Avionics Training

Systems,
Installation and
Troubleshooting
Second Edition

Len Buckwalter

Avionics Communications Inc.

Leesburg, VA, USA
 Copyright ©2005, 2007, 2009, 20 10 by Len Buckwalter
ISBN 978- 1-88-554421-6
All ri ghts reserved. No portion of thi s book may be reproduced in any form or in any medium without
the written consent of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publicati on Data

Buckwalter, Len. "

Avionics training : systems, installation, and troubleshooting / Len Buckwalter.
p. cm.
lncludes index.
ISBN 978-1-88-55442 l-6
I. Avionics-Textbooks. 2. Ai rplanes--Electronic equipment--lnsta llation--Textbooks. 3.
Airplanes--Electron ic equiprnent--Maintenance and repair--Textbooks. I. Title.

TL693.B752 2005
629 . I 35--dc22
2005045200

Avionics Communications Inc.

P.O. Box 2628
Leesburg, VA 20 177 USA

Tel: 703/777-9535
Fax: 703/777 -9568
E-mail: len@av ioni cs.com

Visit: www.avionics.com
 Preface

Avionics is changing rap idly, thanks to the com- just about anything. It 's the same idea as a personal
puter revo lution, sate llites, digital e lectronics and flat computer and its appl ications software; it 's a word
panel displays, to name a few. These changes are a lso processor, spread sheet or video gamc---at the press of
affecting the direction of avionics training. a few buttons.
Technic ians a half-century ago were "radio me- For the avionics shop, these developments reduce
chanics," removing broken black boxes from ai 1vlanes, the need for bench technic ians to repair down to the
taking the m to the shop and testing the c ircuit. They did component level. M aintaining the new avion ics requires
"all-purpose" maintenance, equally at home on the flight expensi ve automatic test stations beyond the reach of
line or work bench. But as avionics grew more compli- most shops. Today's digita l avionics are sent back to
cated, the job was split in two. One person became the factory or a maj or depot for repair. Some fau lts in
the " installer" ---troubleshooting on the ramp, or mount- this equipment, in fact, will not appea r unl ess tests are
ing and wiring equipment in airpl anes. The other per- repeated over many hours, often in a test cha mber that
son , trained in repairing circuits inside the box , became run s hot and cold. These tasks must be done automa ti-
the " bench technician," skilled in troubleshooting down cally, and not by a tec hnician with a pa ir oftest probes.
to the smallest component. For decades radio shops
separated technical skills this way to service private On the other hand, demand fo r insta llation techni-
cians working on the ramp or Oi ghtline not only re-
aircraft in Gene ra l Aviation.
mains strong but w ill grow. Upgrades for old a ircraft
In the a irlines, the divis ion of labor went further. continue at a remarkable rate because new-ge neration
Flightline maintenance was hand led by radio mechan- equipment makes flying more economical, effic ient and
ics scattered at major airports a long the ir routes, sup- safe. Some avionics return the ir investme nt in as little
ported by A&P mechanics. After a defective radio was as one or two years, then function another ten to twenty.
pulled, it was sent back to the a irline maintenance de-
Airline and c01vorate aircraft must upgrade to fly
pot for repair by benc h technic ians . Amo ng large air-
in the com ing ai r traffic systern---to get more direct
lines, it was usua l to have different be nches for spec ia l-
routes, altitudes with less headwind, fewer delays and
ists in each type of instrument or rad io; autopil ot, auto-
better communication services, a ll of which repay the
mati c direction finder, communications, etc.
cost of avionics and keep passengers happy.
By the l 990's, avionics took off in a new direc-
tion . Manufacturers began bui lding radios with disap-
Beyond the flight deck. A whole new category
called "cabin avionics" is spreading among a irli nes.
pearing parts ! Instead of resistors, capac itors and tubes,
Once ca ll ed " in-flig ht en tertainment ," it adds l nte rnet
they populated them w ith integrated c ircuits encased
connectivity to every seat, e-ma il, global telephone,
in tough e poxy coatings that we re difficult to remove.
video games a nd new for ms of e ntertainment. An air-
Other components no longer had w ires, but were "sur-
liner typically has two or three radios per fu nction in
face mounted" directly to the board.
its instrument pane l--- but hu nd reds of passenger seats
Other areas grew smaller. Radi os had diffe re nt with equipment in the cabin that now fits under the
sections to tune, amplify or produce some othe r func- heading "avionics".
tion but much of that construction is now replaced by
Yet another growth area is the world-w ide ai r traf-
invis ible so ftware, w hich instructs the c hips to become
iii
fie manage ment system under construction. No longer Instead, simplified block diagrams illustrate the func-
w ill a irpla nes move point- to-p oint over la nd or on tion and fl ow of signa ls with arrows. Where the shape
crowded tracks to cross the ocean. They will fly di- of a signa l is important, it is illustrated with graphic
rectly to their destinations in a concept called "Free images.
Fligh t," a new mode which depends on satellite nav i-
gation a nd data communications. Most of what is writte n on avionics is fi ll ed with
abbrev iations a nd acronyms---TAWS, EGPWS, MFD,
The new technician. These developments call fo r TACAN, T CAS---and more. T hey make an unfair
the ski ll s of a technician w ho understands avionics at de mand on the reader because even the most experi-
the systems level---a ll the major function s a nd how enced avionics person must stop at each one and trans-
they relate to each other. Finding trouble fast is c riti- late it to plain English. For this reaso n, abbreviations
cal in ai rline operations, where every minute of delay at and acronym s a re a lmost a lways spe ll ed out in dia-
the gate causes missed connections, lost revenue and grams and in the text where they appear.
angry passengers. In Genera l Avia ti on, corporate a ir-
craft provide vita l transportation for industry. Even the Gender. Throughout this book, a tec hnic ian or
private pilot needs competent servicing for the fl eet of pilot is referred to as " he." The avionics industry is
Iight aircraft fitted with the latest "glass" cockpits ( elec- populated by both genders and this should not be con-
tronic instruments). Ln the pages that follow, som e 30 sidered insensitivity. [t avoids the awkward use of " his/
different systems describe a w ide range of communica- her."
tions and navigation systems aboard aircraft of all sizes Maintenance Information. This book is not meant
and types.
to be a "cook book" ---w ith step-by-step instructions
N FF. A systems understanding reduces one of the fo r ma intenance. It is intended, ra ther, as a guide to
costliest e rrors in avionics maintenance . it's NFF, for understanding man ufactu rer's man uals. A lso, it does
"No Fault Found." The technician pull s a suspicious not rep lace the FAA document on maintenance; Ad-
box and sends it back to the shop for repair. T he re, the visory C ircular 43.1 3 IA-2B. This book is intended
diagnosis finds nothing wrong, and the radio is returned as a backgrou nd to understandi ng manufactu re r's
to service. Or it may be sent back to the factory or manua ls that cover specifi c equipment.
depot. After further testing, the radio is returned la-
Appreciation. I want to thank the manufacturers
belled "NFF." When the radio is re-insta lled on the
w ho provided me with graphic materia l and documents.
airplane, the problem returns. Not only does it waste They are c redited below the ir photo, drawing or text.
hours but often costs the airline over $8000 in diag-
lf the reade r wa nts fur ther information , they are eas-
nostics, labo r a nd shipping. In the genera l aviation ily reached by inserting the ir name in a search engine
shop, the no-fault fou nd not on ly incurs extra expense a long w ith the word "avionics."
and was ted time, but an unhappy customer who loses
confidence in the shop.

Simplified Diagrams. In describing these systems Len Buckwalter

in this book, there are no schematics showing, resis- Leesburg, Virginia
tors, capacitors or other small, interna l compone nts.

iv
 Contents

Preface

Section 1 Systems
Chapter 1. The Meaning of "Avionics" ....................... .................. .1
First Instrument Panel ......... .. ........................ ...... ........ .................. .. ...... 1
"Blind Flying" .......... ... ......................................... ........ .................... ...... 2
All-Glass Cockpit ............................ ............. ... ............ ................. ... .. .... 4

Chapter 2. A Brief History .. ........... ............. ........ ................... .. ........ 6

Sperry Gyroscope ....................................... ............... ............... .. .......... 7
Turn and Bank ............. .......................... ... ............ ....... ....... ............. ..... 8
Morse, Bell and Hertz ............................. ............... ..... .. ............ ............ 9
First Aircraft Radio ....... ........ ............. .. ........... ............... .. ... ........... .. .. .... 10
Lighted Airvvays ................................................... .................................. 11
Jimmy Doolittle; Beginning of Instrument Flight ...... .. ......... ................... 12

Chapter 3. VHF Com (Very High Frequency Communications) ... 16

Acceptable VHF Com Radios .. .... .. ............................... ... .. ............. ... .. . 17
VDR (data rad io) ................................................... .. .. ............................ 17
Navcom Connections ....... ............. ... .. ............. ....... .......... ... ........ ...... .... 18
VHF System .................... ...... ... .... ........ .... ....... ... .......... ... ..... ................ 19
Com Control Panel ............................................................................ ... 20
Com LRU ............ .. ................................... ............. ....................... ........ 20
Splitting VHF Channels ................... .......................... ............ ................ 21

Chapter 4. HF Com (High Frequency Communications) ............. 23

HF Control-Display ....... ................ .......... ................... ........................... 23
HF System ................................................................................. .. ... .... . 24
SSB (Single Sideband) ...... ........................... .. ............ ............. ............. 24
Line Replaceable Units ... .... ............... ............................... ............... .. ... 25
HF Datalink ......................................................................... .................. 25
Control Panel (Airline) .............................. ..................... ........................ 26
HF Transceiver ............... ................................. ............. ............ ............ 26
Antenna Coupler ......................... ............ ... ...... ........................... .......... 27
HF Antenna Mounting ... .. ... .... ........... .............. ..................... ......... ........ 27 -

Chapter 5. Satcom (Satellite Communications) ....... ...... .. ... ......... 29

lnmarsat ............................ ................................................................... 29
Aero System ........ ........................................................... ....... .............. . 31
Space Segment ........................................... ...... ...................... ............. 32
Cell Phones .... ...... ............. ... .. ............................. ............. .................... 33
Ground Earth Station (GES) ............. .............. ....... ............ .. ...... .. .......... 34
Aircraft Earth Station (AES) .. ................... .. .... ....................................... 35
Satcom Antennas for Aircraft ..................................................... ........... 36
Steered Antennas ................... ............. .. ...................... .. .. ...................... 37
High Speed Data ..................... ................... .......................... ............... .. 38
Aero Services ... ............... ...... ...... ....... ............ ... ................................... 39

Chapter 6. ACARS (Aircraft Communication Addressing and ....... 41

Reporting System)
In the Cockpit ... ...... ............................................. ... ........... .................... 4 1
ACARS System ..... .. ................ .. ..... ...................................................... 42

V
 Messages and Format .......................................................................... 43
ACARS Bands and Frequencies .......... .... ......................... .... ..... ........... 45

Chapter 7. Selcal (Selective Calling) ................. ..................... ......... 46

Controller, Decoder ......... ........ ....... ......................... ....... .................... ... 46
How Selcal Code is Generated ...... .. ............................................ ....... .. 47
Ground Network ......................................................... ........................... 47
Selca I Airborne System ................................................... ......... ...... ... .. .. 48

Chapter 8. ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) ............ ............. 50

Search and Rescue .. ..... .. ....... ..... ............................... ....... ........ ........... 51
ELT Components .......................... .. ............................. ......................... 52
406 MHz .............................................. ... ... ........................................... 52
406 ELT System ............................. .. ........... ......................................... 53
Fleet Operation ............................................................... ...................... 54
Cospas-Sarsat ...................................................................................... 55

Chapter 9. VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Range) .. ............................ 57

Coverage .............................................................................................. 58
VOR Phase ........ .. ........... ............. ...................................... .................. 59
VOR Signal Structure ..................................................................... ....... 60
Subcarrier ................................................... .......................................... 61
VOR Receiver ................... .. ....... ..... ...... ....... ......................... ............... 62
Navigation ............................................................................... .. ........... 63
Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI) ......................................... ............. 64
Radio Magnetic Indicator (RMI } ............................................................ 64
Nav Control-Display ................ .............................................................. 65

Chapter 10. ILS (Instrument Landing System) ........... .................... 67

ILS System ........................................................................................... 68
ILS Components and Categories .... ...................................................... 68
Approach Lighting ............................................. .. .................................. 69
Flight Inspection and Monitoring ........................................................... 70
ILS Signals ............ .. ............................... .................................. ............ 71
Glideslope ............................................................................................ 72
Glideslope Receiver .................................. ..... ....................................... 73
Marker Beacon Receiver ............................. ............................... ...... .. .. 74
Marker Beacon Ground Station .............................. ............................... 74

Chapter 11. MLS (Microwave Landing System) ................. ........ .... 76

Azimuth Beam ...................................................................................... 77
Elevation Beam ..... ..... ............. ... ....................... .... ............................ ... 78
Time Reference ................. .. ..... .......... .. .. ........ ..................................... . 79
Multimode Receiver ... .. .................................... .............................. ...... . 79

Chapter 12. AOF (Automatic Direction Finder) ............................. 81

Radio Magnetic Indicator .. .......... ............................. ................. .. .......... 82
Sense ......... ..... .. ....... ............. ....... ...................................... ...... ............ 82
ADF System ......... .......... ...................................................................... 83
NOB (Non-Directional Radio Beacon) ................................... .... .. .......... 83
Control-Display (Airline) ......... ..... .. ........ ....... .. ... ...... .......... .. .. ............. ... 84
Line-Replaceable Unit (Airline) ..................... .. .......... .............. ............. .. 84
Limitations ........... ................ .... ... ......... .......................... ....................... 85
Digital ADF ......................... ........... ......... .. ............................ ................ 85
EFIS Display ......... ................................................................................ 86

Chapter 13. DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) ...................... 88

Obtaining Distance ................................................................................ 89
DME "Jitter" for Identification ............ .. ................................ .. ................ 89
EFIS Display of DME ........................................ ........... ......................... 90
Airborne and Ground Stations ................... .......................... ........... ....... 91

vi
 Channels X and Y ....................................... ...................... ............ .. ...... 92

Chapter 14. Transponder .. ..... .......................... ........ ............. ......... 94

Control-Display ........... ....... ................................................................. .. 94
Transponder Interrogator ........................ ..................... ...... ...... ....... ....... 95
Panel-Mount .......... ..... .. ................................ ...... ...... ..... ... .................... 96
ATC RBS and Mode S ......... ........ ...... .................... ................................ 96
Transponder System ... .. ............. ...... .. ................................................ ... 97
Airline Control-Display .. ...... .................... .................... ............. .. .. ......... 98
Line-Replaceable Unit .... ............................................ ......... .................. 98
Mode S Interrog ations and Replies ................................. ......... ... ..... .. .. . 98

Chapter 15. Radar Altimeter ......................................... .................. 104

Antennas ............ ........... .. .. .......... .................. ... ... .. ....... ............. ....... .. .. 105
Operation ............. .................. ................... .. .... ......... ..... ......... ...... ......... 106

Chapter 16. GPS/Satnav (Satellite Navigation) .. ........ ... ................ . 108

GPS Constellation ..... ... .................. .. .... ............ ........................... ......... 109
Frequencies ............................................................... ........................... 110
Satnav Services .. ... ............. ................................................................. 111
Panel-Mount Receiver ...... ........ .. ... ............................................... ....... . 111
Time Difference Measurement ........................................ ........ ............. . 111
Finding Position ........ .. ...... .................... ............ .. ... .......... ... ......... ... ...... 112
The Satellite Signal .......................................................................... ..... 113
GPS Segments ...................................... ....... .... .. .. .. ... ... ........................ 114
WMS: Wide Area Augmentation System ................................. ............ 114
Second Frequency for Civil Aviation ............................ .. ..... .. .... ..... ....... 112
LMS: Local Area Augmentation System ................................... ........ ... 11 6
RAIM: Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring ................................. 117
Galileo Constellation .................... ...... ............ .. ..... ........ ....... ....... .. ........ 118

Chapter 17. EFIS (Electronic Flight Instrument System) ............... 120

Electromechanical to EFIS .................... ............................................... 122
Three-Screen EFIS ........................................................... .................... 123
EFIS Architecture .............. .................... ................................................ 124
Multifunction Display (MFD) ... .. .............. ...... .............. ... ................. .. ... .. 125
EFIS on the B-747 ......... .............. ............ ............... ..... ..................... .. .. 126
Airbus A-320 Flight Deck ..................................................... ................. 127

Chapter 18. Cockpit Voice and Flight Data Recorders ................... 129
CVR Basics .......................................................................................... 129
Underwater Locating Device (ULD) ....... .... ......... ....... ............... .......... ... 131
CVR Interconnect .............................................. ...... ............... ....... ....... 132
Flight Data Recorder: Solid State .............................. ... ... ...................... 134
Flight Data Recorder: Stored Information ...... ............. ............ ......... ...... 135

Chapter 19. Weather Detection .... ..................................... ............. 136

Radar Color-Coding ....... .. ..... ........ .......... ..................... .. ............ .. ......... 137
Multifunction Display .............................................. ....... ... ..... ........... .. ... 137
Types of Detection ... ......... ............. .. ................ .. .................. ........ .. ....... 138
Radar Transmitter-Receiver ................ ....... ........ .. ................. ....... .. ....... 139
Weather Radar Control Panel .................... .. ..... ..................... .. ... .. ........ 140
Lightning Detection .... ...... ........ ...... ...................... .................. .. ...... ... ... . 140
Radar Antenna ................. .. ......................... ................................... ...... . 141
Datalink ........... .. ........................ ............... .. .. .... ... ....... ... ....................... 14 1
Ra domes ........ ............. ................................. .......... ... .. ............ ... .... .... .. 142
Rado me Boot ........... .. ......... ....... .................... ........ .......................... .. .. 142
Windshear .................................. .......... .......................... .. ... ................. 143
Lightning Detection ................ ........................... ....... .............. ............... 145
Windshear Computer ........ .. .......... ... ... .. .. ........... ...... ............................. 144

vii
 Satellite Datalink ........................ .. ..... .............................................. ...... 145

Chapter 20. TCAS

(Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System) .............. 147
Basic Operation .................................................................................... 148
Traffic and Resolution Advisories (TA, RA) ............................................ 150
TCAS System ...................... ................................ ................................. 150
TCAS I and II ... .. ................................................................ ............ ...... . 150
Coordinating Climb and Descend ........................................ .................. 150
TCAS Components .. ................... ......... ................. ............... ................. 150
Whisper-Shout ................ ....................... .... .. ..... .................................... 151
Directional Interrogation ................................................. ....................... 151
Non-TCAS Airplanes ......................... ............. ................. ...................... 152
TCAS Ill ...................... ......... ......................................................... ........ 152
Voice Warnings ..................................................................................... 152

Section 2 Installation

Chapter 21. Planning the Installation ............................................. 154

Replacing "Steam Gauges" ................. ................................ .. .......... ...... 155
Required Instruments and Radios .................... .. .................. ................. 156
Flight Instrument Layout .................... ....... ............................................ 157
Basic T .................................................................... ............................. 157
Large Aircraft EFIS ... ....... ............ ....... ...... ............... .. ... ........ ....... .. ... .... 158
Flat Panel Integrated ............................................................................ 159
Avionics Planning Worksheet ............................. .................................. . 160
Manuals and Diagrams ......................................................................... 161
Installation Drawing .................... .. ................ ....................................... .. 162
Connectors and Pin Numbers ...... ............ .. ........................................... 162
Pin Assignments ... ... ................................. .. .... ...... ... .. ... ............ ...... ...... 163
Schematic Symbols .................... .......................................................... 164
Viewing Angle ......... ...... ........ ........ .... .. ..... ...................... .. .......... ...... .. ... 165
Survey Airplane ... ................................................................................. 165
Navcom Connections, Typical ...... .......... ............................................ ... 166

Chapter 22. Electrical Systems ..... ... ... .. .... . ... ..... ... ..... ..... ... .. .. . ... .. .. 168
AC and DC Power ...................................................... .......................... 168
DC System ....... ........................................ ......................... ................... 169
Airline Electrical System ........... .. ...... .................. .......... ................. ....... 171
Switches ............................................................................................... 172
Lighted Pushbutton .. ................................. .......... .............. .................... 174
Circuit Breakers/Fuses ................................ .......................................... 173

Chapter 23. Mounting Avionics ................................................ ....... 178

New or Old Installation? .................................... .. .............................. .... 179
Hostile Areas ........................................................................................ 179
Selecting Metal ................ .. ........ ..... .......................... ................... ......... 179
Cutting Holes ......................................................................... ............... 180
Structures ........................................................ .. .................................. . 181
Avionics Bay ..................... ................ .. .......................... ........................ 182
Airlines (ARING) MCU Case Sizes ............................. ............. .. ..... ....... 183
ATR Case Sizes .................................. .................................................. 184
Electrostatic Discharge .. .............................................................. ......... 185
Cooling ............................................................................................... .. 186
Cooling for Airline Avionics ................................................................... . 187
Locking Radios in Racks .. .......................... ...... .. ...... ...... ....................... 188

viii
 Panel-Mounted Radios ................... .. ............................. .................... .... 188
Remote-Mounted Radios (Corporate) ................................................... 190
Airline Mounting .................................................................................... 191
Locking Systems (Airline) ..................................................................... 192
Indexing Pins ................................... ............................ ......................... 193
Integrated Modular Avionics ........ ................................. .. ...... .. ............... 194
Instrument Mounting ..................................................... .. ...................... 195
Round Instruments: 2- and 3-inch ......................................... ................ 196
Airline Instrument Mounting ....... ... ... ....................................... .. ..... ...... 197

Chapter 24. Connectors ............. ................ ................................ .... 199

Typical Connectors ........................ ....................................................... 200
RF Connectors ... ............. ... .... .. ................................................ ............. 200
How to Identify Connector Contacts ................................ .......... ............ 201
Contact Selection ....... .. .. .. ... ......................................................... ......... 201
Identify Mil-Spec Part Numbers ................. ....... ....... ................ ..... ...... .. 202
Coaxial Connectors, Typical ........... ............................. ............. .. ........... 203
ARING Connectors ... ............................................................................ 203
Crimping Contacts ................................................ ..... .. ................... .. .... 205
Releasing Connector Pins ...................... ............. .. ................................ 207
Heat Gun for Shrink Tubing .......................... .. ... ........ .......................... . 207
Safety Wiring Connectors ............................................................... ...... 208
Attaching Coaxial Connectors .. ............................................................. 204

Chapter 25. Wiring the Airplane ............................................. ........ 210

Swamp ................................. ....................................... ................... .. .... 210
High Risk Areas ......................... .. .. ............................. .. ........................ 211
Selecting Wire ....................... ........... ...... .. .................. .. ....... ...... .. ......... 213
High-Grade Aircraft Wire .............. ........... ... ...... ...... ...................... .. ....... 213
Wire Sizes ... .. ............................................ ...... ............. .............. ........ .. 214
Wire and Cable Types ................................ .................................. ..... ... 215
Wire Stripping ........................ .. ..... ...... ................................... ..... .. ........ 2 16
Nicked or Broken Wires ......... ................................... ..................... .. ..... 217
Precut Cables· ..... ............. .................................. .. ........................... ..... 217
Splicing Wires ................................................................... ...... .............. 217
Location of Splices ............................................. ................................... 218
Ring Terminals ...... ....... ...... ........ ....... .. ... ........................... ............. ....... 219
Terminal Strip (Block) .......... .............................................. .................... 219
Marking Wires ....... ...... ....... ........ .. .................................................... .... 220
Harnessing the Wire Bundle ................................ ................................. 222
Tie Wraps .. ....... .... .................................................. .. ........................ .... 223
Problems: Chafing and Abrasion ........................................................... 224
Clamping .. .. ............................................................ ............. ................. 224
Grounding to Airframe ....... .......................................................... ....... ... 227
Bending Coaxial Cable ................. ........................... ........ ....... ............ .. 228
Service Loops .. ..................................................................................... 229

Chapter 26. Aviation Bands and Frequencies ............ ................... 230

Radio Frequency Bands ................................................................... ..... 231
Higher Bands (Microwave, Millimeter) ............................... .. ............ ...... 232
Low Frequencies ... ........ ....... ....... .......................... .... ..................... .. .. ... 232
Skipping through Ionosphere ..................... ............. ....... ....... ....... ...... .... 233
High Frequencies .. ........ .............. ....................................................... ... 233
Very High Frequencies .................. ............. ...... .. ....... ..... ................. ...... 234
L-Band .......................................................................................... ....... . 234
From Hertz (Hz) to Gigahertz (GHz) .............................................. .. ..... 234
Line of Sight Communications ......... .................. ... .... ............................ 235
Control and Display of Bands and Frequencies ......................... ...... ...... 236

Chapter 27. Antenna Installation .......... ................................ .......... 239

Antennas for Airline, Corporate and Military Aircraft ............. .............. ... 240

ix
 How to Read an Antenna Spec Sheet ...................................... ............. 241
Antennas for Light Aircraft ............................. ...... .. ...... ............. .. .......... 242
Airline Antenna Locations ............................ .................. ........................ 243
Antenna Types .......................................... ...... .......................... ....... ..... 244
Location ................... .............. ....................... ......................... .... ... ...... .. 245
Bonding the Antenna to the Airframe ....... ....................................... ....... 248
Antenna Mounting ............... ......................... ....... ......................... ......... 249
Antenna Couplers ....... ................... ....... ......... ................... ... .. .. ........... .. 251
Base Station and Mobile Antennas ...................... .. ......................... ....... 252
GPSAntennas .......... ........................ .. ... .................. ...................... ... .. .. 251

Chapter 28. Panel Labels and Abbreviations ................................ 254

Silk Screen, Engraving, Tape ... .... .................. .. ..................................... 254
Panel Abbreviations ........ ............................ ...... .. ............. ............. ........ 255

Section 3
Chapter 29. Test and Troubleshooting .......................................... 261
ADF .... ......................................................................................... ......... 262
Antennas ..... ...... .. .... ....... .................................. ........ ..... ........ ........... .. .. 263
Antenna VSWR .............................................................................. ...... 263
Autopilots ............... .... ... ...................................... .................... ..... ......... 264
Com Transceivers .......... ..... ..... ....... .. .......... ........ ................... ... ............ 264
DME .. ...... ............. .................... ............................................................ 265
ELT-Emergency Locator Transmitter ..................................................... 266
Glideslope Receiver ....... .. .... ............. ............. ........ .............. ................. 266
Lightning Strikes ...... .. .... ........................... ................... .................... ..... 266
Software Loading .. ................................................................................ 267
Transponder .............. ................... .............. .......... ... ............ ........ ......... 267
VOR .................... ......................................................... .. ...................... 268
Wiring and Connectors ......................... ....................................... ......... 270
Fault Detection Device (Wiring) ...... .............. ...... .................................. 271
Precipitation (P) Static ............................................... ............ ............... 273
Avionics Checklist ... ......................... ...... .............. ... .. .. .......................... 274

About the Author ............................ ............... ........... ....................... 275

Index

X
Chapter 1

The Meaning of "Avionics"

The wo rd "avionics" first appeared in the l 940's and the "computer on a chip." Small in size and light
during World Wa r II. Derived from "aviation electron- weight, they consume little power, have few mov ing
ics," it referred to fire control systems aboard U. S. parts a nd, some believe, w ill operate a hundred years
Navy aircraft. During that time, the civilian world called without wearing out. Mi ll ions of semiconductors w ithin
it "aircraft radio" or "av iation electronics." Tcclrni- the size o f a postage stamp created the microprocessor,
cian s w ho re pa ired them were known as "radio me- which quickly became known as the "computer on a
chanics." c hip." It triggered the greatest technical achievement
Avionics remained a mi litary te rm for 30 more of the 20th Century; dig ital electronics. For the first
years. C iv il aviation could not afford the systems aboard time, an aircraft radi o could not only rece ive, amplify,
military a ircraft. Not only was equ ipment built to mili- oscillate, filter and perfom1 other simple functions; now
ta ry specifications, but each fighte r and bomber had it could perform log ic, store large amou nts of data, send
its own av ionics suite that fit no other model. thousands of pieces of information down one pair of
But the world was rapidly changing as new com- wires, wa rn of prob lems, co1Tect its own errors---and
pone nts eme rged from research labs; the tra ns istor, that's just the beginning .
integrated circuit, flat-pane l display, solid-state memory

First Instrument Panel

WIND SPEED
(ANEMOMETER)

The three instruments shown

here are ancestors of what will
become "avionics" in 50 yea rs.
Th e y w ere inst alled in the
Wright Flyer that made the first
successful powered flight in
1903. Although mechanically
operate d, th ese gauges will
evolve into electronic instru-
ments that comprise avionics
on every type of 21st-Century PROP COUNTER
aircraft.
Thus the Wright brothers not (RPM)
only deserve credit for invent-
ing the first practical airplane,
but the concept of an instru-
ment panel in view of the pilot
to provide valuable flight infor-
mation.

