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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 January 2010
It seems appropriate first to define and explain the term Area Navigation that lately has almost become a slogan in discussions on short-range radio navigation aids. The term itself does not convey much because virtually any radio navigation system permits navigation in the area of coverage of the associated ground stations; for a systematic classification of navigation systems, the term Area Navigation (herein called ANAV) is unsatisfactory. It can be understood only in the context of air traffic control requirements. For a long while the requirements of short-range navigation systems were almost exclusively governed by the needs of air traffic control systems based on an airways concept. When during recent years A.T.C. methods became less associated with a fixed route structure, especially in the terminal area, the requirements to be met by a navigation system changed accordingly. There now appears to be a general trend for area navigation capability to become available as a substitute for a point-to-point navigation system.