue extracting ICAO Annex 10 Volume I GNSS/SBAS technical provisions.

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