1
Early Gauges

The Curtiss JN (" Jenny" ) was the first airplane

to fly the US mail in 1918. But a look at the
instrument panel shows why pilots were killed
while trying to live up to the Post Office motto;
" Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night...stays
these couriers from their appointed rounds." No
pilot can fly an airplane in very low visibility with-
out " attitude" instruments to replace the sight
of the horizon. Even flying at night was consid-
ALTIMETER MAGNETIC ered by an emergency by U.S. Army regulations.
COMPASS
TEMPERATURE TACH (RPM)

First "Blind Flying" Instruments

Afte r the Wright brothers, Ch arl es Lindbergh

made the most famous flight in aviation history.
In 1927 he flew solo f rom New York to Pari s in
a little over 33 hours. Although celebrated as a
hero throughout the world, Lindbergh had more
than skill a nd courage. His pane l had a turn- 1927 cockpit. Spirit of St. Louis
and -b ank, a gyroscopic inst rument that indi-
cated how rapidly the airplan e turned left or
right. Without such guidance, he could not have
penetrated bad w eather and low vi sibility (still
the major cau se of fatalities among low-time pi-
lots ). Lindb ergh ' s airpl an e, the Spirit of St.
Loui s, h ad another important instrument; an
earth inductor compass, s hown in the panel. It
was powered by an a nemometer atop the fuse-
lage (photo at right). This w as an improvement
ove r the simple magnetic compass, which is dif-
ficult to rea d in turbulence. Today, the earth-
inducto r compass is known as a " flux gate" and
is standard o n all but the s mallest aircraft.

Wind-drive n a n e mom eter p owere d Lindbe rgh 's

earth-i nductor compass

2
Higher Tech , Lower Cost
. . The new devices were snapped up. not on ly by the
military but the telecommunications and consumer elec-
troni cs industries. Semiconductors created hundreds Airline View of Avionics
ofnew products, from the personal computer and DVD,
to data networks, cell phones and high-definition TV •Line Maintenance •Air Conditioning
"Ch ips" became building blocks of the Internet. Mass •Test Systems •In-Flight Entertainment
production reduced prices so far that a hobbyist •Communications •Engine Systems
could bui ld digital projects with parts from the she lfof •Indicating Systems •Fire Detection
a local radi o store. •Navigation •Landing Gear
These devices were embraced by aviation, w hich •Autoflight
• Flight Controls
continuous ly seeks to reduce size, weight and power
• Electrical Power
consumption . Old vacuum tubes were replaced by tiny •Lightin g
integrated circuits that deliver many more functions.
By the l 980's the term "aviation electronics," over a
half-century old, no longer described a cutting-edge in- These major topics are discussed each year at
dustry. Manufacturers, repair shops, parts distribu- the Avionics Maintenance Conference, run by
ARINC, the airline avionics organization . The
tors, airlines and general aviation sensed the need fo r a left column shows traditional avionics. But as
better term to replace "aviation electronics." And what electronics creep into other systems, shown in
better word than---"avionics?" During that period, "avi- the right column, they often become the respon-
onics'' also appeared for the first time in volumes of sibility of avionics maintenance.
FAA regulations on aircraft electronics.

The first generation of the new avionics was so

successful, it began to outclass the military. Airlines,
business jets and private aircraft were outfitted with
fl at-panel displays, anti-collision systems, fli ght man- ln the airlines, the digital revolution just about
agement and GPS---long before they reached mi Iitary eliminated the problem of " mid-airs." After two air-
cockpits. Recognizing the trend, the U.S. Department liners collided over the Grand Canyon in 1956 the FAA
of Defense launched a cost-saving program known as investi gated several anti-col lision systems. Every de-
"COTS," for Commercial Off the Shelf equipment. s ign fail ed because of high cost, weight, size or an
Today, many military a ircraft are outfitted w ith c ivil- inability to detect small a ircraft. One system required
ian avionics of high capability. an on-board atomic clock, which cost more than most
airplanes.
Getting out the Mechanicals
But as the price of computing power dropped,
An early example of how the new techno logy was
"TCAS" (Traffic A lert and Collis ion Avoida nce Sys-
applied is the King KX- 170, a combi ned navigation and
tem) became practical. It warns when two aircraft
communications radio (or "navcom"). Despite rugged
head toward each other with a closing speed over 1,000
construction it contained large mechanical switches with
miles per hour---and detects most small aircraft not
dozens of contacts that inevitably failed.
equipped with TCAS.
When semicondu ctors became avai lable, the
manufacturer not on ly eliminated mechanical switch-
ing, but added functions to reduce pilot workload. A Gauges: From Round to Rectangular
new model , the KX-155, could store frequenc ies and By the l970's cockpits of aircraft began to lose
give the equi valent of two radios-in-one. An elec- their "steam gauge" appearance, where instrument pan-
tronic display elim inated rotating mechanical drums and els resemble an 1830 railway locomotive. ]nstcad of
painted numbers, shrinking the size of the radio and round dials and pointers, the new look became the "glass
free ing up valuable panel space. cockpit," where sepa rate gauges are rep laced by im-
ages on a C RT or flat panel LCD. The system is called
Di gital electronics also introduced systems that "EF IS," for Electronic Flight lnstrument System and it
were impossible to build with old technology. The Stonn- rapidly spread through every size ai rcraft.
scope appeared as the first practical thunderstorm de-
tector for small a ircraft. Other companies looked at Today, a blank screen may become any instrument-
the poor accuracy of fue l gauges. creating a digital --altim eter, airspeed, tachomctcr----or a ll s imu lta-
fuel fl ow instrument that measures fue l consumption neously. It's done by modifying software, or simply
precisely, and also tells time and fuel to a destination. changin g the plug on the back during installation. This

3
 Toward the All-Glass Cockpit
PRIMARY FLIGHT DISPLAY

The trend toward the "all-glass" cockpit is seen in this the pilot an uncluttered view of the instrument panel.
instrument panel for a Cirrus aircraft. Round gauges The large Primary Flight Display shows all flight in-
are replaced by large LCD screens which produce im- struments, weather, moving map and traffic. The Mul-
ages of any instrument. What remains of the old-style tifunction Display can also show these functions. Hav-
panel is at the lower left, where standby instruments ing two such displays enables the pilot to put flight
act as backup. In the center stack, GPS navigation instruments on one screen and navigation and terrain
and communications are integrated into one radio, with on the other. This advanced cockpit is neither a mili-
a backup below it. There are no large control yokes. tary nor airline system , but in a kit-built airplane. The
Th ey are replaced by sidestick controllers which give large panel displays are Avidyne 's Flight Max.

te ll s the screen what it will be. This also reduces the excess temperature and pressure. Each year the avia-
num ber of spares needed on the shelf, a great cost ben- tion industry moves closer to what it calls the "all-elec-
efit to a irlines flying far-fl ung routes. tric airpl ane," a concept that wi ll slash heavy oil-fi lled
hydrauli c lines, steel control cables and hundreds of
More than CNS miles of copper wire. ln their place will be thin wires
As the term "avionics" established itself in the carry ing multiple messages (the "databus" ) to electric
civil world , it divided into three categories often called actuators. These airplanes will fly fa rther on less fuel
"CNS"---Communications, Navigation and Surveillance and in greater safety. Airliners arc already equipped with
(the last referring to radar surveill ance). CNS includes the first of the "fl y-by-wire" systems.
most avionics systems installed on the airplane. An au-
topilot, for example, falls under "Navigation," a tran- The growth of avionics is also refl ected in the price
sponder is a component of"Surveillance." tags of aircraft. In the transport aircraft of 1945-
1950, about fi ve percent of the cost was e lectrica l,
The list of avionics, however, grows longer. A radio and lighting systems. Some 20 years later, that
look at the agenda of the Av ionics Ma intenance Con- portion quadrupled to about 20 percent. More recently,
ference (an airline organization) reveals more than airlines added the most costl y and extensive electronics
CNS. One-third of the new items were never consid- aboard aircraft. l t is IFE, or In-F light Entertainment,
ered avionics or even aircraft e lectroni cs (see table also called "cabin e lectronics." If an airplane has 300
"A irline View of Avionics). What happened is that en- seats, that means 300 IFE installations, each wired for
gineers began using sem iconductors to replace sections audio, video, satellite phone, Internet and other services.
of mechanical and hydrauli c systems. The nose wheel In the military sector, the cost of a figh ter aircraft rose
steering of a LcarJet, fo r example, is by microproces- to more than 40 percent for avionics.
sor. Engine control is no longer th ro ugh levers and
steel cable. lt is done by FADEC, for Full Authority These percentages can only increase. Airplanes
Digita l Eng ine Contro l, whi ch provides better fue l divide into three main sections; airframe, propu lsion
economy, precise engine settings and protection against and avion ics. Airframes have grown larger bu t they
still fl y with the three-ax is control system patented by
4
the W right brothe rs. ln propulsion, the jet eng ine is a (I nte rnational Civil Aviat ion O rganization) deliberated
ma rvel of re liabili ty and power, but it still works on fo r 20 years. They agreed that tech no logy is here and
a basic princ iple---actio n a nd reaction---dcfin ed by aviation is ready for its biggest change in moving more
lsaac Newton 300 year ago. airplanes safely within limited airspace, and provide
passenger services to make the flight enjoyable and pro-
Avionics, on the other hand, re-invents itself nearly ductive. Nearly all the systems--- described through-
every te n years, providing the industry w ith fres h solu- out thi s book---are created from bu ild ing b locks pro-
tions to rising fue l pri ce , fewe r a irports a nd crowded vided by avionics.
skies. To find a nswers for the 2 1st Century, two hun-
dred countries of the world under the banner of !CAO

Review Questions
Chapter 1 The Meaning of Avionics

1.1 In the first solo across the Atlantic in 1927, how l. 7 What replaces early "steam gauges" in air-
did Charles Lindbergh keep control of the airplane craft instrument panels?
while flying in clouds and darkness?
1.8 How can the function of an electronic instru-
1.2 Name three instruments used by the Wright ment be easily changed?
Brothers in their first flight that marked the begin-
ning of what would become "avionics". l.9 What does "CNI," which describes basic func-
tio ns of avionics, stand for?
1.3 What generated power for Lindbergh's earth-
inductor compass? 1.10 What docs the term "FA DEC" mean?

1.4 Why do airlines consider the following sys- t.ll Na me the world body that deliberates fu -
tems part of "avionics" : air conditioning, fire de- ture aviation technology?
tection, landing gear?
1.12 "Avionics" is a contraction of
1.5 What technology was widely adopted in avion- and
ics to reduce size a nd weight, as well as provide - - --
greatly increased function.

1.6 What system, made possible by digital elec-

tronics, greatly reduces the problem of mid-air col-
lisions?

5
Chapter 2

A Brief History

T he inve nti on of the a irpla ne is tied to the begin- sastrous . Many air ma il pilots lost the ir lives in crashes
ning of radio. Both arri ved at about the same time; the w here nothing went w rong with the a irpl ane. Some-
W ri ght brothers made the first powered fli ght in I 903, how, w hen fog or c loud obscured a pi lot's view out-
two years after Marconi sent the first radi o messages s ide, even the most ski lled p ilot couldn't keep the a ir-
2 I 00 miles over the Atlantic from England to Canada. plane straight and level. For this reason, military pi lots
U ntil then, peopl e fl ew in hot a ir balloons or g lided were warned that flying at nigh t is an emergency. This
downhill in oversize kites. Radio was a laboratory cu- inability to remain upright in less than visua l condi-
riosity and one of its early experimenters ( He rtz ) didn 't tions a lso held back early a irliners. A passenger fly ing
think much wo uld come of it. from New York to L os Angeles hardly ga ined tim e over
Aviation a nd radio quickly grew together w ith the riding the ra ilroad . When da rkness fell, he got off the
coming of World Wa r I ( I 9 14), when a irplanes proved a irpla ne, boarded a n overnight tra in---t he n reboarded
to be deadly fighting mac hines. Whe n the war e nded, the airplane in the morning.
barnstorming pilots spread over the count1yside, amaz-
ing people w ith stunts and j oy rides in ope n bi-planes. First Radio Waves Over the Atlantic
But w hen the young industry atte mpted to get serious
by transporting people a nd ma il--- the results we re di- G. Marconi, after experi-
menting at his home in
Italy, was first to com-
municate long distances
by radio. In a 1901 dem-
onstration, he sent sig-
nals over two thousand
miles. The first mes-
sage was three dots---
the letter "S" in Morse
code. Early aircraft ra-
dio adopted the
Marconi system, which
consisted of a spark
transmitter and mag-
netic detector for re-
The first practical use of aviation and electronics
ceiving. Although not
began at nearly the same time. The Wright Broth-
known in 1901, the ra-
ers' first powered flight was 1903. The first radio
dio signals had travelled great distances by "skipping"
message was sent from England to Canada in 1901 .
from an electrical layer known as the ionosphere.
Skipping is still used today by long-range aircraft with
high frequency (HF) communications.
6
 What went wrong? The av iati on community di s- no fee ling the ai rplane is turning and descending. That's
covered that, no matter how ex perienced the pilot, he what confronted the budding aviatio n industry. Unless
cannot contro l a n a irpla ne when unable to see outside. a pilot had arti ficial guidance inside the cockpit, ai r-
Whether it's fog, cloud, blowing snow, dust or othe r planes would remain in the realm of barnstorming and
obscuration, any pilot is about five mi nutes from los- a ir racing.
ing control.
The breakthrough happened whe n E lmer Sperry
No pilot can outwit the Barany
chair. Just a few slow turns
invented the " turn a nd bank" indicator. Using a gyro-
and reversals while blind - scope as a stabl e platform, a need le on the instrument
folded remove the sense of showed when the a irplane entered a turn . If the pilot
which way is up. Without the
eye, humans sense balance by
an inner-ear mechanism, Sperry Gyroscope
which is confused by motion (1914}
of the chair.
Unless the pilot flies by in-
The greatest single
struments after entering a
device for aviation
cloud, a " graveyard spiral"
safety was the gyro-
begins in about five m inutes.
scopic instrument, a
spinning wheel that
remains stable, even
This is clearly demonstrated by FAA in its noto- as the aircraft maneu-
rious " Barany chair," which is demonstrated at air shows vers . This pro vides
and safety meetings. A pilot sits in the cha ir blind- the pilot with a refer-
fo lded. The instructor turns the chair (which is on a ence within the cock-
pit when he cannot
rotating base) at moderate speed. After several revolu- see outside. A gyro is
tions, the c ha ir is stopped and the pilot asked, " Point to shown here with
the d irection that yo u 're turning." As the pi lots points, Elmer Sperry, the in-
the audience breaks into la ughter; he or she is pointing ventive genius who
applied it to the turn-and-bank indicator, the first life-
in the opposite direction. Jt is comical to watch , but is
saving device for instrument flight. Sperry went on to
a lso the g reatest killer of pilots. The accident report develop the artificial horizon, autopilot and other sys-
reads; "Continued VFR (visual ) fli ght into lM C (In- tems based on gyroscopes.
strument M eteorol ogical Conditions)."
T he reason is that the eye is the prima ry organ fo r
indicating "which way is up ." When vision outside is " Look ... no hands!"
blocked, however, the inner ear, which contro ls sense
o f bala nce, takes over. The proble m is, the balance
mechanism is easily foo led. Whe n the Barany chair
turns, the i1rner ear responds first to acceleration. When
the chair is stopped the pilot senses deceleration. But
the rotating motion of the c hair confuses the inne r ear
and the pilot g ives the wrong answer when asked which
way he 's turning.

Now transfer this scenario to an airplane ente ring

a c lo ud . T he untrained pilot looks out the w indows and
secs solid gray. Let's assume a gust of turbulence moves Sperry also used the gyroscope to design the first
one w ing down---then, a second or two later the w ing autopilot. A remarkable demonstration in 1914 is
slow ly returns to level by itself. T his cau ses the same shown above. Sperry's son, Lawrence, is in the
phenomenon as in the Bara ny cha ir, causing the pilot pilot's seat, holding his arms away from the flight
controls. Standing on the wing to the left is a me-
to correct in the w ron g direction. T he airplane enters a
chanic, whose weight should cause the wing to
tightening spiral from which the re is rarely a recovery. drop. The airplane, however, is stabilized by
Sperry's gyro control system and remains level.
To worsen matters, there is another fa lse c lue. In The inventor wins France's Airplane Safety Com-
straight and level flight, a pilot fee ls gravity pushing petition (50,000 francs} and the distinguished 1914
Collier Trophy in the U.S.
him into the seat. But in a turn, centrifuga l fo rce starts
acting on his body---a nd it fee ls exactly like gravity.
T he pi lot believes he is still sitting verticall y and has

7
 It Started With Turn-and-Bank

This simple turn-and-bank indicator was a break-

through that turned the flying machine into a practical
airplane. Developed by Elmer Sperry and his gyroscope,
the instrument began the quest for all-weather operations.
A pilot could now fly with confidence inside clouds,
approach airports during low visibility and fly safely on
dark, moonless nights.
The instrument indicates if the airplane is turning.
The turn needle remains centered so long as the wings
are level. But if a gust lowers a wing, the airplane starts a
turn, causing the needle to move to one side of center.
Shown here is a turn to the right, as the needle moves
under the right tick mark, usually called a "dog house."
The pilot now knows he should apply left aileron to bring
the wings back to level, which stops the turn.
The instrument does not show bank angle, or posi-
tion , of the wings. It indicates only "rate of turn"---or
how fast the airplane is turning. This is sufficient infor- The effectiveness of the turn and bank instrument
mation to keep the wings level. If the pilot wants to turn, was shown during Charles Lindbergh's solo flight across
he lowers a wing with the aileron and puts the needle on the Atlantic to Paris in 1927. During the ocean crossing
the "dog house." The airplane now turns at the rate of 3 he spent several hours on the instrument to fly through
degrees per second. bad weather.
The ball at the bottom is not a gyro instrument, but The turn and bank is sometimes called the "turn-
moves freely. It helps the pilot coordinate the turn with and-slip indicator," and is still required in many aircraft
the rudder (or the airplane would slip or skid in the air). as a backup. A later version is called a "turn coordinator.
Keeping the ball centered with the rudder during a turn Today, an improved gyro instrument, the artificial hori-
assures good control of the airplane when there is no zon, is the primary reference for instrument flying .
view outside.

kept the needle centered. the airplane remained in level li ghthouse) every 10 miles along the route. It was an
fli ght. Sperry's device removed a maj or obstacle to immediate s uccess; a irplanes could fly at night, speed-
depe ndable flight operations. ing mail and passengers in less time. T he day of navi-
gating by compass, chart and timepiece seemed to be
Instruments were g rea tl y im proved by 1929 over.
through the work of Jimmy Doolittle ( who later became
a n Air Corps Genera l in World War 11). He came up But it soon became painfully obvious that light
w ith the idea of an a11ific ial hori zo n that displayed the cannot penetrate fog, clouds and heavy snow. The an-
wings of an a irpla11e against a hori zon li ne. As the ai r- swer was to abandon guida nce by light and create a ir-
plane maneuvers, the pilot sees miniature w ings bank ways formed by radio waves, which easily move through
left or ri ght, and rise and fall with the angle of the any for m of precipitation.
nose. By showing w ing and nose position ---roll and
p itc h--- on one instrum ent, the d isplay is easy to fl y The I 930's saw g reat advances in radi onaviga tion
because it recreates w hat the pilot sees through the w ind- and the growth of commercia l avia tion. Let's look at
s hie ld o n a c lear day. The artific ial ho ri zon was de- milestones that merged aviation and e lectronics into one
s ig ned around Sperry's gyros . of the fastest, safest for ms of transpo11ation.

Now that an a irp lane could be controlled in a l-

most any vis ibility conditio n, aviation was ready fo r
the next adva nce; the g uida nce req ui red to fly to cross-
country to a destination a irport and make a safe land-
ing. The first attempt placed a Iightcd beacon ( Iike a

8
Morse and the Code First Voice Transmissi on

Code keys were found

aboard long-range aircraft
of the 1930's. Radio
operato rs were called
" brass pounders."

Samuel FB Morse was first to transmit informatio n by

electrical signals. In an 1836 demonstration between
Baltimore and Washington, DC, letters are encoded
into dot and dashes. The first message: "What hath
God wrought?"
Early aircraft used Morse code because voice was
not possible until the invention of the vacuum tube.
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, was
Morse code survives today as the identifier for thou-
first to transmit voice through wires (1876). The tech-
sands of radionavigation stations. To avoid naviga-
nique is later applied to wireless voice transmission
tio n error, pilots must listen to a station's identifier be-
and adopted by aviation for air-ground communica-
fore using the signal (although many stat ions are tions .
also identified by voice).
Bell announced his next project would be a "flying ma-
chine. " He worked closely with Glenn Curtiss, who im-
proved airplane design after the Wright brothers accom-
plished the first successful flights.

Hertz Demonstrates Radio Waves

2. Spark produtu tltdromaa:acli• wans
J . •:rcctrom11nctic wavn create ' /
electric c•rnnt J• n,oa1•or. pro•
duce• ,m,11,park ia ,park i•p ~ j ·•• I',
' , i 1
. -l- - &r-11.v-!
( .I ~ l. l1dartion roil produru bigh•0111,c
, __..,.
,_"-t.., ," I
'l.

~ ~ , . . ,~ ,. 1

In a Berlin laboratory in 1887, Prof. Heinrich Hertz sends radio waves

across a room. A transmitter (on the right) discharges sparks across
lv.l~~/'ll
a gap, creating radio waves. A receiver (left) responds by producing
sparks (the received signal) across metal balls. The Professor is hon-
ored 160 years later when his name becomes the term to describe
He inrich Hertz radio frequency as " hertz." Meaning the number of cycles per sec-
ond, it's now written as kilohertz (kHz), megahertz (MHz), gigahertz
(GHz), etc.
After the experiment, Prof. Hertz's students asked, " So what is
next?" Hertz replied with the understatement of the century;
" Nothing, I guess."

9
 First Aircraft Radio

Carried aboard a Curtiss bi-plane in 1910, this

rig made the first radio transmission from air to
ground while flying over Brooklyn, NY. It weighed
40 lbs and mounted on a 2-ft-long board strapped
to the airplane's landing skid . The pilot, James
Mccurdy, a Canadian aviation pioneer, transmit-
ted with a Morse code key mounted on the con-
trol wheel.
The transmitter was a spark type. An induc -
tion coil created high voltage from a 6-volt bat-
tery (seen at far right). When the operator closes
the code key, voltage jumps across a spark gap
(much like a spark plug in an automobile) . This
sends current into the large coil at left. The coil is
part of a tuning circuit which causes energy in
the spark to circulate back and forth at a rapid
rate. This is coupled to an antenna wire trailing
outside the aircraft, which converts the oscillations into radio waves. In later
experiments the aircraft carried a receiver to hear transmissions from the
ground .
Spark transmitters were inefficient and emitted signals on many frequen -
cies at the same time . Not until the invention of the vacuum tube , which
could generate clean, powerful signals, did 2-way radio become practical in
aircraft. The vacuum tube also made possible transmission of the human
191 O Curtiss Biplane
voice .

Air-Ground Messages in England

Thorne-Baker in England holds a 1910 aircraft radio

which used a Marconi electromagnetic detector for re-
ceiving. He communicated with a Farman biplane f ly-
ing one-quarter mile away.
The radio aboard the airplane was a 14-lb transmit-
ter fastened to the passenger seat. Pilot Robert Loraine
transmitted with a Morse code key tied to his left hand.
The antenna consisted of wires fastened along the
length and width of the airplane.

Marconi Museum

10
 Lifting off from New Jersey in 1911 , the
airship America headed toward Europe. En-
countering bad weather and engine prob-
lems 100 miles out, the crew abandoned the
airship and took to a lifeboat. The wireless
operator was able to communicate with the
nearby Royal Mail Steamship Trent, which
rescued the crew. The Marconi radio had a
guaranteed range of 30 miles.
Note the cable dropping from the air-
ship. It trailed in the seawater to provide a
good electrical ground for the antenna.
Marconi Museum

Lighted Airways
Before 1926, air mail pilots could fly only during the
day. That changed when lighted beacons were installed
every 10 miles. A rotating light appeared to the pilot
as a flash every ten seconds. Just below the bea con
were course lights th at pointed up and down the air-
way. Course lights a lso flashed a number code, the
same number that appears on the roof of the build·
ing. " 5" indi cates it is the fifth beacon in a 100-mile
airway. Although lighted beacons shortened the tim e
for mail delivery, their effectiveness was poor in bad
weather. Navigation by radio waves would provide the
solution.

