Vancouver’s fjord-like Inner Harbor is home to a large number of private seaplanes, larger commercial scheduled seaplanes and helicopters, many of which arrive and depart below the fight paths of airline jets landing and taking off from the nearby Vancouver International airport. Radar surveillance was impractical, as the harbor has mountains on one side and city high rise buildings on the other. Nav Canada chose multilateration, with tracking accuracy of 25 feet in the heavy traffic areas. “Multilateration has the advantages of high-accuracy coverage that can be tailored, and relatively low cost,” said Sid Koslow, Vice President of Engineering for Nav Canada. “Near-term applications at Nav Canada include use in difficult to cover areas and as a supplement to traditional surface radar.”

Vancouver’s Inner Harbor