1927. Aviati o n receives own radi o frequencies. weather information throughout the US .
The Internati ona l Radio Convention meets in Washington, 1929: First a ircraft operatio nal frequencies.
DC to assign aircraft and airway contro l stations freq uencies fo r Until now, radio was on ly lo send weather and safety in-
the ir exc lusive use. fo rmation to pi lots. This year. the Federal Radio Comm ission
1928. US Dept. o f Commerce expa nds statio ns. assigned frequencies to airline companies lo allow them lo speak
This yea r begins the rapid expans ion of ground radio sta- directly with their aircraft in fli ght
tions for transmitting weather and safety informati on to pil ots. This led to the creation of"AR INC' (Aeronautical Radio
Old "spark gap" transmitters capab le only of code are replaced Inc), an organi zation of ai rlines wh ich operates com muni cati ons
by equipment that carries voice. Until this time, aircraft could services today.
only rece ive, but an increasing number insta ll transmitters for Another development during 1929: pi lots flying airways
two-way communication with th e gro und . By 1933 there were 68 were requi red to report their posi ti on, thus mark ing the begin-
ground stations. The next year. over 300 aircra ft nying airways ning of Air Traffic Control.
had two-way radio ; over 400 could still on ly receive. 1930: A irport traffic co ntro lled by radio.
1928. First practica l radi onavigation. First installed at Clevela nd. the system spreads to 20 more
U.S. Department of Commerce adopts the "four-course ra- cities in the next fi ve years (replac ing the flagma n on the roof).
dio range," where pilots listen in headsets fo r audio tones that 193 1: Weath er maps begin.
gel them "on the beam." After beginning between Omaha, Ne- Experiments transmit weather maps over the same teletype
braska and New York, the stations spread through the country. machines used in the Federal Airway System (wh ich had been
The last fou r-course range was taken out service in Alaska in the capable of operati ng on ly on paper tapes). By the next year,
I 970's. maps of the U.S. were transm ined six times per day lo 78 ci ties.
1928 was also the beginning of teletype machines to carry Bricfers on the ground could now give pi lots weather information.
11
Jimmy Doolittle and Beginning of "Blind" Flight
Jimmy Doolittle, an army lieutenant, was the first
to take off, fly a course and land without seeing out-
side the cockpit. He controlled the aircraft solely by
reference to instruments. Attitude information (pitch
and roll) were indicated on an artificial horizon. A di-
rectional gyro, more stable than a magnetic compass,
indicated direction, while a "sensitive" altimeter, which
could be corrected for barometric pressure, replaced
the conventional instrument.
Doolittle followed a radio course aligned with the
runway created by a radio range station on the ground.
"BLIND" FLIGHT ~ Marker beacons indicated the airplane's distance from
the runway.
INSTRUMENTS....._ The flight was the single most important demon-
stration of what would become "avionics." Because
guiding aircraft to landing had been done only by light
signals, which don't penetrate clouds, Doolittle's flight
made commercial aviation a reality.

Bri tish Isles for detecting hosti le aircraft during World War II.
1931: Glideslopc Appears To avoid shooting down friendl y a ircra ft. a device known as IFF,
By tilting a radio beam vertically, experi menters al Col- Identifica tion , Fri end or Foe. is installed on British airplanes.
kge park, MD created an electron ic path that matched the gl ide Today IFF is known as the " transponder." Later in the war, the
angle or an ai rplane. Airplanes now had guidance for descend- Massachusetts Insti tute of Technology sca les down the size of
ing to a runway in low visibility. It later became the glidt:slope radar fo r install ation aboard aircraft, the firs t major instrument
part of the ILS (Instrument Landing System). of electronic warfare.
1932: Instrum ent Rating Req uired 1935 Air Traffic is Cont rolled
Air Commerce Department rules that air transport pilots Airlines operate the fi rst airway traffic control center at
must show an abili ty to use airway navigation aids and fl y cer- Newark, NJ. to provide safe separation for ai rcraft flyin g in in-
tain maneuvers guided entirely by instruments. strument conditions. Ch icago and Cleveland soon fo ll ow. It is
1933: Cross Country Instrum ent Flig ht the beginning of the en route Air Traffic Control system to
Bureau of Standards demonstrates a radio system for blind separate traffi c after it leaves the airport area.
flight. Arriving at Newark , NJ, from College Park. MD, the 1940: Radio for Oceanic Flight
airplane llew the first cross-country all-instru ment fl ight. Six powerfu l high-frequency rad io stations are in stalled
1935: Radar on Long Island, Y, to provide the first two-way radio communi-
The De fe nse Resea rch Council or Great Britain receives a cat ions for aircra ft fl ying the Atlanti c. The frequencies are in the
report on a new system known as " radar'· (for radio detection HF band which, unli ke lower av iation bands, "skip" great dis-
and ranging). It goes on to become a chai n of stati ons along the tances.
These stations also pl ay an important role in fe rrying mili-
tary aircraft to England at the outbreak of World War II.
1944: !CAO is Born
Fifty-two countries meet in Chi cago to launch ICAO. the
International Civil Aviation Organization. The fi rst global avia-
tion authori ty, ICAO will publish standards lo assure technical
un iformi ty throughout the world. By 2004, ICAO had 188 mem-
ber coun tries. wh ich it ca ll s "States."
1945: CCA Honored
The distinguished Collier Trophy is awarded to Dr. Luis W.
Alvarc.: for his concept of Ground Cont rol led Approach. GCA
uses a ground-based radar that emits two beams; one to indicate
aircrati distance from the runway, the other LO measure its height
above ground. The radar operator watches the di splay and "talks"
the pilot down to landing. Although successfu lly used by the
mi litary, GCA was never adopted for civi l use. Airline pil ots anti
government authorities prefe rred the Instrument Landing System
(ILS), which became the standard fo r well into the 2 1st Century.
1946: Radar-equipped Control Tower
Al Indianapoli s, a demonstration of the first control tower
eq uipped wi th radar for civil flying. Adapted from nava l equip-
ment. it coul d reduce ground clutter by ignoring targets not in
motion.
Today, this type of radar is known as a Tracon, fo r Termi -
nal Radar Control, and manages traffic in and out of ai rports at a
range of 30-40 mi les.
During the 1920's, traffic in and out of air- 1947: VOR Commissioned
ports wa s controlled by a flag man stand- After experiment ing on the New York-Ch icago airway, the
ing atop a hangar.
12
Civil Av iation Authority opens the first YOR (Very Hi gh Fre- 1957: Narrow Band Receivers
quen cy Omnidirectional radio range) station. YOR grows rap- The Civi l Aeronautics Admini stration (CAA) begi ns insta l-
idl y to about 1,000 stations throughout the U.S. and replaces the lati on uf' new radios des igned to double the number of aviat ion
obso lete rour-course radi o range. channels. Until that ti me, rad io chan nels were 200 kl lz apart.
1947: Navy Pu r·sues TACA N The new radios "split" channels for a spaci ng of I 00 kHz .
An effort to make YOR a common system fo r both military 1956: Flight Recorde rs
and civ il navigat ion fails . The U.S. Navy sc lel:ts TACAN (Tacti- The CAA ru les that air carrier and commercia l aircra ft over
cal Air avigation). a development whi ch the Navy needed dur- 12,500 lb must have a fl igh t data recorder by 1958. The FDRs
ing the Korean War in 1950. record airspeed, time, altitude, vertical acceleration and head ing.
Since most military flyin g is done in civil airspace. mili - 1957: Boeing 707 first llight
tary aircraft must al so be equipped with YOR receivers. On the After building 857 ai rplanes. 707 product ion ends in 1991.
other hand, civil aircraft use a part o r TACAN to operate thei r 1958: FAA and NASA are Born
DME (Dista nce Measuri ng Equipment). Durin g April and May. mil itary ai rcra ft co llided with civil
1948: Bell Labs Demonstrates the Transistor airliners in two scriara tc accide nts. Th e col li sions ra ised a storm
In sea rc hing for a device to replace electromec hani ca l of protest to eliminate the Civ il Aeronautics Agency. wh ich con-
switches in telephone systems, Bell scientists invent the transis- trol led onl y the civi l sector. Leg islators ca ll for a uniried agency
tor. It was tiny, had no moving parts. didn't wear out and gener- to control both mil itary and civil aircra rt when fl ying in civil
ated little heat. airspace.
The transistor wil l become important in avionics for the Later that year, Congress passes the bil l that creates the
same reasons. FAA (Federal Aviation Administrat ion). A maj or respons ib ility
1953: Transmissometer 1.nstallcd is to control ai rspace in the US and deve lop a co mmon system of
The first electronic dev ice for measuring visibili ty on the air traffic control fo r civ il and mi litary aircraft.
gro und is comp leted at Washington Na tional Airport. Located In October o f the same year. Congress creates NASA (Na-
ti onal Aeronaut ics and Space Admi nistrati on). Although NASA
is identified with space exp lorati on, it also justifies the ··aero-
nautics.. part of its name. NASA will contribute to airline av ion-
ics in the fo rm or databuscs, di splays, synthet ic vision and hu-
man factors. It wil l so lve prob lems in small aircraft that lim it
their usefuln ess in bad weather. There arc NASA progra ms on
safer cockpits, airframe icing and low-cost ant i-colli sion devices.
1959: DME Approved
The International C ivil Aviation O rgan ization chooses DME
(di stance measuring equ ipment) as the world standard to comple-
ment YOR nav igation .
1959: Transponders Begin (ATCRBS)
Known as ·'secondary radar," the transponder not only pro-
vides more powerful returns thnn conventi onal radar, but encodes
aircra ft iden tification as well. lt is based on World War II " IFF"
( ldcnti ti cation, Fri end or Foe).
The system is "ATC RBS,'' for Air Traffic Contro l Rada r
Beacon System, and triggers rep li es from an aircraft tra nsponder.
The rirst ground interrogator is installed in New York and ex-
pands to 19 more air route traffic control centers. ·A pi lot can dia I
up to 64 codes (fo r ID ). which is expanded lo 4096 codes in later
Before surveillance radar, air traffic controllers plotted air- equipment.
craft from pilot position reports sent by radio. Today, traffic 1960: Air borne Weather Radar
is viewed on radar screens. Note the four-course radio FAA requires US ai rl iners to carry airborne weather radar.
range station on the chart. It provided radionavigation dur- It is phased in over several years and, in 1966, expanded to cover
ing the 1930's, but was later replaced by VOR and ILS. large cargo aircraft.
1960: More Com C ha nn els
alongside the run way, a tra nsmitter sends a light beam to a re- The first increase in V HF commun ications channels in the
ce iver several hundred feet away. The rece iver meas ures the aircraft band since 1946. It adds 5 megahertz to the band. with
loss or light due to fog or other obscuration and converts it to I00 more channels for air tra ffic control. The new channels, in
RVR , or Runway Visual Range. Thi s value, in fee t, is more accu- MHz: 126.825 to 128.825, 132.025 to 135.0
rate than a hum an looking at a distant point and estimati ng vis- 1964: Cockpit Voice Recorders
ib ility. FAA requires CY Rs in large turbi ne anti 4-engine ai rcraft.
1956: Airliners Collide 1n the event of an accident, the recorder prov ides cockpit conver-
A TWA Constell ation and United DC-7 co llide over the sation during the 30 minutes precedi ng the crash.
Grand Canyon (A ri zona) ki lling 128 people. Both airplanes were 1964: Inertial Navig ation Systems ( INS)
fl ying YFR (visually) on a sunny day in wide open airspace. Pan Am installs INS on most of its jct aircra ft to provide
The response by auth orities is to require all aircra ft fl ying accurate nav igation over ocea ns and remote areas where ground
over 18,000 feet to fl y IFR (instrument fl ight rules), keeping them stati ons arc not available.
under positi ve co ntro l. in radar surveillance and sa rely sepa- 1964 : Category II Landings
rated. FA A announces requirement for Cnt II (ILS) instrument
The accident starts development o f an on-board anti-colli - landings, another step toward all-weather operations Decision
sion system. The searc h continues for 40 ycars---until the intro- height is lowe red to 100 fee l and runway visibility range (RYR)
duction ofT CAS (Traffi c Alert and Coll ision Warn in g System) . of 1200 feet. Un ited Airl ines is first to quali fy, with its DC-8s

13
(in 1965}. closes down High Frequency s tation in California.
1964: Helicopter Certified for IFR 1970: Advanced Flig ht Data Recorder (FDR)
Sikorsky S-61 becomes first civil helicopter to be certified FAA requires advanced FDR's for large transport aircraft.
for IFR ( Instrument Flight Rules). The new type records over three times more information.
1964 : Single Sideband Radio (SSB) 1972: Category I Ila Landing
FAA begins operat ing first single sideband (SSB) ground TWA receives fi rst authorization to operate Cat Illa ( ILS)
station in Alaska for air traffic control over the North Pole. SSB, weather minimums. It allows Lockheed L-10 11 to operate down
wh ich operates in the high frequency ( I IF) band. wil l eventually to visibility of I000 feet (Runway Visual Range). then as low as
replace older, less-efTic ient HF radio for oceanic and remote 700 ft RVR .
communications. 1973: Mode C Tra nspo nders
1964: Fi rst Au tomatic To uchdown F/\A requires aircraft fiying in Te rminal Control Areas
A British European Trident at London makes the first au- (which surround major airports} to carry transponders capable of
tomatic touchdown of a schedu led commercial airliner carrying Mode C (al titude report ing}.
passengers. 1973: Public Add ress ystem
1965: DME FAA issues a rule requ iring aircrall carrying more than 19
FAA requires large foreign transports Oying in U.S. to carry passengers to have public address and interphone systems to keep
Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) crew and passengers informed during an emergency.
1966: Satellit e Communications 1974: Radio Ra nge Shu t Down
FAA reports "voice messages of exce ll ent clarity" during Th e last four-course radio range, located in A laska, is de-
rirst test of a satel lite for long-range communications. The ve- commissioned by FAA. Replaced by VOR and ILS. it was the
hicle is ASA's Applications Technology J. ··Satcom·· wi ll even- fi rst radionavigation system for ·'blind"' (instrument) Oight in bad
tually replace High Frequency equipment. weather. The four-course radio range was important for the growth
1967: Satcom Data lin k of aviation during the I9JO's.
PAA and NASA demonstrate a datalink system using a sat- 1974: Ground Prox Installa tion
ellite for transmitting navigation data from aircraft to ground sta- A rule requi rin g G rou nd Proxim ity Warning Systems on
tions . A Pan AM cargo jct sends data lo the ATS- I satellite. airliners is p ublished by FAA. GPWS warns when the aircraft is
which relays it to a ground station in California. It is also the below 2500 fee t and in danger of closi ng too rapidl y with the
firs t test or an aircraft antenna designed to transmit satel lite ground.
messages. 1980: Avio nics and Two-Pe rson C rews
1968: Alt itu de A lerting Boeing plans o n two-person crew for its new B-75 7-767
FAA requires an altitude alerting system on turbojet air- airliners. Digital system s in these aircraft redw.:c the need for
cra ll bei:ause o f their rapid climb and descent rates. Pilot pre- th ird person ( flight engineer). It's made possible by new !::FIS
sets an altitude and receives aural and visual warn ing in time to (Electronic Flight Instrument System). wh ich centralizes instru-
level off. A lso alerted is straying from an ass igned altitude. ments and di sp lays, as wel l as automatic monitoring of engine
1970: M icrowaye La nding Syste m (M LS) parameters.
Secretary of Transportation forms group to study develop- 1981: FAA Selects TCAS
ment of MLS. the eventual re placement for ILS FAA adopts the Traffic A lert and Collision Avo idance Sys-
1970: Satcom for Air Traffic Control tem (TCASJ. Compatible with existing and future transponders.
FAA establishes communications via satellite between San there are two versions: TCAS I, which delivers only a trafTic
Francisco and Hawa ii . The first full -time satcom for air traffic alert, and is practical fo r small aircraft: and TCAS I I. which
control uses Intelsat. Because of superior communications, FA/\ adds vertical escape mane uvers and is req uired fo r airliners.

Radar surveillance room of an

Air Traffi c Control facility. Pi-
lots call in position reports by
radio; the airplane appears on
the "PPI," or Plan Position In-
dica tor, see n at lower left.
"Flight Strips" are print-outs
which inform the controller of
flights arrivi ng in hi s secto r.
These paper strips are replaced
in fu ture ATC with electronic
displays.
FAA

14
 TCAS Ill , wh ich adds horizontal maneuvers, proved diffi- chase 235 new ILS's (lnstrumem Land ing Systems). Rap id de-
cu lt to develop and was dropped. velopment of G PS is the reason.
Future anti-collision systems will be based on satellite 1994: Free Flig ht
surveiIlance. In one of the most sweep ing changes in air navigation, FAA
198 1: Sea rch a nd Rescue Satellite begins study or"Free Fli ght." Aircraft will fly with greater free-
U.S. launches weather satellite carrying Sea rch and Res- dom, enabl ing pil ots to choose the most favorab le routing. Air
cue Satellite-Aided Track ing (SA RSAT). It is capable of receiv- trafTic contro ll ers would intervene only to assure safety or avoid
ing signa ls from an ai rcraft ELT (Emergency Locator Transmit- crowding in the airspace. Because of' this, the term "air traffic
ter). A sim ilar satellite ca lled COS PAS is launched in 1982 by controller" wi ll become "air traffic 11w1wger."
the USSR (now Russia). A two-year trial or Free fli ght begins in 1999 in Alaska
1983: C PS Nav Across the Atlantic and Hawaii.
A Rockwe ll Internati onal Saberliner is first to cross the 1995: FANS Trial
Atlantic gu ided on ly by GPS. FAA and Australia's Qantas Airlines complete first trials
1984: Lo ran Approved of new satellite-based communication, navigation and surve il-
FAA approves Lora n as an area navigation system fo r IFR lance system recommended by the Internat ional Civil Av iation
(Instrument Flight Rules) flight. Organization (!CAO). Called " FANS" (Future Air Navigation
1988: Wind Shear System), it improves commu nicati ons with aircraft flying in oce-
Turbine-powered airliners wi th 30 or more passenger scats an ic and remote areas. This is the beginning of a global
must carry equ ipment that warns of low-a lti tude wind shear. changeover to the next-generati on of ai r tra ffi c contro l.
Guidance for recovery from wi nd shear is also required. 1996 : Flight Recorders Expa nd
1991 : Lora n Gap Closed FAA proposes increase in the amount of in fo rmation col-
Complete coverage of the US by Loran signa ls resu lts from lected on Fli gh t Data Recorders (FDR ). The number or param-
new station constructed to fi ll the "mid -continent gap." eters would in crcase--from as few as 29 to as many as 88, de-
1991: Mod e S I ntcrrogators pending on when the airplane was manufactured. Airlines would
The fi rst two Mode S systems are delivered to FAA. It's retrofit over abo ut fou r years from the effective date of the ru le.
the beginning of the new radar beacon grou nd interrogator sys- 1996: Enhanced Gro und Prox
tem that will eventually number 137 in U.S. ai rspace. Aboard American Airlines is the first carrier to receive FAA ap-
aircra ft, Mode S transponders will rep lace the ATCRBS system. proval for the En hanced Ground Prox im ity Warning System
1993: CPS Approach Approved (EG PWS). Installations are on all American 's B-757's.
Continental Express fli es approved non-precision approach
using GPS into two Colorado a irports.
1994: M LS Halted
FAA will no longer develop the Microwave Landing Sys-
tem (MLS). Future effort at all-weather land ing systems wi ll be
done wi th G PS.
Following this annou ncement. FAA cancels plans to pur-

Review Questions
Chapter 2 A Brief History

2.1 Radio frequencies are measured in Hertz (Hz), 2.6 What was the first radionavigation system for
after Heinrich Hertz. What was his contribution to guiding airplanes?
communications?
2. 7 Who was the pioneer who flew the first instru-
2.2 What was the first system for marking cross- ment flight, sometimes known as "blind flying," in
country airways? Row was it limited? 1929?

2.3 What was the first instrument to enable pilots 2.8 What system in Air Traffic Control replaced
to maintain control of an airplane without seeing position reports by voice?
outside the cockpit?
2.9 In 1980, manufacturers bega n d esigning airlin-
2.4 What component led to the artificial horizon ers without a third crew member. What avionics
and autopilot? Name the developer of these early development made it possible?
systems.
2 5 What type of transmitter sent the first radio
message from an airplane to the ground?

15
 Chapter 3

VHF Com
Very High Frequency Communications

Communications move in formation in and out of both communications and nav igation a re combined in
an airplane for a ir traffic contro l, a irline company op- a single case or housing. Because the com hal f trans-
erations and passenger services. T he earliest "com" ra- mits and receives, it is a " transceiver."
dios sent and received Morse code, then adva nced to
The V HF band is under g reat pressure because of
voice as technology became available. Today, voice
the growing number of a ircraft. Frequencies are as-
mes ages are also headed for extinction, as digital in-
signed by international agreement and difficult to ob-
formation travels more efficiently on " data link," a tech-
tain becau e many non-aviation serv ices compete for
nology spreadin g throug h aviation.
limited s pace in the radio spectrum. These include
VHF-Com. Radios for communication may be public-safety (police, fire, e mergency medical and other
label led "Com, Com m, V HF-Com" or imply " VHF." gove rnment activity). V HF is also in de mand by
They rece ive and transmit in the VHF com band from " landmobile" services such as taxi, and de livery ve-
11 8.00 to 136.975 M i lz . When a radio is a 11a vcom hicles. As a result, avionics eng inee rs have developed
new techniques for expanding communications inside
the ex isting Vl-1 F aviation band.
S plitting. One method for squeezing in more chan-
nels is "splitting." As the accompanying c hart shows.
the VHF band has bee n split four times, resulting in a n
increase from 90 channe ls to over 2,280. This became
possible with advances in digita l signal process ing, es-
pec ia lly to make the com rece iver re pond ve ry selec-
tively to the new, narrow c hanne ls .
A large number of old-techno logy avionics could
Three VHF com radios are often carried aboard airlines;
the antenna location s are shown above. VHF com 1 and not operate with such tight spacing an d, in 1997, radios
2 are fo r communicating with air traffic control. VH F com with 360 channe ls or fewer were banned (sec cha1t).
3 operates in the ACARS system for what is commonly
called "company communications." VHF Data Rad io. In the coming years, there wi ll
be a dramatic drop in the numbe r of vo ice transmis-
sions on the VHF a ircraft band. It is due to the rise of
16
 Acceptable VHF Com Radios

•
NO. OF
CHANNELS ACCEPTABLE? NOTES
I

January 1, 1997 banned radios with

90 100 kHz No
360 or fewer channels

The increase from 180 to 360

180 50 kHz No channels resulted when the band was
expanded from 126.90 to 135.9 MHz

Doubling of channels resulted from

360 50 kHz No "channel splitting" (moving
frequencies closer together).

Again channels were split, but new

technology produced selective
receivers which could separate close-
760 25 kHz Yes
spaced channels. Also, another
megahertz was added to the band,
providing 40 more channels.

Further channel splitting tripled the

channels to accommodate increasi ng
2280 8 .33 kHz Yes air trattic. This spacing, 8.33 kHz,
was first used in Europe, where
frequency congestion became critical.

"datalink," where messages are sent and received in digi-

tal coding. The human voice delivers information at a VDR Radio
slow rate---about 300 words per minute. Compare this
to an e-mail message bui lding on a computer screen.
Three hundred words appear in about one-tenth of a
second.' Not only will datalink take one channel and
split it more than fou r ways, it operates faster, and
eliminates misunderstood words.
VDR. Airliners and other large aircraft are equip-
ping with a new generation known as VDR, for VHF
Data Radio . Because many years are required to tran-
sition to a new system, the VDR must operate on both
ex isting and future systems. 25 KHZ
SPACING
Voice. This is the traditional air/ground commu-
nications where the pilot talks over a microphone. It is
known as AM, or ampl itude modulation. 8 .33 KHZ D IGITAL
SPACING DATA
ACARS. An automatic system that reports via
VHF radio to an airline company when its aircraft take Honeywell
off and arri ve, and carries messages about company Control-display head for the VDR (VHF data radio).
opera tions (d esc ribed in the nex t c hapter ). The knob at the lower left enables the pilot to select
either channel spaci ng ; 25 kHz or the newer 8.33
kHz. The next position is "TOMA" whi ch can send
VOL. Yet another mode is VDL , for VHF datalink. digital voice and data.
Many airliners have equipped with VDL because their
wide-ranging flights must be prepared to communicate
with systems everywhere.

17
Basic VHF-Navcom Connections: General Aviation

7. COM 8. NAV 9. COM 10. NAV

ANTENNA ANTENNA AUDIO AUDIO

1. DC POWER INPUT - -- --.

• •• ..... unu.no

3. GROUND
•••
- ""'
COMM STl'I
4. MIC KEY LINE ,w I
...
ffll =
• OWi om,,.. .... m
... .
nKO
Pll.lOOS
5. MIC AUDIO
6. INSTRUMENT ....,._ _ __ _.
LIGHTING

1. DC Power Input
Depending on the airplane's electrical system, this and drives the pilot intercom or passenger add ress
is primary power to the radio; 14- or 28-volt DC. It syste m.
from a circuit breaker or fuse designated for a navcom.
6. Instrument Lighting
In some diagrams, DC power input is also called the
At night, the pilot may dim lights on the panel with
"A" lead.
one control. When this connection is wired to the dim-
2. Switched Power mer, radi o lighting is controlled along with all other
When the radio is turned on, this connection sends illumination.
power from the radio to certain accessories, such as an
7. Corn Antenna
external ind icator that displays navigation information.
Coax ial cable that runs to the VHF com an tenna.
An example is the VOR instrument that displays left-
right, up-down steering commands. 8. Nav Antenna
Coax ial cable to the VO R nav antenna.
3. Ground
The negati ve side of the electrica l syste m, it can 9. Corn Audio
be any part of the airplane 's metal structure that goes Audio received from an incoming signal. In simple
back to the negative side of the battery. insta llations, this line connects to the pilot's headphone
jack. Audio at this po int is " low level," meaning it can
f n compos ite (non-metal) a irpla nes, the ground is onl y drive a headphone, and not a cabin speaker. Al-
a "bus bar," or heavy copper w ire or braid that extends though some radios have built- in a mplifie rs, many air-
the negati ve battery lead through the airplane. craft add an audio pane l. It not only provides amplifi-
4. Mic Key Line cation for the cabin speaker, but boosts and mixes low
Turns on the transmitter when a microphone but- level audio from othe r sources.
ton is pressed. The button may be on the mike, or 10. Nav Audio
mounted on the control yoke. Re leasing the button This enables the pilot to listen to and identify navi-
switches the radio back to receive. gati onal signals, w hich broadcast an ID in Morse code
5. Mic Audio and voice.
This is the voice s ignal from the pilot micro-
phone brought into the radio through a microphone jack
or audio panel. Mic audio is applied to the transmitter,
 VHF-Com System
ANTENNA

ACTIVE STORED

VHF TRANSCEIVER

,~1
TRANSFER
M
C
I
A
U
D
P
T
T COCKPIT
VOICE
VHF CONTROL PANEL RECORDER

MIC -~---~----•~•
AUDIO
RECEIVER PANEL
AU DIO

A com radio typically found in airliners and radio between transmit and receive. The
large aircraft. The pilot operates the VHF button is on the microphone or the con-
Control Panel, while the main unit of the VHF t rol yoke.
transceiver is in a remote electronics bay. The transceiver also provides an au-
Two frequencies may be selected at one dio output to the Cockpit Voice Recorder
time; the active channel sends and re- to retain radio messages in the event of
ceives, the stored channel remains inactive. a safety investigation.
When the transfer button is pressed, the two There are usually three VHF com radios
channels exchange places. aboard an airliner. One radio, however,
The Audio Panel connects pilot micro- is operated in the ACARS system, as de-
phone and headset or loudspeaker. "PTT" scribed below.
is the push-to-talk button that switches the

ANTENNA

Third Com Radio

This is the same as the other two com ra-
dios, except for modifications to operate on VHF TRANSCEIVER
ACARS (Aircraft Communication and Report-
ing System) described in a later chapter. M A P
There is no pilot control panel because the I U T COCKPIT
C D T VOICE
frequency is pre-set to an assigned ACARS

l
channel. ACARS automatically receives and RECORDER
transmits messages about company opera-
tions.
A pilot may also use voice on this radio
through the mic and receiver audio connec-
MIC
tion. ACARS
VHF com radios in large aircraft typically AUDIO
operate from a 28 VDC power source. The RECEIVER PANEL
transm itter is often rated at 25 watts of ra- AUDIO
dio frequency output power.

19
VHF-Com Control Panel

ACTIVE FREQUENCY STORED

ACTIVE INDICATOR FREQUENCY
Typical airline control head FREQUENCY
for one VHF transmitter-re-
ceiver (transceiver). The pi-
lot is communicating on the
left display ; the frequency
transfer switch is pointing
left. He has stored the next
frequency on the right side.
A flip of the transfer switch
activates the next frequency.
This panel-mounted unit con- FREQUENCY
trols a remote transceiver in SELECTOR
the electronics bay.
The " Com Test" button at
the bottom disables the au-
tomatic squelch. This allows
atmospheric noise to be
heard , which is an approxi-
mate test of whether the ra-
dio is operating. FREQUENCY FREQUENCY
TEST
TRANSFER SELECTOR

TRANSMITIER
POWER INDICATOR

1. 8 (REFLECTED SHOWN)

DISABLES SQUELCH,
POWER INDICATOR
TESTS LAMPS
CONTROL
{SELECTS FORWARD
RFL OR REFLECTED POWER)

GREEN=
NO FAILURES
RED =TUNING
DATA NOT CORRECT JACK FOR TESTING
WITH MICROPHONE
JACK FOR LISTENING
WITH HEADSET BUTION STARTS TESTS
INDICATED BY RED AND
GREEN LED LAMPS

Located in the electronics bay, the VHF transceiver is reflected power is high, there's a problem in the antenna
remotely tuned by the control head in the instrument or cable. This is covered in the chapter on test and
panel. This LRU (line replaceable unit) has several test troubleshooting. The jacks at the bottom enable the
features built in. The indicator at the top shows trans- technician to talk and listen while testing in the elec-
mitter power in the forward direction (toward the an- tronics bay.
tenna) or power reflected back to the transmitter. If

20
"Splitting" VHF Channels
Almost every decade for the last 50 years, VHF com channels have been " split,"
dividing the space occupied by one frequency. Another way of viewing it is that
channels are moved closer together within the same band.
The first aircraft radios had "200 kHz" spacing. (Note that " 200 kHz" can be
written as ".2 MHz" by moving the decimal three places to the left.) Thus, the dials
of early com radios appeared as:

120.......... 120.2 .. ........ 120.4.......... 120.6 ....... ... 120.8 .......... etc.

This spacing divided the VHF com band into 70 channels. As aviation grew, the
band was increased in size and 20 more channels were added (still with the 200 khz
spacing.

But aviation was growing and demanding more frequencies. Fortunately, the avi-
onics industry was also advancing with techniques that made receivers more " se-
lective," enabling them to separate two channels that are closely spaced. The
progress of splitting went like this:

Spacing No.of Channels

200 kHz 90
100 kHz 180
50 kHz 360
25 kHz 760
8.333 kHz 2280

For channel-splitting to work, transmitting frequencies are held to tight tolerances

to avoid drifting and causing interference to other channels. Because early radios
could not comply, they were outlawed on the aviation bands. Most radios now oper-
ate on 25 kHz and 8.333 kHz spacing.

The last split, to 8.333 khz, marks the beginning of a new-type com radio that handles
both voice and digital data. It is VDL (Very High Frequency Data Link). Using digital
signals, each 8.333 frequency can operate simultaneously with up to four channels
of information; four voice and two digital messages.

Radio Management System

Chelton Av1orn cs

CONTROL-DISPLAY RECEIVER/ NAV (VOR) ADF DME TRANSPONDER

UNIT TRANSMITTER RECEIVER RECEIVER

A Radio Management System eliminates numerous codes, etc. All the other units are mounted in re-
knobs, buttons and separate control heads for op- mote racks and are controlled through a databus
erating com and nav radios. It's less of a workload (ARINC 429).
to operate and saves space on the instrument panel. This system, the Chelton RMS 555, is used by
The pilot sees only the control-display unit (at the corporate, regional airline and military aircraft.
left) and selects or stores frequencies, transponder

21
Review Questions
Chapter 3 VHF Com
3.1 What frequencies define the Very High Fre- plays; one for the _ _ _ frequency, the
quency (VHF) ba nd? other for the frequency.

3.2 What is the freque ncy coverage of t he VHF 3.8 What is the purpose of a sque lch?
com b and?
3.9 What function does the " com test" control pro-
3.3 What is "splitting" channels? vide?

3.4 What development greatly reduces the num- 3.10 Where is the LRU (line replaceable unit) for a
ber of voice reports on VHF com? com transceiver of a large aircraft located ?

3.5 What is the narrowest spacing for channels in 3.11 What is the benefit of a radio management sys-
the VHF com band? tem?

3.6 Wha t is the purpose of a mic key line? 3.12 What is t he third VHF com radio of an airliner
often used for?
3. 7 A typical com radio has two frequency dis-

22
Chapter 4

HF Com
High Frequency Communications

When an airplane leaves the coastline for a trans-

HF Control-Display
oceani c flig ht, it moves into a po lar region or ve ntures
over a re mote area, it loses VHF communi cations. VHF
signa ls are line of sight and cannot curve over the ho-
rizon. For long-ra nge fli ght, the airplane switches to
HF---high frequen cy---communicati ons.
In a band from 2-30 MHz, HF radi o travels
2000-6000 miles by "skipping" tlu-ough the ionosphere,
an e lectrica l mirror tha t reflects radio waves bac k to
ea rth. Bendix/King
Control-Display for an HF radio for General Aviation. With
HF has never been a pilot's favorite radio . Early output power of 150 watts (Single Sideband, or SSB} it
tunes 280,000 channels. An antenna coupler (remotely
models didn 't have the re liability ofVHF because the
located with the receiver and transmitter) ) automatically
ionosphere is a lways changing---betwecn day and night tunes the antenna when the microphone button is pressed.
and season to season. It is struck by mag neti c storms Some models, like this one, have a "Clarifier" control
from the sun w hich repeat over a n I I-year s unspot (lower left} to fine tune the incoming voice.
cycle, interrupting communicati ons for hours, even days. The radio also solves the problem of hunting for a work-
able frequency under changing ionospheric conditions.
With circui t called "automatic link establishment" it
T he cure is the eve ntua l e limination of HF radio searches for the best available channel. This model is
by satellite communications. Nevertheless, thousands the Bendix/King HF-950. Weighing about 20 lbs, it is also
of a ircraft w ill continue to fly w ith HF for decades used by helicopters, which often fly in remote areas be-
before the transition is comple te. Fortunately, HF has yond VHF communicating range.
enjoyed severa l improvements.
tenna at 120 MH z, fo r example, has a quarte r-wave-
Ea rly HF radi os were difficult to operate. Most length of only two feet, easy enough to mount as a small
antennas fo r aircraft measure from inc hes to several whip or blade on the airframe. But as operating fre-
feet long. The le ngth tunes the antenna to one-quarter que ncy goes lower, wave length grows lo nger. A quar-
wavelength, which is standard for a ircraft. A VHF an- te r-wave HF antenna on 2 MHz wo uld have to run

23
 HF System
ANTENNA

~17
HF TRANSCEIVER
_ I_ ,
PILOT ANTENNA
CONTROL PANEL M A P COUPLER
I U T
C D T

MIC •~a-~--.~~•
AUDIO
RECEIVER PANEL
AUDIO

When the pilot keys the transmitter on a new channel, a 1000 Hz (au-
dio) tone is modulated onto the radio wave and sent to the antenna
coupler. This enables the coupler to match the antenna to any HF fre-
quency. A tone is used because, unlike voice, it produces a steady
radio-frequency output for the coupler to measure. Antenna tuning usu-
ally takes less than four seconds.

over I 00 feet long! from the time the pilot turns the channel selector.
Radio pioneers solved this with a "trailing wire" Automatic Hf antenna tuning, w hich greatly re-
antenna----reelin g it out to float behind the ai rp lane. If duced pilot workload, was followed by a development
radio conditions changed, they hunted for a new fre- that improved HF radio's ability to avo id fad ing sig-
quency and c hanged antenna length. T hey also h ad to nals and poor radio conditions caused by va ri ations in
manually adjust an antenna tuner. the ionosphere.
A breakthrnugh happen ed when Arthur Colli ns
(founder of a compan y that produces air transport avi- SSB HF rad io originally transmitted in the AM
onics) came up with an improvement called "Autotune." (amp litude modulation) mode, the same as AM broad-
Tt is a tun ing unit that matches a sho rt, fi xed antenna cast radio today. An AM transmitter generates three
on the airplane to the wavelength of a ny HF freq ue ncy. components; a radio-freq uency (RF) carrier, a n upper
it's don e automatically when the pilot selects a chan- sideband and lower sideband . The audio ( or voice) is
ne l. fo und only in the sidebands . This was discovered in
The concept of a utomatic antenna t uning is based the 1920's, along with the observation that the RF car-
on "refl ected power." lf an antenna and ante nna tune r rier served only to create the sidebands inside the trans-
arc adjusted for, say, an operating frequency of 12 MHz mitte r. The carrier doesn't "carry" the sidebands. Side-
and the pi lot changes to 5 MHz, there wi ll be a large bands travel just as wet I with or without a carrie r. Be-
electrical m is matc h between the antenna and feed line cause the sidebands lie just above and below the carrier
from the transmitter. This ca uses rad io frequency freque ncy, they are termed USB and LSB (for upper
power to refl ect back from the antenna and be lost. and lower).
The Autotune syste m measures the re fl ected power and Tn regular amplitude modulation, more than two-
operates tuning elements in the antenna coup ler to re- thirds of the transmitter power is lost in the carrier.
duce the reflection lo the lowest possible value. (The What's more, the upper and lower sidebands carry the
concept of refl ected power reappears in the chapter on identical information. So all that's required for trans-
test and troubleshooting, where it's called VSWR, for mitting the voice is a "singl e sideband ."
voltage standing wave ratio.) It took severa l decades for the electronics industry
fn today's HF radios, chang ing frequencies and to develop stable transmitters and receive rs a nd s harp
retuning the antenna can occur in less than a second filtering to make " SSB" practical. As a res ult, today's

24
HF-SS B transceiver places nearly all transmitter power municati ons to the aeronautical industry. Thi s threat-
into a si ngle sideband, producing a powerful signal that ened to kill further development in HF, bu t the airline
punches through worsening ionospheri c conditi ons. industry wasn't ready for "satcom." Satel lite installa-
tions at the time proved too expensive for many carri-
HF Data link . Despi te the improvement of SSB, ers, which motivated researchers to design a workab le
pi lots were not yet completely satisfi ed; HF still didn 't HF datalink.
provide the solid reliability of VHF communications.
In seeking further improvement, the avionics industry Today, HF datalink is a real ity. The new radios
con idercd dig ital communi cati ons to handle routine perform "sound ings"---! istening fo r short bur ts of data
messages. The first experiment s fa iled as researchers from ground stations around the world. A link is estab-
discovered that digital signal s barely surv ived the tur- lished to the best one for communications. If cond itions
bulent ride through the ionosphere. Too many digital deteriorate, the radio automatically searches fo r, and
bits were lost in transmission. switches to, a better channel. If there are errors in trans-
mission, the grou nd station senses them and automati-
At about th is time, the first communications satel- cally calls for repeats until the data is correct.
lites were rising in orbit, offering solid long range com-

Remote Line Replaceable Units (HF)

POWER AMPLIFIER
ANT ENNA COUPLER The final stage of the
Automatically matches transmitter, the Power
transmission line to the Amplifier raises the signal
antenna for any frequency. to 200 watts for transmission

·~ ~ ~'=J RECEIVER-EXCITER
Contains the HF receiver
and low-level stages of
the transmitter.

Honeywell
Three remote-mount boxes for an HF radio installed on business aircraft.
They are controlled by the pilot on the flight deck.
The radio tunes 280,000 channels and stores 99 user-programmable fre-
quencies (for quick retrieval). For sending distress calls, the international
maritime distress frequency on 2.182 MHz is pre-programmed. The model
shown here, the Primus HF-1050, is upgradeable for HF datalink.

25
 HF Control Panel: Airline
Rf SENSE

g
H
17.946
•
o• •
F USS

FREQUENCY FREQUENCY
0
Pilot's HF control panel. Frequency is selected by two outer knobs. RF SENSE
adjust s receiver sensitivity. The knob at bottom---OFF - USB - AM---selects
mode of o peration. Most HF communications for aircraft are on USB (Upper
Sideband). Lower sideband is not permitted in aeronautical service. The AM
kn ob selects old-type Amplitude Modulation, which i s much less effective than
SSB, but enables pilot to talk to ground stat ions not equipped for SSB,

HF Transceiver
Advantages of HF Datalink
•
0
LRU FAIL

KEY INTERLOCK
•Lower Pilot Workload
•Shorter Message Transmission Time {less
than 3 seconds vs more than 1 minute)
·Channel Access Time (less than 60
0 CONTROL INPUT FAIL seconds vs up to 10 minutes)
•Less Operational Training fo r Flight Crew
® SQL/LAMP TEST •Data Relieves Congestion on Voice
Frequencies
•Automatic Selection of Frequency and
PHONE MIC Data Rates
I I •Voice Is Prone To Human Error and
I I Interpretation
•Data Detects Errors and Automatically
Retra nsmits
@ @
~

~-
0
0 ·Data Extracts Signals in Noisier
HEADSET MIC
I-= Environments (3dB/1OdB)
Mounted in an electroni cs bay, the HF transceiver •I ncreased HF Traffic Capability
is operated from the pilot's HF control panel. It •Assured Communication Li nk
has several provisions for testing. Three lights Automatic Air/Ground HF linkage With
show sy stem status (the red lamp is i ndicating Less Acquisition and Message Cost
" LRU FAIL," meaning th is transceiver, a line-re-
(Compared to Satcom)
placea ble unit) . Th e button " SQL/LAMP" is
pressed for two tests; all lamps should light, and •I mproved Voice/Data Quality
the squ el c h i s di sable d. During a disabled •Data Link Messages Are Not Written
squelch , the t echnician should hear atmospheric or Sensitive to Verbal Language
no ise, whi ch is an approximate test th at the re-
ce iver is worki ng. He ca n also plug a mic ro- (Based on a Honeywell report)
phone into the "MIC" jack and talk on th e radio
during troubleshooting.
The t ransmitter in airline service is u sually
rated at 400 watts of radio frequency power dur-
ing s ingle-si d eband (SSB) trans mis sion ; 125
watts in th e AM mode.
26
HF Antenna Coupler
FEEDLINE
TO ANTENNA
(at rear)

CONTROL WIRING Mounted below antenna in rudder fin, HF

FROM HF antenna coupler tunes antenna to the fre-
TRANSCEIVER quency in less than 4 seconds after pilot
selects a channel.
Pressure Nozzle at the bottom pressur-
izes the coupler enclosure. Otherwise, low
air pressure at altitude would cause high
voltage in tuning coils to arc over and
short.

HF Antenna Mounting

HF ANTENNA
//
/

ANTENNA /\ . / / /
COUPLER v\7
-- _::::;,- .,.. - __I -

00 00 00
o o o o o of]o a a o a o a a a • o a a a a• a

--
..........D
-
~
The HF antenna on a typical airliner is located in the vertical tail fin . The radiating
antenna is inside a U-shaped fiberglass leading edge. The antenna coupler is just
below, inside the rudder fin . The coupler matches any HF frequency (2 - 30 MHz} and
sends it through a feedline to the antenna.

27
Review Questions
Chapter 4 HF Com

4.1 Why are High Frequency communications not 4.5 What are three major components of an HF
as reliable as those of VHF? Line-replaceable unit (LRU)?

4.2 What is the advantage of "Autotune." 4.6 Name two advantages of HF datalink?

4.3 Why is SSB (single sideband) more efficient 4.7 What is the purpose of an HF antenna cou-
than conventional AM radio? pler?

4.4 What made HF datalink successful? 4.8 Where is the HF antenna mounted on many
airliners?

28
Chapter 5

Satcom
Satellite Commun ications

Satcom provides communications between aircraft

and ground through m ost of the world. Free from at-
mospheric interfe rence and limited bandwidth , it is the
rep lace ment for High Frequency (HF) as the band for
long-range communications. Satcom signa ls penetrate
the ionosphere without bending or reflecting and arc
unaffected by e lectrica l noise or weather. As satcom
avio nics build through aircraft fleets, they will even-
tually replace VHF com, as well. T he signals of satcom
are digital, not only fo r data communications, but voice,
as well. This means voice messages can be encrypted
for security.

Satcom is a lso the fou ndation for the next genera-

tion of a ir traffic control. After a half-cen tury of a ir-
craft confined to nan·ow routes and tracks, a changeover
is beginning to a new architecture known as FANS, fo r
Future Air Navigation Systems. More ai rplanes will
fly safely within the same airspace under a concept
.k nown as "Free Fl ight." Satcom makes it possible, as
we.II as providing information, cnte11a inment and other
services for passengers in the cabin.
(lnmarsat)
A Ground Earth Station communicates with orbit-
lnmarsat ing lnmarsat satellites, which relay messages to and
The London-based organi zation prov iding satel- from aircraft. The Ground Earth Station receives
and sends those messages through telephone com-
lites and ground support is Lnmarsat (Internationa l Mari-
panies and other telecommunications services
time Sate llite) . Consisting of more than 60 member throughout the world .

29
 Generations of lnmarsat Spacecraft
lnmarsat-2 (called 1-2) was launched in 1991
after the first generation raised the demand
in aviation for more satellite services. 1-2
provides four times more capacity than 1-1.
The constellation consists of four active sat-
ellites, with four spares in orbit to assure
continuous service.
All satellites are monitored by control
centers on the ground. As gravity causes a
satellite to drift from orbit, the vehicle's at-
titude and orbit are adjusted by a control
station. When the satellite moves into the
dark side of the earth at night, its solar cells
are eclipsed. Batteries provide power in the
dark. Controllers monitor the battery backup
to be sure satellite power is sufficient.

lnmarsat-3 has ten times the capacity of 1-2.

Each of the four spacecraft has one global
beam which covers a wide area of the earth.
Each also has 7 spot beams which concen-
trate power over a narrower area (usually
where demand is high, along heavily trav-
eled routes). Backup for I -3 is the previous
generation of 1-2 spacecraft.
The next constellation is 1-4, designed
to be 100 times more powerful and have ten
times the communications capacity.

countries, it prov ides the space segment known as " ln- the gro und earth station receives it through te lecommu-
marsat Aero". Using four atellites, it provides two- nications networks and beams it up to a satellite for re-
way vo ice and data (fax, Internet, e-mail, ATC) over lay to t he a irplane.
most of the world. Because the sate II ites hover over Aircraft Earth Station. T his is the avionics sys-
the equator, the ir beams cannot extend into the North te m aboa rd the aircraft for communi cating w ith sate l-
and South Po le regions. Future systems wi ll add po lar lites. lt must confonn to Inmarsat standards a nd the
orbi ts to fi ll in these limited areas. The four lnmarsat specification for ARlNC 741.
sate IIitcs: Satcom antennas. A compone nt of the a irborne
system is the antenna, whic h must a lways a im directl y
Pac ific Ocean Region ( POR) a t the satellite (to receive all of its services). A lthough
Indian Ocean Region (!OR) lnmarsat sate llites appear never to move (they are in
Atl antic Ocean Region West (AOR-W) geostationary orbit), the a irplane o fte n crui ses over 500
Atlantic Ocean Regio n East (AOR-E) mph, rap idly changing position. This is solved by a
beam steering unit on the a irpl ane that operates a mo-
Each satellite is backed up w ith a spare orbiting in tor-dri ven antenna or an e lectronic syste m known as a
same vicinity. The other two major components of the " phased array." Consider the satcom ante nna catego-
satcom system are: ries:
Ground Earth Station (GES). These radio sta- Low Cain. Various communications via sate llite
tions around the world operate large d ishes fo r com- require a diffe rent amo unt of power. A message consist-
municating w ith sate llites. T hey receive messages sent ing onl y letters and numbers moving at a slow rate (300-
to a satell ite by an aircraft, then pass them to a tele- 1200 bits per second) uses re lati vely little power and
communications company fo r relaying them to any tele- can operate on a " low gain" antenna on the ai rplane.
phone or data te rmina l in the wo rl d. The a ntenna is si mple, little more tha n a blade, a nd
Tfthe message is intended for an aircraft in fli ght, pic ks up s ignals from any direction.
30
 lnmarsat-Aero System

INMARSATSATELLJTE

TERRf~'TRIAL PUBLIC & PRIVATE TERRFST'RW. PUBLIC & PRIVATE

TELECOMMUNICATIONS KE1WORKS DATA NE1WORKS

The system for satcom consists of three basic world (coverage falls off at the poles). Four additional
elements; satellites (space segment), airborne satellites are in orbit as spares, ready to take over during
avionics (aircraft earth station) and the connec- a malfunction.
tion into telecommunications networks (tele- An airplane communicates with satellites, not ground
phone companies, for example.) This last ele- stations. There are ten ground stations throughout the
ment is known as the ground earth station. world for relaying aircraft communications into telecom-
Four lnmarsat satellites cover nearly all the munications networks.

High Gain . This anteruia supports the fu ll range as done in an astronomica l telescope).
of satcom serv ices, which require more power tha n is A n airplane in cruise is a lways moving w ith re la-
possible with a simple bl ade . The " high gain" ante nna tion to the satellite. To keep the high gain antenna point-
is more complex and expe ns ive . T he improvement in ing toward the sate llite, the ai rborne satcorn steers the
power ("gain") is achieved in two ways. First, the an- beam using information from the airp lane's navigation
tenna is made highl y directiona l w ith additional ele- system. As shown in the ii lustration, the e lectromechani-
ments to focus s igna ls into a beam. The narrow beam, ca l high ga in ante nna fits in the tail cap of the airplane.
however, must a lways aim directly at the satel lite. Conformal. The second type of high gain anten na
Steering the beam is accomp lished in two types of is the "conforma l," which fits the curve of the fuselage
high gain antenna, shown on the following pages . One a nd protrudes less than a ha lf-inch. The radio signa l is
is the e lectromechanical ; the antenna is rotated in azi- shaped into a narrow beam and a imed e lectronical ly.
muth and elevation by electric motors (m uch the sam e Inside the confor mal radorne are many smal l micros-

31
 =-~
~ . . : - - : - - - -'
lnma
Space Segment
Four lnmarsat satellites provide global coverage. All are plete one orbit in 24 hours (also one rotation of the earth),
directly overhead the equator {at 22,300 miles, or 36,000 the satellites appear to remain fixed in position.
kilometers) and in geostationary orbit. Because they com- Each satellite is backed by a spare orbit ing nearby.
trip anteru1as. T he beam steering Lmit adjusts the signal Interm ediate Gain. A more rece nt deve lopme nt
in eac h microstrip antenna so its energy adds or sub- affects the gain of signals from the space vehic les.
tracts according to a pattern that forms a beam. The The fi rst two satellite generations broadcast "g lobal"
ene rgy is focussed and steered in a technology known beams to cover as much of the ear1h as possib le---and
as " phased a rray." the latest gene ratio n still does. Recent satell ites, how-
Eithe r conformal or e lectromechanica l, high gain ever, add " spot beams," whic h concentrate power over
antennas suppo11 all satcom se rvices . D ata rates be- a sma ller area (b ut tota l earth coverage is still about
gin at I0.9 ki lobits per second, which handles fax, voice 75% ). Because of this added power, a third type of
and high speed data, but thi s rate is increasing . a ircraft antenna e merged; the " intermediate gain" type,
Swift64. A recent service is Swift64, which com- which falls between the low and high gain mode ls. lt is
muni cates at 64 kilobits . With a high gain antenna o n less costly and simpler, yet prov ides a w ide range of
the a irp lane, thi s rate acco mmodates such wideband satcom serv ices.
serv ices as Internet, e-mail a nd v ideo conferencing.

Cell Phones in the Cabin

Cell phones were banned in aircraft becau se

they contact too many ground stations simul-
taneously while at altitude. But intense pas-
senger interest is producing new systems that
will almost certainly be adopted. They work
with the passenger's own cell phone and bill-
ing is done on his regular ce ll phone account.
The technology places a base station
aboard the aircraft that commands cell
phones to operate at low power and avoid rais-
ing regular ground stations. The base station
relays the calls through satellites, then into
the regular landline telephone system.
lnmarsat

33
 Ground Earth Station (GES)

INMARSAT SATELLITE

GROLlND STATION
A.\l'J'E~l\A AN 0
R.E EQUIP\1ENT

ACCESS CONTROL
Ai'.JU SJGKAll.!7\'G
EQUIP~E\T

DATA
VOICE
I\TER.\ATIONAL \"I:.TWORKS
W IWORK SITA/ARIKC
PUBLICSWITCHED X-25/ X.75
TEI.EPI-101\E Nl:TWORK
\"ETWORK (J~TN)

PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE

ATC ATC
(LEASED LINE) DATA NETWORKS DATA
:-.:ETWORK NE'IWORK
\ll:."IWORKS (PSTDN) NETWORKS

1nmarsat
Ten ground stations like this one are located com band between 4 and 6 GHz.
around the world for communicating with air- Voice sent via satellite uses " codec, " for digital voice
craft via satellite. The ground station connects coding and decoding. Digitizing the voice reduces error
to international telecommunications net- in transmission and speech is high in quality.
works to route calls and messages to any The various blocks seen at the bottom of the illustra-
telephone, fax machine or data terminal in tion reveal a wide range of satellite services for aircraft,
the world. including air traffic control, passenger telephone, airline
The station's dish antenna is typically 10 operations and data.
meters in diameter and operates in the sat-

34
 Aircraft Earth Station (AES)

/
/
/
/ /
/
/ /
/ /
/
/ /
/ /
I I
I I
I
I ',----,I ......---. DIPLEXER
I CABIN ATELLITE RADIO IIIGH BEAM
/LOW ANTENNA
I lNl'ERFACE DATA FREQ l'OW!:'R
NOISE
STEERING
I UNIT I UNIT UNIT AMP UNIT
AMP
I I :\'.\ I '----r----'
I I AIRCRAVf
I NAVDATA
I 11,\T:\ I
I l ~ERI\TEHF:\LI·: I SATCOMSAVIO~ICS \\ 11 \\ \
,1 P,,\ II \I
!-- - - - - -~-- - - - - - -- - - -·~ ---------~--
lnmarsat

Avionics aboard the aircraft for communicating via sat- nals from an intermediate frequency up into the L-band.
ellite are known as the Aircraft Earth Station. It sends and They are sent to the High Power Amplifier (HPA) for trans-
receives radio frequency signals to and from the satel- mission to the satellite.
lite in the L-band (1 .5-1 .6 GHz). It provides interfaces to During receive, the signal from the antenna first passes
various systems aboard the aircraft for voice, data, fax, through a Low Noise Amplifier, then is applied to the Ra-
video, etc. dio Frequency Unit. Signals are converted down to a
This equipment conforms to ARINC 741, as well as lower, or intermediate, frequency and sent to the Satellite
standards from lnmarsat, the satellite service provider. Data Unit.
The Low Noise Amplifier boosts the radio frequency
The basic components of an Aircraft Earth Station: signal received from the antenna.

Satellite Data Unit (SOU) Beam Steering Unit (BSU)

As the heart of the airborne equipment, the SOU in- For high gain antennas, the beam steering unit keeps
terfaces with the airplane navigation system. Airplane the elements pointed at the satellite as the airplane posi-
location is required to steer antennas, select satellites tion changes. Position information is received from the
and report position to air traffic services. Satellite Data Unit.
The satellite data unit also processes all message data, The antenna may be steered in two ways. For electro-
protocols and digital coding and decoding. mechanical types, the antenna array is positioned by a
motor. For electronic antennas, different combinations
Radio Frequency Unit (RFU of fixed elements are selected to focus the beam.
For data ready for transmission, the RFU converts sig-

35
 Low and High Gain Satcom Antennas for Aircraft
Low Gain Antenna
SINGLE
ANTENNA

Low-gain model has conformal an-

tenna mounted on fuselage. Because
of its simplicity it operates only on
services with slow data rates (600 bits
per second) such as air traffic con-
trol and airline operational messages.
Such data may be a stream of char-
acters (letters and numbers) dis-
played on a screen. Low in cost, the
low gain system operates in the "Aero
L " service.

High Gain Antenna

AIRCRAFT
FUSELAGE

PORT STARBOARD
ANTENNA ANTENNA

HIGH POW ER - - --
COMBINER
RELAY

FROM TRANSMITIER
TO RECEIVER

1e 1gna
The high gain satcom antenna supports Although the satellite is stationary, the
services with higher rates, such as "Swift airplane is moving. The antenna, there-
64," which handles multichannel voice, fore. needs the " beam steering unit," which
data, fax and Internet connectivity. The keeps the beam aimed at the satellite.
transmission rate is 64K bits per second. Steering information is obtained from the
High gain is achieved by an array of airplane's navigation system.
antenna elements formed into a beam
that focuses on the satellite.

36
 Steered Conformal Antenna

High gain satcom antenna, the " Airlink" by Ball,

measures 32-in x 16-in, with a depth of only .29-
in. It is a conformal antenna, sufficiently flex-
ible to curve to the aircraft body. It is attached
by fasteners around the edges of the antenna.
Frequency range is 1530-1559 MHz and 1626.5-
1660.5 MHz, for communicating with lnmarsat
satellites.
Antenna circuits inside the housing use mi-
crostrip technology, with no active electronic
components. The outer assembly is fiberlass
laminate.

STA STA
STA 1850
16-40 1660

-'"" ~ -- [
. . ..
ANTEN:A OUTL:E
., ....
,• .. . --. .. - ..
~

t:i- - I
' -
91 0
r- - - - I h
L- - - - L• .l-
Conformal antenna location
for a B-747. Antenna is posi-
tioned so mounting holes
along edges and two holes '
~
: +f'+
,.. --~ -+Lj
-v
' ....
'

-
for the RF cables do not in- r-- - - tr
terfere with structure of the
airplane.
911 L,_
--
lt • . -- .. • ' i.
-
. • __ .L_J
I

SI 2
r-- - - - - h
L-- . _J

~- '- ... L.-1..-

STEERABLE ANTENNAS

~
Electromechanically
Steered Antenna
Two steerable satcom antennas
mounted in a rudder cap. They oper-
ate electromechanically, under control
of a beam steering unit. The anten-
nas are aimed toward the satellite, re-
gardless of aircraft position on earth,
and provide high gain performance.

Honeywell/Thales

37
 In-flight High Speed Data System
High Gain
Antenna

High Power Satellite

Amplifier Data Unit High Speed Data Unit

Network
Server Unit

Splitter
Combiner

Cabin Wireless
Video Phone
Lan Unit

This system, developed for business jets by Honeywell and provides file storage and other resources such as
and Thales, accesses private or corporate computer net- an ISDN/Ethernet router and hub switch. It complies with
works anywhere in the world from the passenger cabin. ARINC 763.
Using the lnmarsat Swift64 service, the passenger uses In addition to data services, the system provides voice,
his own laptop to access the cabin network pictured fax and live video teleconferencing.
above. The interface between cabin network and sat-
com avionics (at the left) is a High Speed Data Unit (top
center). The Network Server Unit (top right) is a server

Intermediate Gain Satcom Antenna

CMC Electronics
The " intermediate gain" antenna is a more recent sat-
com type. Operating in the Aero I service, it can operate
with voice, fax and data. It is simpler and lower in cost
than a high gain model because of stronger " spot beam"
transmission from lnmarsat-3 satellites.
oneywe
Voice is digitized and encrypted to keep communications
secure. Quality exceeds that of passenger telephone sys-
tems based on network of ground stations.
38
 lnmarsat Aero Services
Swift64 AeroC
Based on lnmarsat's Global Area Network (GAN) , The aeronautical version of the lnmarsat C low-rate data
Swift64 offers Mobile ISDN and IP-based Mobile Packet system, Aero C allows non-safety-related text or data
Data Service (MPDS) connectivity at a basic rate of 64 messages to be sent and received by general aviation
kbiUs to support high-quality voice, fax and data and military aircraft opera ting almost anywhere in the
communications for air transport, corporate and VIP and world. Aero C operates on a store-and-forward basis;
government users. messages are transmitted packet-by-packet, reas-
sembled and delivered in non-real-time.
Compact, lightweight Ae ro C equipment, with an an-
Aero H tenna similar in size to a VHF blade, can be installed in
The original lnmarsat voice and data service, Aero H corporate and general aviation aircraft and helicopters.
supports multichannel voice, fax and data communications Aero C supports:
at up to 9.6 kbiUs anywhere in the satell ites' global (hemi- Globally available two-way 600 bits/s data
spherical) beams for air transport, corporate and VIP and communications, messaging, polling and position-
government users. reporting for non-safety-related purposes
Interfaces with internationa l X.25 networks
· Integrated Global Positioning System (GPS)
Aero H+ capab ility through a common antenna.
An evolution of Aero H. When an Aero H+ equipped
Aero C aircraft equipment comprises an antenna, a
aircraft is operating within a high-power spotbeam from an
duplexer and a transceiver. The transceiver is connected
lnma rsat 1-3 sa tellite it can receive Aero H levels of service
to a flight deck data terminal or a laptop and , optionally,
at lower cost. Outside the spotbeams the termina l works to a printer.
with the global beam as if it were a standard Aero H sys-
tem.
Capable of handling messages up to 32,000 characters
long , Aero C is typically used for weath er and flight plan
Aero I updates, maintenance and fuel requests, in-flight position
Exploiting the spotbeam power of the lnmarsat 1-3 sat- reporting , and business communications.
ellites. Aero I brings multi -channel voice, fax and data at
up to 4.8 kbiUs to corporate aircraft, military transports and Aero C is based on store-and-forward technology.
regional airliners through smaller, cheaper terminals. Messages entered into the aircraft terminal are
subdivided into data packets and transmitted to the
ground ear th station, where they are reassembled into
Aero L the complete message and sent to the ultimate
Low-speed (600 bit/s) real-time data, main ly for air- addressee via the nationa l and international
line ATC, operational and administrative comm unica tions. telecommunications networks. The process is reversed
for messages to the aircraft.
mini-M Aero The packets are error-protected: if errors are detected,
Single-channel voice, fax and 2.4kbiUs data for small retransmission of the affected packages is requested.
corporate aircraft and general aviation. The complete messages are transmitted to destination
only after all error-free packets have been recompiled.

Four lnmarsat satellites are in geostationary orbits,

22,500 miles above the earth . Spread around the
globe, they all follow the line of the equator. Be-
cause one orbit equals one rotation of the earth,
they appear fixed in position . Each satellite has one
backup spare in orbit.
Early satellites produced "global" coverage,
spreading their power over the greatest area. The
present generation , lnmarsat-3, also broadcasts
"spot beams," whi ch concentrate power over a nar-
rower area. In the illustration, the spot beam of each
satellite is shown in blue.
Spot beams illuminate the busiest air traffic re-
gions and simplify equipment on the aircraft.

Ground Station Location

United Kingdom Norway
Singapore Australia
France Canada
USA (3) Japan

39
Review Questions
Chapter 5 Satcom

5.1 What are three advantages ofsatellite commu- 5.7 What is a "conformal" antenna?
nications?
5.8 What is the term "Space Segment"?
5.2 What is the name of the next generation air
traffic control system based on satellites? 5.9 After satellite messages are received at a Ground
Earth Station, how do they get to
5.3 How many lnmarsat satellites provide global their final destination'f
coverage, and where are
they located? 5.10 On what band does the aircraft send and re-
ceive satellite communications?
5.4 Name two types of stations used in satellite
communications. 5.11 What is the purpose of a Beam Steering Unit'?

5.5 Name one advantage and one disadvantage of 5.12 What is the typical location on the airplane for
a low gain satcom antenna. an eJectromechanically steered antenna?

5.6 What is an advantage and disadvantage of a 5.13 Why do communications satellites appear to
high gain satcom antenna? remain fixed in one position'?

40
Chapter 6
ACARS
Aircraft Communication Addressing
and Reporting System
Most aircraft communications fall into two cat- tactical infom1ation about when its flights take off, when
egories; ATC and AOC. The first, "Air Traffic Con- they arrive, whether maintenance w ill be needed, fuel
trol," is about safely separating a ircraft by providing re ma ining, di versions, crew hours a nd dozens of other
route and a ltitude clearances, radar tracking, weather items. Communications in this category arc AOC, "A ir-
advisories and other subjects dealing wi th airplanes in line Operational Control." Pi lots call it " company com-
the same airspace. ATC gro und stations are nearly a ll mu nications."
government-owned and operated. As a irplanes grew more numerous, airspace be-
A irlines are a lso a business. Each company needs cam e more congested a nd cruise speeds approached

ACARS in the Cockpit

PRESS TO
REPORT POSITION

~
1 0,02ENROUTE
<POSITION FLT LOG> I I
I I <ENGINE MSGS RCVD > I I
I I <DELAY REPORTS >
ACARS is shown I I
here as part of the
I I <DIVERSION REQUESTS>
multifunction dis- I I
play found in later
I I <SNAG MISC MENU > I I
aircraft with elec-
tronic instru-
I I · RE TUR~J o 1 3
ments (EFIS). To
1• 5 5
I I
make a position
report, the pi lot
presses a button.

Another type of ACARS control unit.

Most data is automatically collected
but pilot may also key in messages.
This controller is an early type; more
recent models are built into a flight
management system or multifunction
display shown above.

41
Mach 1, it was clear that a pi lot communicati ng wi th cause it operates on dig ital messages, it is one of the
both ATC and hi s company raised the workload to in- earliest fo rms of"datalink" in commercial aviation. Not
tole rable levels. ln 1978, a system called ACARS was only does it eliminate voice for routine messages, but
introduced to automate most compa ny messages . sends data automatically from sensors aboard the air-
Gro und and satellite networks that support ACARS are craft witho ut ass istance fro m the pi lot.
operated by organizations such as AR INC in N orth
America a nd S ITA in E urope. 0001. ACARS' fi rst job was au tomatically com-
municating to the airl ine company the time each fligh t
Meaning "A ircraft Communication Addressing and pushes back from the gate, takes off, lands and when it
Reporting System," ACARS is used by a irlines of a ll arri ves at the destination gate . Put those functions
sizes, corporate aircraft a nd government agencies. Be- together---Out, Off, On, I n---a nd they form the abbre-

ACARS Front-End
Processing System

ARINC
ACARS began with a network of ground stations (lower left) that communicate by
VHF radio to aircraft mainly in North America. Full coverage is at altitudes above
20,000 feet, with additional stations at about 300 airports for on-the-ground com-
munications.
More recently, ARINC extended ACARS worldwide by a satellite-based system
known as "GLOBALink" (upper right). This service requires satcom equipment
aboard the aircraft.

42
ACARS Messages
"OUT" "OFF" "ON" "IN"

.I
Preflight Takeoff and En Route Approach and Post-Landing
and Taxi Departure Landing and Taxi

From Aircraft From Aircraft From Aircraft From Aircraft From Aircraft
Crew Information 0001 Off Position Reports ETA Changes 00011n
Fuel Verification Destination ETA ETA Updates 0001 On Gate Coordination
Delay Reports Fuel Remaining Voice Request Final Maintenance
0001Out Special Requests Engine Parameters Status
Maintenance Reports Fuel Verification
Provisioning

To Aircraft To Aircraft To Aircraft

PDC Aero C ATIS Hazard Reports

ATIS ATC Oceanic Weather Advisories
Weight and Balance Clearance
Runway Analysis Weather
Flight Plan Ground Voice
Request (SELCAL)
Dispatch Release
Gate Assignment
Remote Maintenanc
Release
ARING
Many different messages are transmitted by AGARS datalink. The service is used by airline and corporate
aircraft in much of the world. Although most traffic is for airline company operations, AGARS also handles
air traffic clearances when government radio services are not available, su ch as oceanic regions.

ACARS Message Format

PREAMBLE r- ~---all"!'~....-------
BLOCK CHECK
, -

Up to 220 characters can be This sequence detects errors.

The preample contains the
transmitted in this block. They If the system is operating properly,
address of the aircraft (flight
contain report information it generates cha racters for
or tail number). If address is
(departure time, arrival, etc.) "ACK" (acknowledge) or
intended for another airplane,
which need only a few "NAK" (negative acknowlledge
the message is rejected.
The preample also synchronizes characters. How ever,
the cha racters transmitted. more characters are included
There is an "ackknowledgment for "free talk," sending and
character to indicate the message receiving longer
is being received. messages.
A label identifies the message and
how it will be routed. There are labels
departure , fuel, ETA, diversion and
about two dozen others.
Three building blocks of an AGARS message. Charac- At the receiving end, tones are decoded back into a
ters that make up the message are comprised of digital digital signal.
bits (ones and zeroes). They are, however, not transmit- This system will remain in operation until it is eventu-
ted digitally, but in analog form as two audio tones; 1200 ally replaced by all-digital AGARS signals and transmis-
and 2400 Hz. Transmission is through the aircraft VHF sion through satellites.
transceiver; downlinked or uplinked from a n AGARS
ground station.

43
 ACARS Message on Aircraft Take-Off

IN1234 QB 1 2804 RAL 5322

ADDRESS MESSAGE DOWNLINK MESSAGE AIRLINE &
(Tail number LABEL BLOCK SEQUENCE FLIGHT NO.
of airplane) "QB" means IDENTIFIER (Minutes and
"Off Time" seconds past
the hour)

viation OOOT (pronounced "Ooee"). About eight mil-

ACARS is expa nding to other services. It reports
lion such messages are sent every month via ACARS.
e ngine pe rformance to the ground whi le in flight, so
A pilot does not have to receive the large volume problems are recogn ized early, often before they've
of ACARS messages transmitted to other a ircraft. If a caused major damage. By us ing the data to show nor-
message is not intended for the airp la ne it is not se- mal performance, airlines obtain extended warrantees
lected. Each ACARS system aboard the aircraft ac- from engine manufac ture rs . Wea ther information
cepts only its unique address. uplinked to the cockpit via ACARS can be evaluated
while pilots are not in a high workload phase of flig ht.
A message that requires several minutes to send Over 60 applications, shown in the chart, are supported
by human vo ice moves through ACARS in milli sec- in the ACARS syste m.
onds. A position report, for example, is done with the
pu sh of a button ; the data is picked up from the
SITA
airplane's navigation sensor. Other messages may be
keyed in by the pilot. There a re two major organizations providing air-
gro und company conununications for the a ir transport
Not o nly does ACARS re duce congest ion in industry. One is ARlNC, which ma inly serves a ircraft
crowded com bands, but avoids the garble and error fl ying over North America. Similar services for Eu-
w hen two airp lanes transmit on the same frequency at rope are prov ided by SITA (Societe rnternationale de
the same time. ACARS avoids collisions with other Telecommunication s Aeronautiques). On the V HF
transmiss.ions and checks each message for accu racy. bands, the SITA ser vice is calledAIRCOM, which op-
erates th.roug h ground stations . Increasingly, ARlNC
Another benefit is that pilots can flig ht-plan in a and SlTA provide a full range of serv ices via sate II ite,
dispatch office but don 't have to wait fo r clearances to
rather than a network of ground stations on VHF and
come back from air traffic control. The information is HF bands.
sent to the cockpit via ACARS.

Text of an Actual ACARS Message

QF = "Wheels Off" A ircraft Tail N umber

ACARS Mode: 2 IAircraft reg: .N1234

Message label: QF Block id : 1 Msg. no: M63A
Flight Id: PA0978
Message Co ,tent:-1 IAD2241 LHR
I

I
Message: Off Wa s hing ton
Flight No.
Dul Jes (IAD) at 2241. Destina-
tion: London H eathrow (LHR)

44
ACARS Bands and Frequencies
VHF (Very High Frequency) HF (High Frequency)
GROUND STATION HF CHANNELS
REGION VHF CHANNELS
USA, Canada 129.125, 130.025, Shannon, Ireland 8843, 11 384
130.450 MHz Hot Yai , Thailand 5655, 13309
USA, Canada, Australia 131 .550 MHz (Primary) Islip, New York 2887, 5500 , 8846, 17946
USA 131.125 MHz Kahalelani , Hawaii 2878, 4654, 6538,21928
Japan. 131.450 MHz (Primary) Johannesburg, S.Africa 8834, 13321, 21949
Air Canada 131.475 MHz
Europe 131 .525, 136.900 MHz A sampling of frequencies and stations in the High
Europe 131 .725 (Primary) Frequency band used during long-range fl ights
over oceans and remote areas. Each ground sta-
These channels, at the upper end of the VHF band, tion has channels throughout the band in order to
carry AGARS messages to and from ground stations. select one according to changing radio propaga-
Channels shown in red are original AGARS frequen- tion conditions.
cies, which have expanded with increasing air traf-
fic.
New forms of transmission are multiplying the
number of messages that can be carried on a single
channel. Known as VDL---VHF datalink- it enables
one channel to carry up to 30 times more data than
the conventional AGARS.

Review Questions
Chapter 6 ACARS
6.5 How is an ACA RS message received only by
6.1 What is the meaning of the abbreviation "AC- the aircraft it's intended for?
ARS"'?
6.6 Wh at two bands carry ACARS services?
6.2 What type of communications occur on ACA RS?
6.7 What satellite-based system carries ACARS
6.3 Who operates ground and satellite services for services worldwide?
ACARS?

6.4 What is the mea ning of the ACARS message,

" 0001"?

45
Chapter 7

Selcal
Selective Calling

During oceanic flights, airc raft monitor a HF (high

freque ncy) radio for clearances from a ground control-
ler. Because HF reception is often no isy, and many
messages a re intended for other airplanes, a pi lot pre-
fe rs to turn clown the audio He will not mi ss calls
intended for him, however, because of Selcal---selec- CODE :.-- :::::::--1
tive call ing. T he ground controller sends a special code SELECTOR ~lr I
that sounds a chime or il lumina tes a light to warn the SWITCHES ~~
pi lot of an incoming message and to turn the volume
up. Because it's selective, Selca! " awa kens" only the
4
( ) 11 ~
HF receive r with the appropriate code.

Selcal decoder is an LRU (line replaceable unit) located

remotely in the airplane's electronic bay. The four-letter
Thi s Selcal controller, located on the instrument code assigned to that airplane is programmed manually
panel, monitors two radios simultaneously (VHF or by four thumb wheels (code selector switches).
HF). An incoming tone code lights a green lamp The four-letter code (EG-KL, for example) is drawn from
and sounds an aural warning (chime). The pilot the letters A through S (I, N and O are excluded).
turns up the audio volume on th e radio. Pressing Some aircraft have two decoders, one to receive Selcal
the RESET button arms the system to receive the tones for up to four radios (2 VHF and 2 HF). The same
next call. assigned letters, however, are entered into the decod-
e rs.

46
How Selcal Code is Generated
TONE FREQUENCY (HZ)
A 312.6
B 346.7
C 384.6
D 426.6 TONEA TONEC
E 473.2
F 524.8 TONEB TONED
G 582.1
H
J
K
645.7
716.1
794.3
- I
I
I
----
I
I
I
I
I
I
-
I
I
I
L I I I
881.0 I I I
I
I
M I 1 SECOND
977.2 I
I
I
I
I
1 SECON D I
I
p 1083.9 I I I I
0.2
Q 1202.3
SECOND
R 1333.5
s 1479.1

A Selcal code consists of four tones taken from the 16 interval the second pair is sent; C and D, or 384.6 and
audio frequencies shown at the left. In this example, the 426.6 Hz. (The technique is similar to touch-tone dialing
code is AB-CD. As seen in the diagram, they are sent in for telephones.) Because the tone signals are audio in
two pairs. A and B are mixed together (312.6 and 346.7 the voice range, they can be detected by a conventional
Hz) and transmitted for one second. After a .2-second VHF or HF communications transceiver.

Selcal Ground Network

ARING AIRLINE
CONTROL COMPANY
STATION

REMOTE GROUND
STATION

When Selcal must operate on VHF, where maximum pany. The link between stations is usually through tele-
range is about 200 miles, it is done through a network of phone lines.
remote ground stations. The airplane, always within Selcal over oceanic routes is done on HF, where range
range of some ground station, transmits and receives from airplane to ground may be several thousand miles.
Selcal messages through an ARINC control station (in The future of Selcal will be satcom; the airplane will
the U.S.). ARINC relays the message to the airline com- communicate with satellites for relay to the ground.

47
 VHF. Selca! also operates w ith VHF radios, used The code is entered into the flight plan so controllers
by a irc raft fl y ing w ithin a country or continent. Not can address it.
only docs Selca I reduce pilot workload, but extends the A lthough there are nearly I 0,000 possible four-
communication distance of VHF. Tf an airli ne com- letter codes, they are in short supp ly. The demand is so
pany in Denver, for example, wan ts to talk to one of its high that more than one a ircraft may be ass igned the
airp lanes in flight over Chicago, this is fa r beyond the same Selca! code. To avoid answering a call inte nded
ra nge of VHF. Instead, the message is sent through a for another airplane, identica l codes are assigned in
telephone line to a network of grou nd stations. A VHF widely separated parts of the world . T here is also an
ground station near the aircraft transmits to the airplane, attemp t to assign the same code to airplanes w ith dif-
and the pilot is s ignalled. He replies on VHF to the fere nt HF channel assignments.
ground station and the message reaches the a irline com- It is important to warn pilots that it's possible to
pany th rough the network. receive a Selca! a lert not intended for them. This can
Coding. Selca] is based audio tones, as shown in be corrected by the pilot by clearly identifying hi s fl ight
the illustration. Each airplane has a code of four letters to the ground station.
set into the Selca! decoding uni t aboa rd the airplane.

Selcal Airborne System

\I
ANTENNAS
REMOTE SELCAL
~

HF RADIO ELECTRONICS DECODER

UNIT SELCAL

\I
i--- CONTROL
PANEL
HF - I.._ RESET
AUDIO
~ ALERT LAMP

- ALERT
i-----. AUDIO
VHF RADIO
VHF
AUDIO -

I - CHIME
WAR NING
AUDIO ALERT

Block diagram of Selca! system. Signals are received An incoming signal with the correct code illuminates a
from ground stations through the aircraft HF and VHF green panel light in the Selcal Control Panel and sounds
transceiver. They are processed by the Remote Electron- a chime (aural alert).
ics Unit and sent to the Selca! decoder for delivery to the A single system is shown here, but many aircraft
pilot (on a screen or printer). have dual Selcal installations.

48
Review Questions
Chapter 7 Selcal

7.1 What does the contraction "Selcal" mean? 7.6 What precaution is necessary if a pilot receives
a Selca! intended for a different airplane?
7.2 Give two reasons why Selca! is used.
7.7 How is the problem reduced where two air-
7.3 How many tones are in a Selca] code? craft have the same Selca! code?

7.4 How many Selcal tone pairs are transmitted 7.8 How is the pilot warned of an incoming Selca!
simultaneously? message?

7.5 Cao two aircraft have the same Selca! code?

49
Chapter 8

ELT
Emergency Locator Transmitter

Two U.S . Cong ressme n were miss ing in an Alas- in the vicinity woul d monitor 12 1.5 (found on all VHF
kan snowstorm in 1972 and never heard from again. com radios) and repo1t a beacon signa l to a ground sta-
Searc h and rescue fo rces flew over 3000 hours looking tion . The new law required General Aviation air planes
fo r the downed airplane but fo und nothing. Even if the (Part 9 1) to be equipped with an E LT. For the airlines
congressmen surv ived the crash and called for help (Part 121) ELT's were required fo r extended fl ight over
the re was no assurance that a nyone was li stening or water a nd uninhabited a reas .
within radi o range.
Flaws in the system soon appeared. First, there
Congress responded with a law requiring aircraft was no gua rantee a di stress cal l would be heard by a
to carry a " beacon" to auto matically sense a crash and passing airpl ane or ground fac il ity. Wha t is more, the
send out e mergency signals on 121.5 MHz, the distress numbe r of fa lse alarms rose so high that only a few
frequency. The theory was that other airplanes fly ing pe rcent resulted from actual crashes. Despite an enor-

A beacon, like this Artex C-406-N,

sends three separate ELT signals
to the antenna through one coaxial
cable; a warbling tone on 121.5
and 243 MHz, and an encoded digi-
tal message on 406 MHz. Output
power on 406 is 5 watts, with a
lithium battery rated for 5 years.
Note the precaution about
mounting the ELT with respect to
the direction of flight, which as-
sures proper operation of the
crash sensor (a G-switch).
An ELT for a helicopter has a
different G-switch , which re -
sponds in six different directions.

50
rnou s waste of searc h and rescue resources, there was
Search and Rescue Satellites
agreement that the system should not be abando ned,
but improved.
C hanges came in the form of tighte r standards
and better design. The ELT industry also gained expe-
rience and learned that failure to activate during a crash
was often due to poor ELT insta llation , corroded inter-
nal parts, defective G-switches, faulty antennas and
cables and dead batteries .
In 1995 all ELT's unde r the original certification
(TSO C9 1) would be re placed by the next-generation
ELT (TSO 9 la). The regulations also tightened main-
tenance requirements; once a year, an ELI must be
in spected for proper installation, battery corros ion, op-
eration of controls and crash sensor, and suffic ient sig-
nal radiated from the antenna.
The U.S. satellite, SARSAT, is operated by NOAA
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
Cospas-Sarsat
tration). It is in polar orbit at an altitude of 528
While the new rules improved ELT hardware, the re miles, circling the earth once every 102 min-
was still the question; " Who's listening fo r distress sig- utes.
nals?" The answer arri ved w ith earth-circling satel- The Russian satellite, COSPAS, circles the
earth every 105 minutes at an altitude of 621
1ites. By li stening from orbit, satellites increase the
miles.
chance of intercepting an ELT distress signal. The US satellites' primary mission is observ-
ing weather and the environment, and is also
The satellite system, known as Cospas-Sarsat, equipped for receiving search and rescue sig-
consists of sate llites provided by the United States and nals.
Russia. "Cospas" is a Russian term meaning " Space COSPAS is part of the Russian spacecraft
System for Search of Vessels in Distress." These satel- navigation system, with the search and rescue
lites are primarily for the Russian navigation system, function added.
Payloads on both satellites (for search and
but with added instrume nts fo r search and rescue. They rescue) are provided by France and Canada.
operate on 12 1.5 MHz, the civi l aviation distress fre-
quency, and 243 MHz, the military equivalent. Ground Stations
U.S. satellites are "Sarsat," for "Searc h and Res-
c ue Sa te llite Aided Tracking." T he primary role is
weather survey, with searc h and rescue instrume nts
added on. As shown in the illustration, the satellites are
suppo1ted by a network of ground stations, miss ion con-
trol and rescue coordinatio n cente rs.
Location . 1n the era before sate llites, rescuers
fo und downed aircraft by radio-direction finding. Us-
ing an attac hme nt to a V HF radio and a di rectional an -
tenna, searchers " home in" on the E LT signal. There are ground stations over the world for
the search and rescue system. Known as "Lo-
Satellites use a different technology, the " Dop- cal User Terminals," they receive emergency
ple r shift." As a sate llite rises over the horizon toward transmissions picked up by satellites from
downed aircraft. Almost half the world is cov-
the c rash site, its forward speed "squeezes" the E LT ered for ELT's operating on 121.5 MHz; the en-
radio waves. Instead of receiv ing 121.5 MHz, the sat- tire globe is covered on the 406 MHz frequency.
ellite hears a slig htly hig her frequency. W he n the satel-
1ite moves away from the crash site, 12 1.5 appears to
stre tch o ut---produc ing a lower freq ue ncy. These
changes (Doppler shift) reveal the pos ition of the crash
afte r several satellite passes from different directions. 406 MHz ELT
Although Cospas-Sarsat so lved the monitoring prob- By the year 2000, more than 180 countries voted
lem , it actually increased the numbe r of fa lse alarms to end the 12 1.5/243 MHz generation of eme rgency
by its g lobal coverage . beacons. The cut-off date would be 2009. T he rep lace-

51
ELT Components

Artex
Major components of an ELT. The system broadcasts on three emergency frequen-
cies; 121.5 MHz, the original distress channel; 243 MHz, the military distress fre-
quency and the newer 406 MHz. When a crash activates a G-switch inside the ELT a
varying audio tone is broadcast (up to 50 hours) on 121.5 and 243.
The antennas are chosen according to speed of the aircraft; the rod is for greater
than 350 kt, the whip for slower aircraft.
Although the ELT activates automatically, it can also be turned on manually by the
pilot switch. If the ELT is activated accidentally on the ground, it sounds a buzzer to
alert the ground crew.
For the ultimate in accuracy, the ELT can broadcast latitude and longitude (on 406)
if this data is provided from the airplane's navigation system.
(Shown is the Artex G406-2.)

ment is 406 MHz, with numerous improvements to North and South poles.
reduce false alarms and raise location accuracy. (406
is operating now and can handle 121.5 and 243 MH z). Because Geosars arc stationary, they cannot find
beacons by the Doppler shift. They must receive a dis-
The 406 system is a mixture ofLeosar and Geosar tress message that contains the airplane's position . This
sate IIites. Leosar ("low earth orbit search and rescue") information is provided by a GPS receiver that is part
completely covers the globe and can "store and fo1ward" of the ELT or from an extern al GPS receiver on the
messages. The satel lite does not have to see both crash airplane.
site and ground station at the same time, but stores the
distress message, then rep lays it when a ground station The 406 system is fa r more capabl e than the first-
comes into view. generation ELT, which guided rescuers on.ly within about
15 miles of the crash site. They had to narrow the
Leosars, however, do not provide continuou s search with a homing receiver. The 406 brings rescu-
coverage; an airplane in distress must wait for the ers within I to 3 miles of the target using improved
satel lite to come into view. This gap filled by addi - Doppler shift detection . The most precise guidance is
tional satellites known as Geosars ("geosynchronous when the 406 MHz ELT is coupled with a GPS, where
orbit search and rescue" ). Parked 22,500 miles above accuracy becomes 300 feet or less.
the equator in geosynchronous orbit, they appear sta-
tionary and provide full earth coverage, except over The transmitting power of a 406 ELT is 5 watts,

52
 ve rsus one-tenth watt fo r 12 1.5. user of a 406 ELT must register (at no charge) with
Sarsat a uthorities, giving telep hone numbers and other
When an airpl ane crashes, the occupants' c hance
contact info rma tion. Each 406 ELT is issued a serial
of survival rapidly drops with the passage of time . Nev-
numbe r that is broadcast w ith the s ignal.
e rthe less, search and rescue fo rces do not respo nd to
the first alert from a 12 1.5 ELI. Because so few sig- Now when a distress call is received by search and
na ls are from actual crashes, rescuers face unneces- rescue, they make a te lepho ne search. T he pi lot may be
sary hazards. They do n't start the search until the alarm at home or work (unaware the ELT had a fa lse activa-
is ve rified . With the 406 syste m, however, they will tion). Searchers speak wit h an a irport ma nage r who
respond to the fi rst a lert, which saves an average of s ix checks the ramp for the airplane, or ma ke add itional
hours in reaching a crash site. phone cal Is to verify whether the a irpla ne actually made
the trip and is in distress. The reg istratio n program
Registration . Much of the benefit from 406 is
shoul d reduce fa lse alarm s by 70 percent.
fro m an ELT registration system . No longer w ill an
ELT broadcast anonymous ly, but tra nsmits its ide ntifi -
cation as a digital message on the radio signal. Each

406 MHz ELT System

ANTENNA
FOR
121 .5, 243,
406.028MHz

REMOTE SWITCH

OPTIONAL
MASTER
CAUTION
OUTPUT

DGND z
BDOUT 0
PROGRAMMING 1 - - - - - ----l t 5VDNGL !::;
w
MODULE 1 - - - - - - ~ DOCS Ell
1 - - - - - - ~ BDCLK BNC I - - ~ ~ ~ - - '
1--------1 BDIN

ARINC 429 - A
,__+-,~ ARINC 429 - B

Artex
The Programming Module (lower left) sets up the 406 signal from the airplane navigation system into the ELT.
ELT for its unique code; a 24-bit address or aircraft tail This transmits an accurate location of the downed air-
number. This is required of all 406 ELT's. At top center, craft.
the Horn sounds to warn the pilot of a false activation. At upper right, the single antenna radiates three ELT
The Remote switch controls the ELT from the cockpit. At frequencies through one cable; 121.5, 243 and 406 MHz.
the bottom center, the ARINC 429 connections bring a

53
ELT for Fleet O eration

DONGLE AND
TOP COVER

The 406 ELT is normally installed aboard

one airplane and programmed with a unique
address. Fleet operators, on the other hand,
want to move an ELT among their various air-
craft. This is possible with a model like the
Artex model shown here. Attached to the top
cover is a " dongle," a hardware key that au-
tomatically programs the ELT for that aircraft.
The dongle and top cover always remain with
the aircraft and the ELT i s removed when
needed elsewhere. Whenever an ELT is re-
turned the airplane, the dongle reprograms it
with the correct identificatio n (a 24-bit code).
BOTTOM
COVER

' TRANSMITTER ACTIVE'

ANNUNCIATOR LIGHT

Ell controls and connections

<(JT> 121.5 MHz OUTPUT

BNC CONNECTOR

406.025 MHz OUTPUT

TPS CONNECTOR

54
Cospas-Sarsat System

....- ~ .-,o
u•
-:-\
~-./--.--~--

-----
PEOPLE IN
DISTRESS USING
EMERGENCY
BEACON

There are two types of satellites in the COSPAS-SAR- cause the LEO moves rapidly across the sky and views
SAT system (see upper left). One is LEO, for low earth the distress aircraft from many different angles.
orbit. The other is GEO, for geostationary earth orbit. GEO's, on the other hand, are stationary over the equa-
Because LEO's circle over North and South poles, they tor to cover large areas of the earth. The advantage is
provide coverage in these regions. LEO's also are bet- that a GEO picks up a distress call almost immediately.
ter able to pick up signals when the distress aircraft is Thus, the two types---LEO and GEO work well together.
surrounded by trees and other obstructions. This is be-

~ COSPAS -SAR SA T 406 ELT Registration

~ PROOF OF REGISTRATIOM Unlike first-generation ELT's, it is important to register a
EXP. ORTE: 11/ 30/0 3 new 406 MHz ELT. This data is used by authorities to iden-
tify aircraft type, ownership, telephone number, home base
ADCD D25 7ABC 0401 and other information. It enables searchers to discover most
USi.: false alarms before taking off on a dangerous and costly res-
cue mission.

55
Review Questions
Chapter 8 ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter)
8.1 What three radio frequencies are sent out by
an ELT during a distress call?

8.2 Why must an ELT be mounted in line with the 8.6 What is the most accurate method for identify-
direction of flight? ing the location of an ELT signal, as used in the 406
MHz system?
8.3 Name the satellites that pick up and relay ELT
signals? 8.7 What is the main benefit of registering ELT's,
giving aircraft 10, and ownership?
8.4 Name one method satellites use to locate a
downed aircraft transmitting an ELT signal. 8.8 How accurately can searchers locate a 406 MHz
ELT coupled to a CPS source?
8.5 Where do satellites relay the location of downed
aircraft?
Chapter 9

VOR
VHF Omn idirectional Range

Nav igating by radio signals is one of the most

successful and re liable aviation syste ms ever de - VOR and DME Radiate from Same Station
ve loped . Every day many of the 2,000 fli ghts in
the U. S. alone fl y through clouds, darkness, ra in
and fog---reac hing the ir destination in greater
safety than driving a n automobile. Whe n an acci- TACAN ANTENNA
de nt happens, in vestigators almost never find that
a fa ul ty na vigational aid misled a pilot into a haz-
ardous situation.

Not long ago, radionavigation began its great-

est change in 75 years. " Navaids," as they' re called,
consist of thousands of ground stations emitting
guidance signals for at least eight avionics naviga-
ti on systems. In a tra nsiti on now in progress,
ground stations w ill be replaced by signals from
space, broa dcast by o rbitin g sa te llites. Th e
changeover w ill occur over the next 20-30 years, Vortac (VOR + Tacan) ground station. The VOR
antenna atop the shelter transmits the VOR sig-
with both ground-based and satellite navigation ex- nal. The Tacan antenna is a military navigation
isting side by side. The wo rld made a decis ion system which transmits the DME signal (distance
through the Inte rnatio na l Civil Aviation O rganiza- measuring equipment). Tacan means "Tactical Air
tion that future a ir na vigatio n w ill be "GNSS"--- Navigation." Only military aircraft use the azimuth
fo r Globa l Navigati on Sate llite System. To keep (directional information) from the Tacan station.
The "counterpoise" at the base is a grid of metal
a ir travel safe during the changeover, early ground that acts as an electrical ground to improve effi-
stati ons must rema in operatio nal over the long ciency of the signals.
tra ns itional period. Those years w il l a lso enable
airc raft ope rators to get full value out of the ir large
investment in today's avion.ics syste ms.

57
 VOR Covera e

60,000 FT ' - - --t.

45,000 FTF

18,000 FT

14,500 FT - - -

1000 FI- - - - 40NM

The service volume for a High Altitude (H) Vortac. Greatest range, where
good signal reception is assured, is 130 naut miles between 18,000 and
45,000 ft. These are flight levels flown by turbine-powered aircraft dur-
ing the en route phase. The three types of VOR are shown in the chart
bel ow.

VOR VOR / DME / TACAN

VOR is the s hort-range radionavigation system Service Volumes
for much of the world. When introduced in 1946, it
e limi nated interference problems of earlier systems. Ra- T (Terminal VOR)
From 1,000 feet above ground level (AGL) up to
dionavigation from 1920 to 1940 operated on low fre-
and including 12,000 feet AGL, at distances out
quenc ies, where e nergy from lig htning strokes arc re- to 25 NM .
ce ived over I 00 mi les away. Low frequenc ies are a lso
susceptible to other natura l and man-made sources. L (Low Altitude VOR)
Not unt il World War II could designers produce From 1,000 feet AGL up to and incl uding 18,000
an a irborne radio that operated at VHF (very high fre- feet AGL at distances out to 40 NM.
quency) where there is little e lectrica l interference. VOR
frequencies start just above the FM broadcast band a nd H (High Altitude VOR)
From 1,000 feet AGL up to and including 14,500
run from 108 to 117.950 MHz.
feet AGL at distances out to 40 NM. From 14,500
V HF is immune to other problems of lower fre- AGL up to and including 60,000 feet at distances
quencies. The waves travel in straight lines like light, out to 100 NM. From 18,000 feet AGL up to and
which is important for creating accurate courses . A including 45,000 feet AGL at distances to 130
well-designed YOR receiver can be accurate to within NM.
one compass degree.

58
 VOR Signal Has Two Navigation Components:
A "Reference" and "Variable" Phase

REFERENCE
PHASE

Each aircraft must receive two VOR signal components. One is the " reference phase, "
which is broadcast in all directions. This is picked up by all aircraft lying out in any
direction from the station. The reference signal is broadcast 30 times per second.

NORTH
9... 1 2

The VOR station also transmits a rotating beam that turns full circle. Be-
cause the beam is narrow It is intercepted only when the aircraft is aligned
with the beam, as shown at the right. This " variable phase" signal is com-
pared with the " reference phase" in the receiver.
As shown on the next page, the airborne receiver compares fixed
and variable phases to determine the number of compass degrees, or bear-
ing, from the station.

Short Range and Doglegs VOR Principles

VOR signals cover up to about 130 miles from the A VOR station sends out two separate signals. One
station. To travel from Los Angeles to New York, there- rotates Ii ke the na rrow beam of a lighthouse. Imagine
fo re, a pilot fli es to and from about a doze n VOR sitting on a beach at night, watching the beam go around ;
stations. ln contine ntal U.S. there about 1000 VOR sta- yo u see a brigh t flash onl y when the light points di-
tions on the gro und. Because stations may not lie in a rectly at you. At that mome nt, begin counting to see
strai ght line along the ro ute, the trip might have a how much time it takes for the beam to flash again.
"dogleg." Let 's say the beam takes l O seconds fo r one rotation,
or 360 degrees, and assume you ' re sitting no rth of the
RNAV. The de lay of fly ing a dogleg was of not lighthouse. Now you can convert the number of sec-
much concern when jet fuel was 17 cents a gallon, but onds into where the beam is aimed at any time. By
as wo rld pri ces rose in the l 970's a new type ofYOR counting fi ve seconds from the flash, fo r example, you
nav igation emerged. Called "RNAY," fo r "area naviga- know the beam moved half-way around--- 180 degrees-
tion," it could rece ive a VOR off the stra ight line course --and is aimed south.
and electronically move it on a desired course.

59
VOR Si nal Structure

REFERENCE NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST NORTH

PHASE
DEGREES ; 0 180 270 36 0
VOLTAGE
+

''
0 ',

1/30 SECOND ...

VARIABLE
PHASE :ao D~GR:ZES

VOLTAGE
.........
+

0
,'

By comparing reference an d variable phases, the VOR A VOR also transmits two additional signals for sta-
receiver determines a difference in degrees. This also tion identification. One is an audio tone keyed in Morse
becomes the magnetic bearing from the station. code, enabling the pilot to identify the station. The tone
In this example, the ref erence phase is at O (or 360) is 1020 Hz.
degrees. The airplane, south of the station, receives a The fourth signal is voice. Many VORs also broad-
v ariable phase signal of 180 degrees. The difference cast voice to announce the ID, and enable the pilot to
(360 - 180) is 180 d egrees, or south. listen to the voice of a flight service station (for weather
The reference signal always goes through its O de- and flight plans.) The pilot, however, never transmits
gree phase at th e instant the variable signal rotates his voice on a VOR frequency because this would in-
through magnetic north. This provides the correct ref- terfere with navigational signals. He transmits on an-
erence for comparing the two signals. other channel, and receives on the VOR frequency.

60
VOR Broadcasts Two Navigational Signals
30 Hz AMPLITUDE
MODULATION
REFERENCE PHASE
(VARIABLE PHASE)
(30 Hz AUDIO TONE

DECREASES
FREQUENCY

FM SUBCARRIER: 9960 HZ 30 Hz FREQUENCY MODULATION

(REFERENCE PHASE)

The two navigational signals from a VOR-Refer- The VOR signal as it appears in the receiver. Note
ence and Variable Phase-cannot be allowed to mix how the carrier rises and falls in strength (which is
during transmission. To keep them apart, the Reference AM, or amplitude modulation). This is caused by
Phase is placed on a " subcarrier." At a resting rotation of the VOR signal by the ground station,
frequency of 9960 Hz, the subcarrier is shifted up producing maximum signal (blue arrow) in the re-
and down in frequency by the Reference Phase 30 times ceiver when the beam is aimed directly at the air-
per second. The Reference Phase, therefore is transmit- plane.
ted by FM-Frequency Modulation. The same carrier is also undergoing FM modula-
As seen in the illustration, the subcarrier in- tion by the Reference Phase. The red arrow shows
creases in frequency as the Reference Phase goes the highest FM frequency of the subcarrier, which
maximum positive (upward) and decreases the subcar- always occurs when the Variable Phase moves
rier frequency when it goes full negative. through north.
The information about North occurs at the posi- The receiver measures the phase of both signals,
tive peak of the Reference Phase, shown by the makes a comparison, and indicates the difference
red arrow at the left. The subcarrier rises in fre- as a magnetic course from the VOR.
quency to 10,440 Hz. South is shown by the sec- In the example above, the airplane is north of the
ond red arrow, where the subcarrier lowers in fre- VOR. The Variable Phase is at a positive peak, while
the Reference Phase is at its highest frequency
quency to 9480 Hz.
(meaning north). Because the phase difference
between signals is 0, the airplane is directly north
of the VOR.
When describing VOR, it is convenient to vi-
sualize 360 " radials" spreading out from the sta-
tion like spokes of a wheel. In air traffic procedures,
a " radial " always moves outward from the VOR.

The VOR receiver needs one more piece of infor- rection at once. Al l aircraft within receiv ing ra nge of
mation; whe n to start counting. T his is the purpose of the VOR, no matter where they're located, will "see"
the second VOR s ignal (" refere nce phase"). When the that North-identifying beam. Now when they receive
first beam ("variable phase") moves around and po ints the rotating beam some time later, they can ca lculate a
to magneti c north, the second beam flashes in eve,y di- magnetic direction to the station.

61
VOR Receiver
VORANTENNA

CONTROL-DISPLAY
UNIT
FM
DEIECTOR
1
VOR PHASE
RECEIVER DETECTOR

PM
DETECTOR
t
ELECTRONIC FLIGHT
INSTRUMENTS
(EFIS)

An airborne VOR receiver. Signals (from 108 - 117 .95 which is broadcast in all directions. Each time the vari-
MHz) enter the VOR antenna and are applied to the re- able phase passes through north, the reference phase
ceiver. The receiver is tuned to a desired channel by is at O degrees. The phase detector compares their
the control-display unit. The FM and AM detectors pro- phase and the difference is the number of degrees, or
cess the two major signals transmitted by the VOR sta- bearing from the VOR station. This information is dis-
tion ; one on FM, the other on AM. The AM signals carry played to the pilot on a VOR pointer or deviation bar on
the " variable phase," the narrow beam which sweeps in other instruments.
a circle. The FM signal carries the " reference phase,"

62
VOR Navigation

w---- ---- ---- -------- ------- ---- -- ---- ---- ------ ----------------------------- --------- --------- E

In VOR navigation, the pilot selects a desired course, in There was early confusion over how to view the
this example North (0 or 360 degrees). The airplane is needle. Some pilots saw it as the airplane and
south of the VOR station so the To-From flag (at upper steered toward the center circle----which is incor-
left of display) indicates " To". rect. The industry determined that, regardless of
The airplane in the center is on course, so the needle the instrument, the pilot should always "fly toward
is centered. The needles in the other airplanes show the needle" to get back on course.
the direction to fly when the airplane is left or right of When each of the airplanes crosses the East-
course. West line, their To-From flags flip to " From."
These indications are not related to the heading of
the airplane, as in Automatic Direction Finding (ADF).

VOR indicator in a light aircraft. The

GLIDESLOPE
course deviation indicator (CDI) gives
left-right steering commands. Note
"To" and " FR," which indicate whether
the aircraft is flying to or from the sta-
tion. For this to be correct, the course
selected (shown here as 334 degrees)
must generally agree with the course
shown on a magnetic compass.
Th e VOR course is selected by the
OBS knob at lower left (Omni Bearing
Selector). The two white rectangles are
flags wh ich indicate if there is loss of
reception.
The horizontal indicator, separate
from the VOR system, is a glideslope
needle used for ILS (Instrument Land-
ing System).

63
 DESIRED
COURSE:
(20 Degrees)

SELECTED
RADIO
DEVIATION
BAR

All iedSignat
VOR information is displayed to the pilot on an HSI (Horizontal Situation Indicator) found
on large and high-performance aircraft. It gives a pictorial view of the airplane in relation
to the VOR ground station. Note that VOR information is shown in green, for example;
the pilot selected the No. 1 VOR receiver, shown at the left. He also adjusted the green
course pointer to 20 degrees on the compass card, which is the desired course to the
VOR station.
The airplane, however, is not yet on course to the station. This is shown by the green
deviation bar split off from the course pointer. By turning the airplane to the right, the
bar should move to the center and show the airplane on course to the station.

Radio Magnetic Indicator (RMI)

The RMI displays VOR and ADF

information, or any combination
of the two (VOR 1 and VOR 2 or
ADF 1 and ADF 2). Displayed
against a compass card, the
VOR needles simplify navigation by
always pointing in the direction
of the station (VOR or ADF).
In this illustration, the pilot
turned the lower right knob
(green arrow) to line up with
"VOR" on the display. Now the
green arrow will point to the sta-
tion. (The orange needle is se-
lected for ADF).
The more advanced Horizon-
tal Situation Indicator at the top
of the page has replaced many
RMl's in aircraft but RMl's are of-
ten found as a backup to the HSI.

64
 Nav Control-Display

TRANSFER BETWEEN
ACTIVE AND PRESELECT
FREQUENCIES 7-SEGMENT GAS
DISCHARGE DISPLAY

PHOTOCELL FOR
AUTOMATIC DIMMING
ACTIVE FREQUENCY

PRESELECT FREQUENCY

ACTIVE/PRESET
SWITCH

DIAGNOSTICS

RECEIVER AUDIO LEVEL

INDICATES DME IN
HOLD MODE

SWITCH PLACES DME

IN HOLD MODE
ALL DECIMALS IN LOWER DISPLAY
LIGHT'.T o ANNUNCIATE HELD FREQUENCY
POWER
·· '· ANNUNCIATES NAV
SELECTS LOCAL OR IN HOLD MODE
REMOTE TUNING

FREQUENCY SELECTOR

SELECTS NON-VOLATILE
SELECTS LOCAL MEMORY
OR REMOTE TUNING

Gables
A control-display for a VOR receiver (" Nav 1 " ). Note at the lower left, the " LCL-NORM "
switch , for local and remote tuning. The Remote position allows the radio to be tuned
automatica lly by a Flight Management System.

65
Review Questions
Chapter 9 VOR

9.1 What is the name of a combined VOR and Tacan 9. 7 What happens when the variable phase moves
navigational station ? through magnetic north (0 degrees)?

9.2 What problem of early radionavigation did VOR 9.8 How does the VOR receiver know its bearing
overcome? from the VOR station?

9.3 VOR waves travel _ _ __ 9.9 Besides fixed and variable phase signals, what
other information is broadcast by a VOR station?
9.4 Name the two major components ofa VOR sig-
nal 9.10 Why is it necessary to place the reference phase
signal on an FM subcarrier?
9.5 The reference phase broadcasts in what direc-
tion ? 9.11 What is the purpose of the course deviation
indicator (CDI) on a VOR receiver?
9.6 The variable phase rotates _ _ times per
second.

66
Chapter 10

ILS
Instrument Landing System

The ILS is respons ible for the ability of air Iiners of the touchdown zo ne. That guidance is also needed
and other aircraft to reac h the ir destination more than on bright sum mer days w hen an airpo1i is hidden in
95 percent of time in bad weather. The system improves haze.
safety to such a degree that most airlines will not oper- Anothe r benefit of lLS is that it provides a
ate into a irports without an LLS. ln the business world , "strai ght in" approach. As a irplanes become heavier
many corporations will not base their a irplanes at air- and faster, there is more danger in maneuveri ng c lose
po1ts without an I LS. to the ground at low ai rspeed . A 70-ton a irl iner cannot
The ILS isn't only for bad weather. While descend- nimbly bank and turn t hrough the right angles of an
ing into an airpo rt at night at a brightly lighted c ity, airpo rt traffic pattern. But flying the lLS, the a irplane
pilots see a " black hole" where the runway surface "stabilizes" on the approach 30 or 40 miles from the
should be. But a descent a long an TLS glidcslope c lears airpo1t and flies straight " down the s lot."
all obstacles and brings the airplan e safely within feet

An array of antennas launches the localizer signal near the end of an ILS runway. The
beams are pointed toward an airport runway at the right and reach out to about 50 miles.
67
ILS S stem

,,
L
/'
I

A three-dimensional path leads an airplane to the runway outer marker the airplane begins a descent on the
threshold at upper left. After intercepting the localizer glideslope. At the middle marker the pilot decides whether
(right), the airplane receives left-right guidance. At the there is sufficient visibility to land, or perform a missed
approach.

ILS Components ILS Categories

The JLS consists of more than a half-dozen sys- Because avio nics in the a irplane and gro und sta-
tems, both aboard the airplane and o n the gro und. Each tions must be equal to the ILS to be flow n, consider the
ILS fits in a category, depending how low the a irpl ane major di v isions. The categories are based on ce iling
may fly---known as " minimums" --- before seeing the and visibility at the airpo1i when the airplane arrives.
runway and deciding to land. Even a few dozen feet For ILS operations they are known as "Decision
have great impact on airline operations. Lf the ceiling, Height" (DH) and RVR (Runway Visua l Range).
for example, is 150 feet and TLS minimums require a Decision Heig ht. Whe n the a irp lane descends to
descent no lower tha n 200 feet, the airplane may have decision he ight (shown on an instrument approach chart)
to fly to a n a lternate airpo1i, dea l w ith hundreds of un- the pilot must decide whether to conti nue and land, de-
happy passengers, miss connecting flig hts and disrupt c lare a missed ap proach or go to an alternate airport.
schedules over the country. Simila r problems face the To continue the approach, he must be in a position to
overn ight express industry (Fed Ex,A irborne,etc.). B ut la nd (without excessive maneuvering) a nd see the ap-
with sufficient investment in avionics, training, mainte- proach Iights or other visual component on the su rface.
nance and ground facilities, airp la nes are unable to land RVR (Runway Visual Range). V isibility is usu-
at their destination only fo ur or five days a year! (Tn ally estimated by a weather observer and stated in miles.
the US, this usuall y happens whe n a low pressure area But the person may be more than m ile from where the
w ith c louds, fog and rain cover the East Coast. ai rcraft touches down, and visibility changes drasticall y

68
over short distances. To give the pilot an accurate Distance Measuring Equ ipment (DME) is required for
report, visibility is measured electronically where the lLS proced ures at some airports.
a irplane touches down. It 's done by a transm issom-
eter, wh ich sends a li ght beam between a tran smitter Category II. This TLS is insta lled at most inter-
and receiver. By measuring the loss of li ght (caused national and large metro politan ai rports. It brings deci-
by haze or fog), it provides an RVR in feet. This sion height down to I 00 feet and RVR to 1200 feet. In
infom1s the pilot whether the run way is be low land- add ition to avionics required for Cat. I, the airplane
ing minimums for visibility. Herc are the lLS catego- requi res a second local izer and glideslope receiver and
nes: radar altimeter.
The last TLS category is di vided into IIl a, band c.
Category I. By far the most common, there are Category Illa. Decision height drops to I 00 feet
app roximately 400 Cat. 1TLS airports in the U.S. The and RVR to 700 feet. Additional avion ics include an
minimum s are 200-foot decision height and RVR of autopilot.
2400 feet. Typica l equipment aboard the airplane to
do thi s approach is a localizer receiver, glideslope re- Category lllb. Decision height drops to 50 feet
ceiver, marker beacon receiver and automatic direc- and an RVR of 150 feet. A high ly capable autopilot is
tion finder (ADF) for receiving compass locators. required for thi s land ing, one that can automatically
How the runway is lighted affects minimums. flare (raise the nose of the airplane before touchdown)
Lower v isibility is a ll owed---an RVR of 1800 feet--- and decrab (straighten the airplane on the centerline).
ifthe runway has touchdown zone and centerline lights.

Airport Systems lnt"I

Besides avionics, an ILS requires an ap- (with lower minimums), two systems are added ;
proach lighting system. The pilot must be touchdown zone lights and the lighted center-
able to see the runway environment and make line. Note the " roll bars," which serve as an
a visual touchdown and roll-out. Visual ref- artificial horizon during the last few seconds be-
erences are supplied by approach lights and fore landing.
runway edge lights, a requirement for a Cat- Category Ille, the fully " blind" landing, is
egory I landing. where the pilot sees no lighting on the runway.
For the runway to support Category II ILS

69
Flight Inspection and Monitoring

Airport Systems Int

A flight inspection aircraft is over the runway checking which sound an alarm if accuracy is lost. In advanced
accuracy of localizer beams formed by the antennas be- ILS systems, a defective localizer transmitter is switched
low. The beams are also monitored by nearby receivers, off the air and a spare turned on.

The system is known as "autoland." to the runway centerline with an indicator that shows
Although a Cat. Jll b landing is done in dense fog, "fly right" or " fly left," unti l the needle is centered.
there is just enough remaining visibility ( 150 feet) to Forty channels in the VHF band are set aside for
roll out on the run way, then taxi to the term inal. localizers. Because they lie from I08. 1 - 111.95 MHz,
Category Ille. This is the fully "blind" landing. they fall within the tuning range of the VOR receiver.
Conditi ons are now "zero-zero" (for cei ling and vis- TLS, however, is only on odd-tenths of the frequency,
ibi lity, meaning no decision height and no RVR). Even for example; 108. l, 108.3, etc. Localizer signals, there-
the weather report looks unusual; it reads "WOXOF," fore, are processed through much of the VOR receiver,
symbols that mean; "ceiling indefinite, sky obscured, then spl it off to their own detectors. When the pilot
vi ibility zero in fog." On this day, it is sa id " Even the selects a localizer frequency, the receiver automatically
ducks are walking." configures for loca lizer processing.
But let's assume the autopi lot lands the airplane The localizer transmits an aud io lD for the pilot to
safely. Now the pilot has another problem; he cannot verify the correct station. There is a Morse code iden-
see to taxi to the terminal. tifier (which always begins with the letter " l").
As this is written, there are no Cat.Ill e airpo1ts in Glideslope. The glideslope provides vertical guid-
the U.S . The fully "blind" landing, however, is not far ance by sending beams at a typical angle of3 degrees
in the future. Enhanced and synthetic vision guide a (to match the glidepath of the approaching aircraft).
pilot without him seeing beyond the wi ndscreen. There are no pilot controls for the gl ideslopc re-
ceiver or audio 10. When a localizer is selected, the
ILS Components correct glideslope frequency is automatically channeled.
An ILS includes airborne and ground systems: There arc 40 gl ideslope frequencies, each paired with
Localizer. From an antenna array on the ground a localizer. Operati ng in the UHF band glides lope fre-
a localizer transmitter projects radio beams aligned with quencies extend from 329.15 MHz to 335 MHz. The
the centerline of the runway. The beams ex tend at least pilot knows the glideslope is operating by movements
18 mil es out and to an altitude of 4500 feet. (S ignals of the horizontal needle on the display or a no-signal
can be received much farther away, but arc not guar- warning from an indicator flag.
anteed for navigation.) In the cockpit, the pil ot is guided Marker beacon. Lying along an extended centerline
of the runway, marker beacons give the pilot visual and
70
 ILS: Two Audio Tones on a Carrier

FRONT COURSE BACK COURSE

90 HZ TONE

CENTERLINE

LOCALIZER
ANTENNA

150 HZ TONE

The localizer antenna focuses the radio carrier into are reversed; the pilots flies away from the needle to
two narrow lobes, shown here as blue and yellow. The get back on course (known as " reverse sensing"). Be-
yellow lobe is modulated with a 150 Hz tone; the blue cause this is confusing to the pilot, most localizer
lobe by a 90 Hz tone. If the airplane flies along the receivers have a back course switch (" BC")" to keep
center of the overlapping (green) area, the pilot sees a the same sensing as on the front course.
centered ILS pointer. Back courses are present at all localizers, but should
An ILS receiver does not measure the difference in never be flown unless there is a published proce-
strength of the two radio lobes. Rather, the receiver dure. Also, there is no glideslope with a back course
compares the difference in strength between the two approach.
audio tones. This is known as " DDM," for difference in Many localizer displays use the blue and yellow
depth of modulation. colors shown in the above illustration. The trend, how-
Many localizer antennas also launch signals off their ever, is not to use these colors on an instrument be-
back end (to the right in this illustration) and form a cause they don't provide useful information. The
" back course." This can be used for limited guidance, needle provides all the guidance.
but in simple localizer receivers, the needle indications

Localizer Indications

The localizer needle indicates " fly With the needle centered, the airplane The needle indicates " fly right" to
left" to intercept the centerline of is on an extended centerline of the get on the localizer course.
the localizer course. When tuned to runway. The same indicator is used The overall width of a localizer
a localizer frequency, the OBS for VOR navigation, but when a local- course is usually 5 degrees. Thus, a
(omnibearing selector) is disabled. izer frequency is selected, the needle needle deflecting full right or fu ll left
Most pilots, however, set it to the become four times more sensitive. indicates the airplane is 2.5 degrees
localizer course as a reminder. This This achieves the higher accuracy re- off the centerline.
example is Runway 36 (the same quired for an ILS approach.
as O or 360 degrees).

71
 Glideslope Guidance
TOO HIGH

RUNWAY TOO LOW

150 HZTONE

The glideslope is formed by a radio carrier aimed ceiver in the airplane receives equal signal (green
upward into the glidepath. The lobe seen in blue area) it is on the glideslope. Most glideslopes are
is modulated by a 90 Hz tone; the yellow lobe modu- designed for glide angle of 3 degrees.
lated by a 150 Hz tone. When the glideslo pe re-

G Iideslope Indications

Horizontal glideslope needle is be- Centered glideslope needle shows The high position of the horizontal
low center of instrument, command- the airplane is descending on the glideslope indicator is telling the pi-
ing pilo t to " fly down" to intercept correct vertical approach path to the lot to "fly up " to intercept th e
the g lideslope. runway. glidepath. This is a dangerous situ-
ation because the airplane is too
close to the ground.

audible cues on his distance to the airpo1t over the last 4 to station picked up by an ADF (automatic direction finder
7 miles. They are located to mark impmtant phases of the receiver) to guide the airplane, arriving fro m any direc-
approach, such as glides lope intercept, decision height and tion, to the outer marker. Its operation is described in
when to begin a missed approach. the chapter on ADF.
Compass Locator. Some lLS approaches have a
compass locator at the outer marker. This is a low power

72
 Glideslope Station

A glideslope antenna array, found alongside

runways with an ILS, radiates signals that
angle upward. When the airplane is about 5
miles away and 1000 feet above ground, the
pilot intercepts the glideslope beam and flies
it down toward the runway. Glideslope fre-
quencies, which lie between 328 and 336 MHz
are not selected by the pilot; they are auto-
matically tuned when he selects the local-
izer frequency for that ILS approach . The
glideslope receiver is " channeled " by the
localizer receiver.
Airport Sys tems lnt'I

Glideslope Receiver
ANTENNA

UP-DOWN
INDICATOR
90HZFILTER
GLIDESLOPE
AUDIO
RECEIVER
DETECTOR
329.15 - 335 MHz

150 HZ FILTER

LOCALIZER
RECEIVER

Up-down information is sent as two audio tones---90 ger and moves the needle above the center position----
and 150 Hz---which are recovered from the radio carrier telling the pilot to "fly down."
by the audio detector. Two filters separate the signals. An important part of the system is the warning flag. If
The difference between the signals is presented to a malfunction causes loss of signal, the needle returns
the up-down indicator. If the airplane is on the glideslope, to the center position. This could be dangerous because
equal amounts of 90 and 150 Hz are applied to the indica- the pilot might believe he is precisely on the glideslope.
tor, but out of phase (opposite polarity). The two tones This is avoided by the warning flag. It receives the sum
cancel each other and the needle remains centered. This of the two signals; if they are not sufficiently strong for
is correct for an airplane on the glideslope. If the air- navigation, the flag appears. The warning usually shows
plane rises higher, however, the 90 Hz signal grows stron- the letters " GS" or a barber pole symbol (red stripes).

73
 Marker Beacon Receiver
VISUAL
ANTENNA AUDIO TYPE
INDICATORS

400 HZ TONE,
TWO DASHES
OUTER
PER SECOND MARKER

1300 HZ TONE,
DOT-DASH
MIDDLE
95 TIMES PER MIN. MARKER

3000 HZ TONE. INNER

SIX DOTS PER
SECOND MARKER

The marker beacon receiver is fixed-tuned to 75 MHz, and middle (amber light). The Inner marker is for Cat-
the carrier frequency for all marker ground stations. The egory II systems, which are at few airports.
pilot identifies the marker by viewing the 3-light indica- On older aircraft, the white inner marker indicator may
tor (blue, amber and white) and listening for an identify- show the letter " A" instead of " I." "A " is for " airways,"
ing tone. once used for cross-country navigation , but no longer
The audio rises in pitch and sounds faster as the air- needed because of numerous VOR stations. Its position
plane passes each marker and is closer to the runway. is now occupied by the inner marker.
Most ILS's have only two markers; Outer (blue light)

Marker Beacon Ground Stations

INNER MIDDLE OUTER
MARKER MARKER MARKER

RUNWAY

0 1800 3500
4-7MILES
FT FT

The three ground stations--- inner, middle and outer mark- arriving at the middle marker, this is usually the decision
ers---broadcast on 75 MHz, but with different tone codes. height for a Category I landing.
Distances of the stations from the runway vary according Another function of the outer marker is to prevent the
to the airport location, but typical distances are shown in pilot from flying down a false glideslope. All glideslopes
the diagram. produce false signals above and below the correct one.
Markers broadcast very low power (about two watts) The pilot knows he is on the correct one by checking on
to keep their radiation close in and to limit their radiation the approach chart for correct altitude when marker tone
to a small area. During an ILS approach, the airplane and light are received.
intercepts the glideslope signal at the outer marker. When

74
Review Questions
Chapter 10 ILS
10.9 When a localizer frequency is selected on the
10.1 Name three markers along an ILS. VOR receiver, the indicator needle becomes
_ _ _times more sensitive than for VOR naviga-
10.2 How is RVR (Runway Visual Range) measured tion.
on an ILS runway?
10.10. The frequencies of the two audio tones that
10.3 Name the categories of ILS. provide up-down guidance on
a glideslope are and _ __
10.4 What component of an lLS provides an
extended centerline to the runway? 10. 11 The compass locator of an ILS is received on
the _ _ _ _ _
10.5 Name the ILS component that provides
vertical guidance to a runway. 10.12 How are glideslope receiver frequencies
selected?
10.6 How many channels are allocated to localizers?
10.13 What is the frequency for au marker
10.7 The localizer frequency is selected on the receivers?
receiver.

10.8 The frequencies of the two audio tones that

provide left-right guidance oa localizer are _ __
and _ _

75
Chapter 11

MLS
Microwave Landing System

Space Shuttle: Earl MLS User

For over a half-century, !LS proved the most

dependable system for landing airplanes in bad weather.
But by 1960 there were signs that lLS could not keep
up with a growing aviation industry.
Few channels. ILS has only 40 freque ncies in
the V HF band, with almost no chance for expansion.
There are simply not enough frequencies to satisfy
growth at large metropolitan and international airports.
Limited Capacity. An ILS serves one runway
with a single course. When weather is bad, en route
traffic headed for the lLS is strung out hundreds of
miles, forcing each airp lane to wai t its turn for the
approach.
I nterferencc. The rise of powerful FM broadcast One of the first users of MLS was the Space Shuttle or-
stations during the I980's further threatened lLS. The biter. Accuracy is important because approach and land-
ing are "deadstick"---there is no engine power for the
FM band ends at 108 MHz, just under the beginning of
300,000-pound "glider" to try a second time.
the ILS band. One early complaint came from an Air If necessary, the MLS system can perform an "auto-
Force pi lot flying an !LS and monitori ng the aud io ID; land," bringing the orbiter to touchdown and roll out on
" ! hear music" he reported to the controller. An FM the runway. The crew may also fly manually with refer-
radio program was breaking into hi s !LS receiver. As ence to instruments, guided by MLS signals. The ap-
proach begins at 18,000 feet and 10 miles from touch-
more FM stations went on the air, it forced major de-
down.
sign changes in lLS receivers to harden them against The orbiter carries three independent MLS receivers
intcrfercnce. whose output is continuously compared and averaged.
Terra in Problems. Instal ling an ILS at an airport Distance to the runway is provided by precision-DME
is not simple. For ground antennas to function, they near the touchdown point.
MLS allows the orbiter to land in either direction on
need a wide area clear of obstructions. lLS signals re-
the runway.
fl ect and cause "multipath" error. (It's been said the
cost of moving earth for JLS construction can cost more
than the !LS equipment itself. ) Some ai rpo11s in moun-

76
MLS Azimuth Beam Sweeps Wide Area

EXTENDED RUNWAY
CENTERLINE '

SCANNING BEAM

'TOAND FRO"

A narrow scanning beam from the

MLS station sweeps back and forth
beyond either side of the runway. An
arriving aircraft picks up the sweeps
---"To" and a "Fro"--- and determines
the time difference between them.
From this information, the centerline
of the runway is computed.
The approach to the runway does
not have to be straight in. If the MLS
receiver has flight management capa-
MLS GROUND - - bility, a curved path may be computed
STATION lr r .l and flown according to MLS guidance.
(AZIMUTH ) U- - ·-

tai nous regions can never have an fL S, wh ich limits Transmitting MLS Azimuth Signal
emergency medica l ai rcratt, flights into ski resorts a nd
other services. lLS cannot create the steep descent
angles needed by a helicopter landing inside a city.
Military Operations. During the I 950's mil itary
services soug ht a new instrument approach system to
fill their specia l needs. For tactical reasons, they relo-
cate to new areas, clear the gro und for a run way and
qui ckly begin a i.r operations. Air traffic must operate
in a nd out of these remote fields under all weather and
li ghting conditions. Tt called fo r a new landing syste m
that wo uld fit in few portable cases, be flown in, set
up, ready to land airplanes in about l 5 minutes---a nd
do it in a ll weather.
!LS fe ll fa r short of the goal. [ts half-century-old
teclu1ology required acres of ope n land a nd much s ig-
nal tweak ing to get the courses con-ect. TLS was also
unsuitable fo r landing airpla nes on aircraft carriers. w 11cox
Respond ing to military requirements, the avionics in- One of two major components of MLS is a ground
dust1y ca me up with MLS, the Microwave L anding station that transmits the "azimuth" signal. This is
System. similar to the localizer of an ILS, but MLS sweeps a
Shorter Waves. T he first benefit of MLS arises wide area beyond left and right sides of the runway.
This provides many inbound courses to the runway.
from its wavelength. TLS frequenc ies have fu ll wave-
The station is about 400 feet beyond the far (or
le ngths of about 8 feet. Much hi gher in the microwave stop) end of the runway, as seen by an arriving air-
region , signals a re o nl y 2.5 inches long (full wave- craft. The airplane on the runway is flight inspecting
le ngth). Not only are microwave antennas smalle r, to check accuracy of the MLS signal.
they are easier to fo rm into a naITow beam and steered The white tower at the left is a field monitor. From
its position between the station and runway, the moni-
electronically.
tor continuously samples the MLS signal and warns
As shown in the illustrations, th e operating prin- of a malfunction.

77
MLS Elevation Beam Scans Vertical!
30 DEGREES (ELEVATION )

MLS STATION
(ELEVATION)

RUNWAY

Scanning up and down, the MLS elevation beam is s1m1- ter, on the other hand, may choose a steeper glidepath in
lar to an ILS glideslope. MLS, however, sweeps a greater order to land on a rooftop in a city.
area, creating many selectable glidepath angles. The The MLS elevation station is located alongside the run-
arriving aircraft seen here chose a 3-degree glideslope, a way, near where aircraft touch down (about 400 feet from
typical approach angle for fixed-wing aircraft. A helicop- the approach end}.

c iple is s imple. The MLS station beams a signal that

swings back and fo rth. A n airpla ne receives the beam
as the signal travels in the "To" di rection, then agai n
whe n the beam returns in the " Fro" direction. By mea-
suring the time in between, the receiver calculates where ·- ~1- ·
the airpla ne is located with respect to the centerli ne of
the run way. This is the "azimuth" function of MLS
and is equi vale nt to the loca li zer of a n ILS.
The same technique obtains the g lideslope. Herc,
the MLS beams a s ignal up and down the approac h
path, and the receiver calcul ates a ve1tical g lideslope.
Curved Approaches. Unl ike ILS, the MLS sig-
nal provides three-dimensional nav igatio n and new
types of approaches. Those dimensions are e levation
(glideslope), azimuth (localizer) and range, or distance,
The MLS elevation antenna is near the touchdown zone
from the runway w ith precision DME. These dime n- of the runway. Also located here is P-DME, precision
sions are available over a wide volume, enabling the distance measuring equipment that accompanies an MLS
aircra ft to arri ve fro m many directions. It also pro- installation. P-DME provides range to touch down and
vides all the data required for an on board computer to is ten times more accurate than conventional DME.
create a curved or segmented (stepped) approach, which Another advantage of MLS is a pilot-selectable glides-
lope. A pilot may choose the glidepath to match his
increases traffic capacity at an airport. airplane performance.
More Channels. In the microwave region, 200 The pilot is protected against selecting a glidepath
channels were set aside by internatio nal agreeme nt fo r that could lead to a collision with a mountain. Part of the
MLS---w hich is fi ve times as many as the 40 assigned transmitted signal contains a d igital message which
to JLS. Re li ef from growing frequency congestio n prevents the receiver from following a dangerous path.
seemed at ha nd. Mic rowaves, too, are removed fro m
interfe re nce of megawatt FM broadcast stations.
78
 MLS Time Reference
s :..__ TIME DIFFERENCE ~ :
I
I I
G
N
A
L

s
T
R "TO" "FRO"
E
N
G
T
H

MLS signals arriving at the airplane produce two peaks as the beam
sweeps back and forth over the receiver antenna. The centerline of the
runway is determined by computing the elapsed time between the pulses.
This method is used for both azimuth (AZ, or runway direction) and EL
(elevation or glidepath).
The receiver knows whether it's receiving AZ or EL because each
pulse is preceded by a short identification known as a "preamble."
The azimuth signal sweeps at the rate of 13.5 scans per second. The
elevation signal scans 40.5 times per second.
Why the difference? A loaded Boeing-747 weighs 400 tons. If it lands
six feet left or right of the runway centerline, it's probably not serious.
But if the airplane flares 10 feet too high, the airplane may stop flying
and drops to the runway for a hard landing. To avoid that, MLS updates
the elevation (glidepath) signal three times faster than the azimuth for
greater accuracy.
Preparing the Site. Microwave signal s are less rendez-vous troops in the field---that is, troops fi nding
affected by te rrain and nearby bu ildings. MLS ground each othe r in unfamiliar territory. The researchers en-
stations do not need a la rge loca li zer array or tower for visioned a device to pick up satell ite signa ls and pro-
glides lope ante nnas . In one demo nstratio n, a manu fac- vide g uidance to down to 30 meters or better.
tu rer loaded an MLS syste m a board an airpla ne and An important requirement was the receive r. It had
fl ew it to a n airport several thousand mi les away. O n to be lightweight, inexpensive and accurate. ln a sys-
arriva l, the station was e rected and instrument landing te m ca lled Navstar (Navigation with Timing and Rang-
de monstrations fo llowed almost immediately. ing), they achi eved those goals only today it's called
World Standard. That demonstration happened GPS , the G lobal Positionjng System.
when the aviation wo rld was dec iding which of several MLS Survives. As GPS proved its value, avia-
MLS systems to approve as the international sta ndard. tion authorities dropped plans to replace l LS with MLS.
The win ner was TRSB, fo r "time referenced scanning Airline operators fly ing into congested airports, how-
beam, " using the To and Fro method described earlier. ever, couldn 't wa it for a changeover to GPS, which
MLS was hailed as the replacement for lLS. Op- could take ten years. As a result, MLS has e njoyed a
timism ran high a nd, in 1978, the International C ivil limited revival, with installations in Europe, w here
Aviation O rganization adopted M LS as the new world high-volume traffic operates into international airports.
standard. [LS would be phased out after a transition There are MLS systems in the United Kingdom, Hol-
period. land, Gennany and France . Other countries in or near
Enthusiasm for MLS was so great that states E urope are also planning to purchase MLS. On the
like M ichigan and Alaska did not wait for th e govern- military side, MLS continues to prove its wo,t h as a
ment to insta ll MLS at local airports and bought their tactical landing aid.
own. A town in Colorado p urchased an MLS as the Maltimode Receiver. Because airlines outs ide
on ly practical syste m to fl y in skiers during bad Europe must be equipped to land at any inte rnational
weather. MLS wo uld be the answer to precision ap- airport, a new type of av ionics appeared. Tt's the MMR,
proaches almost anywhere. At the same time, a new for "Multirnode Receiver." l t's a single radio that op-
syste m appea red that changed the future of avionics. erates on ILS, MLS and GLS (for G PS Landing Sys-
Satnav. Whi le the world awaited fina l approva l of tem). Once the radio is tuned to one of these services,
MLS, the US Department of Defense was examining the pilot sees the same g uida nce on the instrument
a navigation system that had nothing to do with air- panel.
p lanes . The Dep artment was seek ing a method to

79
Review Questions
Chapter 11 MLS
11.1 What were reasons for approving the Micro- the centerline of a runway?
wave Landing System?
11.5 Why are there so few MLS installations at air-
l 1.2 MLS creates inbound courses to runways by a ports?
scanning beam which moves . This is
called the signal. 11.6 What type of receiver can use I LS, MLS and
GPS signals?
11.3 Glidepaths are creating by a scanning beam
which moves _ __
This is called the signal.

11.4 How does an MLS scannin g beam determine

80
Chapter 12

ADF
Automatic Direction Finder

The Automatic Direction Finder is one of the few

a ir nav igation syste ms that still operates in the low end ADF on Fixed Compass Card
of the radio freq uency spectrum . The gro und station,
known as an NOB (non-directional radiobeacon) trans-
mits fro m 190 to 1750 kHz, whi ch spans the Low and
Medium Frequency Bands. Despite ma ny shortcomings,
ADF is still an important component in instrument op-
erations and will not soon be taken off the a ir.

AD F was a great step fo rwa rd w hen Bill Lear

(known fo r the LearJet) ma nu factured the fi rst a uto-
matic di rection fi nders during World Warn . Before that
time, a pilot or navigator turned an antenna loop by
hand to find a bearing between the a irp lane and ground
station. Jt's the same effect you hear on a portabl e AM
radio; if the radi o is rotated, the re is a point where the
station fades. You a lso notice that during one full
The simplest display is a fixed
rotation, there are two directions where the signal fades-
compass card and ADF pointer.
--whic h are op posite each other. The reason is, a n To fly to the station, the pilot
ante nna loo p can onl y indicate a line of position; it turns right and brings the pointer
cannot te ll on w hic h side of the station the air pla ne is straight up. The fixed compass
located. T hi s is known as an "ambigui ty" and must be card is of limited value, only tell-
ing the pilot the relative (not ac-
e liminated in orde r to fl y toward the station.
tual) bearing to the station .
Early navigators solved ambigui ty by draw ing lines
of position from two diffe rent stations a nd fixi ng their
position where the lines intersect. These systems, known

81
 Radio Magnetic Indicator

A major improvement is the RMI, for

Radio Magnetic Indicator. The com-
pass card is coupled to a heading
reference (such as a horizontal
gyro), so the top of the card is al-
ways the actual heading of the air-
plane.
The RMI has two pointers, en-
abling the pilot to select any combi-
nation of VOR and ADF stations. In
this illustration, selected are: yellow
pointer for ADF, green pointer for
VOR.

AnalogADF
as MDF (manual direction finder) or RDF (radio direc-
tion finder) were crude and ti me-consum ing fo r obtain- ADF POINTER BAND SELECTOR
ing pos ition fixes.

Lear's desig n made di rection-finding automatic

by recognizing that a radio wave consists of two com-
ponents; a n electric and magnetic wave. Rad io waves,
in fact, are known as "electromagn etic" ene rgy. Be-
fore Lear, di rection finders worked only on the mag- UNING
netic po1iion o f the wave, which is picked up by a loop-
shaped a ntenna. l fthe loop is held w ith its w ide, or COMPASS
open, side toward the station, the waves hit left and CARD
right sides equa lly. Thi s generates li ttle signa l in the
antenna because equal voltages occur on both the sides
of the loop. There is no vo ltage difference, which is Early analog ADF receivers are still aboard many aircraft.
The major items on the panel
required to drive signal c urre nt down to the receiver.
ADF Pointer: When a station is tuned, the indicator
W he n the loop faces this way, its low-signal condition points directly to the station, regardless of aircraft head-
is known as a " nu ll." ing or flight path.
Compass Card: In this simple radio, the compass card
Next, turn the loop so o ne edge faces the station. does not move unless turned by the pilot.
Band Selector: Most aviation beacons are in the fi rst
Now the signal fi rst strikes the forwa rd part of the loop,
band (190 - 430 kHz), and some fall in the second band
then hits the back part. This ca uses a voltage differ- (420 • 850 kHz). Most of the second band is for standard
ence in the loop and c urrent flows to the receiver. Th is AM broadcast , which also occupies most of the third band
cond ition (high signal strength) is called the " peak." (840 • 1750 kHz).
The ADF receiver navigates on both aviation stations
(Non-Dlrectional Radio Beacons) and AM broadcast sta-
The reason for the vo ltage d ifference is that a ra- tions.
dio wave is rapidly c hanging, or alternating. In the Mode Selector. When the pointer is on REC (receive),
distance between front and back parts of the loop, the the radio uses only the ADF sense antenna, and the radio
wave moves through a d iffe rent p hase of its cycle, re- acts as a conventional AM receiver. When placed on ADF,
su lti ng in unequal vo ltages in the loop. the receiver uses both sense and ADF loop antennas and
o perates as an automatic direction finder.
Signal Strength. As the pilot selects a station with the
Sense Tune knob, the meter helps find the strongest sign al.
The a bility of a di rection-finding receiver to know Test Button. To determine if the ADF pointer is not
jammed or inoperative, the button is pressed . The test
wh ic h side of the stat ion it's on uses the electric por-
causes the pointer to swing at least 90 degrees and re-
tion of the wave. To pick it up, a second anten na, called turn when t he button is released.
the "sense" ante nna is added to the receiver. Unlike a
loop, it picks the electri c portion of the signal from all

82
ADF System
LOOP ANTENNA

ELECTRONIC
FLIGHT INSTRUMENT
{EFIS)

QUADRANTAL
ERROR GONIOMETER
CORRECTOR
SENSE
ANTENNA EFIS
ADF BEARING SYMBOL
RECEIVER GENERATOR

SENSE
COUPLER

AUDIO
OUTPUT

The Loop Antenna is highly directional, but metal areas The sense system eliminates the incorrect direction.
on the airplane distort its pattern . This is corrected by Bearing-to-station information developed by the re-
adjusting the Quadrantal Error Corrector. ceiver is fed to an EFIS symbol generator. This creates
The Goniometer captures the incoming signal and pro- the symbol of an ADF pointer on the electronic display.
duces angle information which is fed to the ADF Receiver. Bearing information may also be applied to a Remote
Also feeding the receiver is a Sense antenna. It is not Magneti c Indicator (RMI), an older, electromechanical in-
directional, but mixes with the Loop Signal to remove strument.
the "ambiguity." Otherwise, the loop would indicate only Audio from the beacon station (voi ce, Morse Identi-
a line of position that could run to or from the station. fier) is sent to the aircraft's audio panel.

directions. By combining loop and sense signals in the the speed of jct aircraft. The sense antenna on an air-
receiver, the correct direction of the loop signal is liner is often part of a plastic fa iring near the wi ng
selected and the indicator points toward the station. root. T he fairing is covered w ith a thin coat of meta l to
The recei ve r uses the nu ll portion of the loop sig- form the sense ante nna.
nal, not the peak, because it produces a sha rper, mo re
accurate d irectional indicatio n. NDB Station
Lear's first A DF's automatically turned the loop There are several classes of ground station for non-
to home in on a station, but requ ired motors and me- directional rad io beacons (N DB), mainly depend ing on
c hanical compo nents. Today, the a ntenna is made of broadcast power The lowest wattage NDB is part of
" crossed loops," two co ils on ferrite cores placed at the Instrument Landing System (lLS) where it is known
right angles to each oth er. T hey feed their signals to a as a "compass locator." lt guides the pilot to the outer
goniomete1: a dev ice which compares them and pro- ma rker or fi na l approac h fi x at about 30 mil es from
duces bea ring info rmation. The loops·now remain sta- the airport. For cross-countty flight, N DB stations gen-
tionary and have no moving pa rts. Instead of a large erate I 00-400 watts and reach out 50- 100 miles. When
circle of wire inside a dome, today's sma ll loop ante n- an NDB is located near a coast, power may rise over
nas barely protrude from the surface of the airplane. I 000 watts to prov ide long-range guidance over water
The sense anten na began as a long wire strung for several hundred miles. One N DB on Bimini ls land
above the fuselage, a system that would ha rdly work at near Florida, fo r example, covers most of the Caribbean.

83
ADF Control-Display: Airline

LIGHT SHOWS TONE(BFO)

ACTIVE FREQUENCY

A
D
F

FREQUENCY MODE FREQUENCY

SELECT SELECT SELECT

The ADF display has two sides; for active and The " Tone" switch near the center is the same
stored frequencies. The indicator light (above as the "BFO" {beat frequency oscillator) on
left) illuminates to show which side is active. other ADF displays and serves the same pur-
A transfer switch provides an instant pose; to make the ID audible on stations that
changeover. don't transmit audio tones.

ADF Receiver: INDICATOR --rcI: ~@

Airline LRU
TEST ~ 0
The remotely located ADF re- SWITCH
ceiver has a test function that FOR
checks for correct movement INDICATOR
of an ADF indicator.

TO TO
SENSE LOOP
ANTENNA ANTENNA
84
 NDB stations transmit the ir ide ntification in Morse ADF Limitations
code (two or three letters) by modulating the radio car- Electrical Jnterference. Operating on low and me-
ri er with a n aud io tone. Some high-p ower NDBs carry dium frequencies subjects the A DF receive r to natural
continuous aviation weathe r re ports by voice. There and man-made interference. lt is also susceptible to
may be N DBs in remote areas w ith no audible tone fo r noise from rotating machinery aboard the a ircraft, such
identifica ti on. Instead, they key the canier on and off as a lternators, generato rs and magnetos. Several tech-
to fo rm Morse code. ADF receivers have a c ircuit (BFO, niques are needed to suppress it, such as shielded cables,
fo r beat frequency oscillator) to generate audio fo r these filters, bypass capacitors and gro unding, as described
stations. in the chapte r on troub leshooting.
N atura l sources of interference include lightning,
Broadcast Stations which can occur hundreds of mi les away. If the air-
B ecause an ADF receiver can tune the standa rd c ra ft moves through prec ipitation, the re is a bui ld-up
AM broadcast band (530 - 1700 kHz) it can also home a nd discharge of energy that produces buzzing in the
in on those station s. The s ig nals may not serve as air- receiver.
ways in instrument operati ons and not be de pended on Some pilots say an ADF needle po ints in the d irec-
for navigation. AM stations are diffic ult to identify tion of li ghtning, and this is usefu l fo r avoiding thun-
because they announce the ir call le tters at w ide inter- derstorms. The Stormscope, in fact, is an instr umen t
va ls. Also, many AM stations shut down at sunset. that ope rates o n that principle. Using a conventional

Digital ADF

BFO:
BEAT FREQUUENCY
OSCILLATOR

King
A panel-mounted digital ADF receiver. With the digital
display, tuning is fast and precise. Note the BFO (Beat
Frequency Oscillator). This is used for two reasons. Most
NDB (non-directional beacon) ground stations broadcast
an audio identifier for the pilot to verify he has tuned the
correct station. This is known as "MCW," for modulated
continuous wave. Some stations in remote areas, have
no audio, and apply the identifier by keying the radio car-
rier (the operating frequency). To convert this to audio,
the pilot switches on the BFO, which "beats" against the
incoming carrier. This produces an audible tone, caused
when the BFO and incoming frequency " beat" against
each other, producing a difference frequency which is the
audio tone. The pilot hears this as Morse Code.
Another use for the BFO is to locate very weak NDB
stations. The BFO produces an audible tone that makes
the carrier easier to find. This is most useful for older
analog ADF receivers which are more difficult to tune than
digital receivers.

85
A DF, however, is dangerous because the needle and tion. But on the a irplane, loops a re affected by en-
its dri ve cannot swing rapidl y and change direction, g ines, w ings, fu selage and other masses of metal that
making it a poor indication of storms. lie unequally around the loop. They di stor t the receiv-
Night Effect. Lower bands " skip" great distances ing patte rn by "quadrantal error." To reduce that ef-
at night through the ionosphere a nd bring in distant sta- fect, ADF receive rs have a quadrantal error corrector,
tions . This causes the A DF needl e to wa nder, and ac- a device whi ch usua ll y mounts atop the loop antenna.
c uracy is poor if signa Is are wea k. The loop signal fi rst passes through the qu adra nta l er-
Skipping is mostly a problem at night. Radio waves ror corrector before proceeding down the tra nsmission
are bent at a sha llow ang le during the day, whe n the line to the rece iver.
ionosphere reaches down to a low a ltitude. The re- Loop Swing. A ma intenance procedure to reduce
flected wave in daytime never returns to earth and is quadrantal e rror is the "loop swing." The ADF is tu ned
lost to space . With the setting sun, the ionosphere thins to a station and bearings recorded as the a irplane is
out (a nd appears to rise), causing radio waves to re- rotated through a number o f compass degrees, using a
flect back to earth---a nd cause interfe rence . Thus the magnetic compass as a reference. A cha1i is made show-
te rm "night effect." ing each magnetic heading, the bearing shown on the
Coastal Effect. Muc h of the signa l from an NOB ADF and the error between the m. D epe nding on the
station travels by ground wave, hugging the surface of type and s ize of aircra ft, this is done on the ground or
the earth. Whe n the signa l crosses between water and while in fli ght. When the data is completed, the inaccu-
land, however, it is slightly bent, w hich decreases ADF racies are compensated by the quadrantal error correc-
acc uracy. "Coastal effect" is most pronounced when tor, fo llowing the manufacture r's instructions.
the airplane is tracking at a sma ll angle w ith respect to
the coast (as opposed to moving directl y from water to
shore).
Attitude Error. The bearing to an NDB station is
measured w ith respect to the nose o f the airplane. To
keep the bearin g accurate, the AD F antenna is installed
a long a fo re and aft line of the a irpla ne. This prov ides
good accuracy when the airpla ne flies stra ight and level.
But during a turn, when w ings are ba nked, the loop
antenna is no longer a lig ne d w ith the directio n flight
and accuracy su ffers . This is not pro bl em so long as
the pilot is aware, and doesn 't calculate his bearing to
the stati on while i_n a tum.
Quadrantal Error. A loop antenna in free space
wo rks equally well on signa ls a rri ving from any direc-

ADF is presented on various instruments.

Shown here is the navigation display of an air- ADF 1
line-type electronic flight instrument (EFIS) sys- ADF2
tem. The pilot selected two pointers, one for
each of the ADF receivers. (VOR information
may also be selected for these pointers.)
The two "20" marks along the vertical line
show the scale of the display; they indicate 20
miles above and below the airplane symbol (a
triangle at the center).
In some aircraft, the ADF is shown on an
electromechanical RMI (Radio Magnetic Indi-
cator). The RMI has a 360-degree compass card
and two pointers.

86
Review Questions
Chapter 12 ADF

12.1 On what bands does ADF operate? 12. 7 What is " quadrantal error."

12.2 An ADF with a fixed compass card can only 12.8 How can the sen se antenna be selected
indicate bearing to an NDB (non-direc- by the pilot?
tional beacon) station.
12.9 How is direction-finding selected?
12.3 When the edge of an ADF loop points toward
the station, strongest signal is received. Tbjs is known 12.1 O What is tbe function of the switch marked
as a " BFO" or " Tone"?.

12.4. When the flat side of the loop faces the station, 12.11 What methods reduce interference to ADF
the received signal is weakest. This is known as a reception?

12.12 What type of interference may occur from

12.5 Which is used by the ADF receiver for deter- distant stations?
mining direction, the peak or null? Why?
12.13 What device in an ADF receiver reduces the
12.6 What is the purpose of a sense antenna? effect of metal masses on the airplane?

87
Chapter 13

DME
Distance Measuring Equipment

Navaids such as VOR, NOB and localizer guide

an aircraft along a course. But they do not help a pilot DME Channeling
fix hi position because they don't show distance to a
station. That in fo rmation is prov ided by DME, Dis-
VOR
tance Measuring Eq uipment. DME lowers pilot DISTANCE FREQUENCY
~
workload, and air regulations require DME for air-
~
craft fl ying at or above 24,000 feet (Flight Level 240).

The principle of DME is that an airplane ends

.. ,,.
,
tMJ

... -
.
UM Ct ll l MI

out an interrogating pulse to a ground station and the

IBOl'raG
station replies. The DME aboard the airplane mea-
sures elapsed time to compute distance to the station.
Time is multiplied by speed of the signal, which is close The pilot never sees the DME frequency. When the VOR
to the speed of light. A DME signal takes just over 6 (1 13.50 MHz in this example) located with the DME is se-
microseconds to travel one nautical mile. lected, the DME receiver is channeled to its correct fre-
DME is usually pa11 of a milita1y system known quency. Note the distance indication shown to within
one-tenth mile.
as TAC AN (tacti cal air navigation). TACAN provides
course guidance (like a VOR) and DM E distance for G round Speed and TTS. Information developed
military aircraft. By agreement between military and by an airborne DME isn't only distance-to-station. By
civil authorities, TACAN stations are located on the calculating how rapidly distance is changing, it also
same site (and in the same structure) as a VOR stati on. displays aircraft ground speed (GS) . By knowing
This benefits civil aircraft; they follow courses from ground speed and distance, the DM E also reads outTTS,
the VOR station, while using the TACAN's DM E for or lime to stati on.
distance. OM E ground speed and time-to-station are accu-
When a VOR houses a TACAN, the faci lity is rate only when flying directly to or from the station.
known as a Vortac. Anothe r combination---VOR- The airplane. however, may fly in any direction and
DM E---provides only course and distance fun ctions see the correct di tance-to-station. In one instru ment
and not the complete TACAN facility. A DME may also approach, the "DME arc," the pilot fli es a circle and
be teamed with a local izer for an instrument approach. maintains a fi xed DME distance from the station. This
88
Obtainin DME Distance

//

0
DME GROUND STATION (IN VOR)

The airplane DME sends pairs of interrogating pulses to one-way distance to the station.
the DME ground station. After a delay, the ground station Most DME ground facilities are housed in VOR sta-
replies by retransmitting the pulses back to the airplane. tions, and are part of the military TACAN system.
The round trip time is divided in half and computed as

guides the airp lane to a safe position from which to error. He uses DME distances shown on the approach
beg in the inbound course to the airp01t. chart, which has been verified by flight inspection air-
Slant Range. DME is very acc urate, but has an craft.
error known as "slant range." Because signals follow Scan ning and Agile DME. l n recent years. it 's
a slanting path from the airp lane to the ground, alti- become possib le to process more than one DM E sta-
tude is inc luded in the distance measurement. It is not tion at a time. Known as ''scanning" DME, the a irborne
a factor when the airplane is many m il es from the sta- system looks for up to five DME statio ns within a 300-
ti on; at 35 miles at an altitude of 4000 feet, the error is mi le range . W hen it locks on to three good signa ls, it
on ly several doze n feet. When overflying the station, continuo usly fi xes the position of the ai rplane by trian-
the DME reads the altitude of the airplane. gulation. Each station is a utomatically identified by a
There are l LS approac hes which require DME 3-letter Morse code lD. The p ilot does not have to lis-
to provide distance fi xes to the air port. ln this appl ica- ten to the code; the dots a nd dashes are electronically
tion, the pilot need not be concerned about slant range detected and identified.

Random Spacing ("Jitter") Identifies Each DME Signal

RANDOM SPACING

I- ~ l~ - 1
IJ1 D
PULSE PAIR
DD DD DD
The DME interrogator aboard the aircraft sends out the airborne DME to select its replies from those of
pulse pairs with random spacing ("jitter"). The ground other aircraft using the same DME station.
station replies with the identical spacing. This enables

89
 DME Readout on EFIS Display

DME
INDICATION

Honeywell
DME distance appears on the EFIS screen, near the com-
pass rose (horizontal situation indicator). "NAV 1" shows
it's reading data from the No. 1 VOR receiver.

Scanning DM E is an important navaid in airline tion. Because all aircra~ receive all replies, each needs
operations, especia lly in Europe where there is a short- to sort out and identify its own reply. As described in
age of navigational aids, too few frequencies and con- the illustration, each aircraft vari es the spacing of its
gested air traffic. European authorities made a special interrogations in a random pattern known as "jitter."
effort to distribute DME ground station s over a pat- When replies arrive, each airplane looks for its unique
tern that favors scanning DME. So long as the aircraft j ittcr pattern and locks on to it.
processes three DM E's simultaneously, it can navigate Another problem is overload ing the system. Thi s
with high accuracy and require no other nava ids. happens when more than about I 00 airplanes interro-
gate one ground station. To protect itse lf, the station
DME Channeling. A pilot does not directly tune a reduces its receiver sensitivity and wi ll not reply to air-
DME frequency; this is controlled by the VOR receiver. planes at the outer edge of its range.
When the pilot chooses a VOR or localizer frequency, To prevent electrical interference from sending fa lse
the radio automatically channels the correct DM E fre- pulses to a DM E, all signals are sent in pul se pairs,
quency. (This is similar to the pairing of localizer and measured prec isely in microseconds. Jt would be very
glideslope frequencies.) unusual for lightning strokes or other di sturbances to
Some DME control-displays do not tune YORI emulate the pul se pair ofa DME signal.
LOC stations---only DM E. However, the pilot still se-
lects a VOR/LOC channel to obtain the DME station
paired with the VOR frequency.
DME Jitter and Overload. The DME system has
several enhancements to make it work in high traffic
environments. In the area of a major airport, dozens of
aircraft may be interrogating a single DME grou nd sta-

90
 //
.....................................
ANTE NNA

PULSE
GENERATOR

..
Airborne DME
Pulse Generator
A fter pu lses arc produced in the pu lse generato r, spaci ng between pu lse pairs
is vari ed in rando m fa shi on. This imprints the sig nal with its own identi ty, in a
process known as "j itter." Each aircraft w ill have its own j itter pattern.
Tra nsmitter
Pulses modul ate the transmi tter, the n are emitted by the antenna as rad io
signals. They are DME interrogations on a channel between 978- 12 13 M Hz .
Receiver
After interrogations are received fro m the g round station, they return to the
antenna as replies. Note that both transmitter and receiver are connected to the ANTENNA
same antenna . O utgo ing and incoming pulses don't confl ict because they are sent
and rece ived on d ifferent freq uencies (63 MHz apart).
Decod er RECEIVER
Repli es from the g ro und station fo r every airp lane in the area are rece ived at
the antenna. The decoder in the ai rplane recognizes its own sig nal after searching
for, and locking on to, its uniq ue j itter pattern. I

DME Indicator
After measuring the transit time for a reply from the ground station, the DM E t
computes distance and time to statio n. G round s peed is determi ned by the rate of
change of the distance sig nal.

DME Ground Station

The ground station receives, decodes and replies to interrogations fro m the
airplane.
SO Microsecond Ti me Delay. When the ai rplane is c lose to the DM E stati on,
outgoing pulses may not allow enough time for replies to arrive from the ground
station. To avoi d interference, the ground station de lays transmitting the reply by
50 microseconds.
Squitter l f the ground station rece ives no interrogatio ns fro m a ny a ircraft, it
"squitters" ---that is, free ly broad casts pulses. This "awakens" any airc raft w ithin
range; and their DM E's go from "automatic s tandby" to an interrogati ng mode.
Audio ID. Every 30 seconds, the ground stati on sends a Mo rse code identifier
on l 020 Hz. The pilot can ide nti fy the DM E, or tones are decoded electronically by
scanning DM E's.

91
DME Channels: X and Y
VOR Airborne DME Type Pulse Ground Ground Reply
Freq Freq Spacing Reply Freq Pulse Spacing
117.20 MHz 1143 MHz X channel 12 microsecond 1206 MHz 12 mi crosecond

117.25 MHz 1143 MH z Y channel 36 microseconds 1080 MHz 30 microseconds

When DME began, there were only 100 VOR frequencies carriers so interrogations and replies do not interfere with
spaced .1 MHz apart; for example, 117.20, 117.30, etc. each other. For this to work, their frequencies must be
The original DME stations paired with these VOR's are widely separated (so the transmitter does not overload
named " X" channels. As shown above, the VOR on 117.2 the receiver). This is done by separating the radio carri-
is paired with a DME frequency of 1143 MHz. ers by 63 MHz.
As air traffic increased, the number of VOR's was
doubled by " splitting" the channels; 117.20, 117.25, Consider the X channel example above:
117.30, etc. This doubled the VOR channels from 100 to
200. The added frequencies created the new DME "Y" Reply frequency (ground station): 1206 MHz
channels. There are two differences between X and Y Interrogation (from airplane) 1143
channels: Difference 63 MHz

Pulse Spacing Next, the Y channel:

Note in the table above, 117 .20 (an X channel) sends out Interrogation 1143 MHz
interrogations on 1143 MHz, with a pulse pair spacing of Reply 1080
12 microseconds. Difference 63 MHz
The interrogations for the Y channel, paired with
117.25, has a pulse spacing of 36 microseconds, three Regardless of whether the airplane is on an X or Y chan-
time longer. nel, the interrogation always goes out on 1143, MHz. How-
Next, notice the different pulse spacing for the reply ever, for an X channel, the reply comes back 63 MHz higher
from the ground station; for the X channel it is 12 micro- than the interrogation. For the Y channel, the reply is 63
seconds, and 36 microsecond for the Y channels. MHz below the interrogation.
By these techniques of changing the space between
Reply Frequencies pulse pairs and a different position for the reply frequency,
The DME system requires two separate radio frequency the system doubles the amount of DME stations and
allows tight spacing of the channels.

One DME for Two VOR Receivers

A single DME display can con-

nect to two VOR receivers. The
pilot selects either "N (nav)1 "
or " N2." Note that " 1" appears
near the top, above "NM," to
"N1 " SELECTS VOR 1 "N2" SELECTS VOR 2 indicate VOR 1 is the source
of the DME.

92
Review Questions
Chapter 13 DME

13.l An airborne DME sends out a pulse known as 13. 7 All aircraft interrogating the same DME
an ground station are on the same frequency. How
does an aircraft identify its replies from all others?
13.2 DME is a component of a military system
known as _ _ __ 13.8 How is a DME station tuned in?

13.3 A DME station is located as part of a _ __ 13.9. What happens when more than about 100
ground station. Together they are known as a ait·craft interrogate the same DME ground station?

13.10 Why does the DME ground station delay its

13.4 In addition to distance-to-station, an airborne reply by 50 microseconds?
DME computes and _ _ _
13.11 Does the DME station transmit an JD?
13.5 A distance error in DME is called _ _ __

93
Chapter 14

Transponder

A transponder ("transmitter-responder") receives Control-Display Unit

a signal from a ground station (a n " intcn-ogation" ) and
automatica lly transmits a reply. Transponders were de- RIGHT
veloped for the military at a time when radar could
locate airpla nes but couldn 't tell the friendlies from the
enemy. The reply of a transponder provides that infor-
mation; the a irplane's ID, altitude and other data. ACTIVE
Whe n fi rst introduced, transponders were called
"JFF," for Identification, Friend Or Foe. The te rm is TRANSPONDER
still used, but mostly by the mi litary. In civil aviation, CODE (ID)
it is in a system called SSR, fo r "Secondary Surveil- ALTITUDE
lance Radar." lt is secondary because primary radar
simply sends a s ig nal from the ground that refl ects
from the metal surface of the airplane and receives an
echo ca lled a "skin return ."
In the a irline world the transponde r is labeled
"ATC," referring to Air Traffic Control.
Squawk. When a pilot is instructed by ATC to
set hi transponde r to a code (say, 1234), the controller
says:
"Squawk 1234." Transponder control head . The transponder is
" squawking" an identification code of "1 045, " which
The pilot selects the code on the control pane l that
is the Mode A function. Al so transmitted is altitude,
causes his airplane's ID to appear on the radarscope. the Mode C function. The ident button is pressed only
Sometimes a controller may need to verify the ID, in when requested by the controller. The standby (STBY)
which case he asks the pi lot to " [dent." The pilot re- posit ion keeps the transponder hot, but prevents re-
sponds by pressing an ID button on the transponder, plies. This reduces clutter on the radar screen while
which cau ses his target on the ground radar to " bloom," the airplane taxis on the ground at an airport. As the
airplane lifts off, the pilot turns the knob to Mode C
creating a circle of light that c learly indicates the loca- (which activates ID and altitude replies).
tion of the a irplane. Note "ATC" at the upper right. This term is used for
The word "squawk" goes back to World War 11 the transponder in large and airline aircraft.
w hen the British, to keep the ir new transponder secret,
94
 Transponder Interrogator

TRANSPONDER
INTERROGATOR
ANTENNA

(Westinghouse)
The aircraft tran sponder sends to, and receives from, the top section
of a surveillance radar known as a "beacon interrogator."
The larger antenna below it is the older primary radar, which sends
out a pulse and picks up the signal reflected from the skin of the
aircraft. Because skin returns are weak, difficult to see and carry no
information other than the range and bearing of the aircraft, they are
used only as a back-up.
The beacon interrogator on top, on the other hand, picks up a signal
that's strengthened thousands of times by the aircraft transponder.
Besides a bright display, the image on the radar screen carries data
such as aircraft ID, transponder code and ground speed.
The surveillance radar shown a bove is an ASR---airport surveillance
radar---that covers up to about 60 miles from the airport. To the pilot,
this is "approach control" or "Tracon" (terminal radar approach con-
trol).
During cross-country flight, airplanes receive longer range cover-
age from "en route" radars of larger size and power.

called it " Pa rrot." Jt survives to this day in the mil i- planes collided with the loss of 128 lives. The di saster
ta ry; when a (British) controller wa nts a pilot to tum began an overhaul of the ATC syste m (and created the
off his transponder, he says, " Strangle your parrot! " FAA). With an ability to put strong targets and flight
T he word " parrot" also explains why controll ers data on the radar screen, transponders became a key
today ask the pilot to "Squawk" a transponder code. component in the air traffic system.

G rand Canyon . Transponders came into wide- Two Systems: ATCRBS and Mode S
spread use after a m id-a ir co llision between two air-
ATCRBS. T he transponder improved air traffic
liners over the G ra nd Canyo n in 1956. A DC-7 and a control for a half-century, operating unde r the name,
Constellation requested pe rmission from AT C to fly off ATCRBS , for A ir Traffic Contro l Radiobeacon Sys-
course so passengers could enjoy the view. Flying tem ." But it began showing its age as the aircraft popu-
outside controlled airspace (on a sunny day) the air-

95
Panel- Mount Transponder (Mode S)

ID CODE

A Mode S transponder for General Aviation, the Bendix/ FUNCTION SELECTOR. This turns the transponder on,
King KT-73. Its controls and displays include: displays the flight ID code and tests all lighted seg-
ments of the display. The Ground position disables most
IDENT BUTION. The pilot presses the button when air transponder functions because they are not needed on
traffi c control requests "ldent." The reply light (R) illumi- the ground. A large number of airplanes on the airport
nates for several seconds while the reply transmits. surface would clutter radar displays. The pilot switches,
The same Reply Light also blinks when the transpon- shortly after take-off to Alt (altitude) to resume normal
der answers interrogations from the ground. transponder operation. The Alt position re ports ID and
altitude.
FLIGHT LEVEL. The altitude of the airplane, as reported The "VFR " button at the bottom right automatically
by the transponder in hundreds of feet. Thus, "072" on sets the transponder to 1200. This code is selected when
the display is 7200 feet (add two zeroes). the airplane is not on an instrument flight plan and is
flying under visual flight rules (VFR).
ID CODE. The squawk code assigned by ATC under the
older transponder system (ATCRBS). It is dialed in by
four knobs along the bottom of the panel.

lation grew and more airplanes operated out of fewe r interfere with each other. To the controller, the targets
airports . appear confused or "garb led."
There arc severa l limitations on ATCRBS. F irst, Anothe r limit for the ATC RBS transponder is in
it wastes space in the rad io spectrum. When the radar the coll ision avo idance system (TCAS). As described
ante nna on t he ground sweeps around, it interrogates in the chapter on TCAS, two a ircraft approaching
al l ai rp lanes within rangc---and all airp lanes reply. The each other must fly an escape maneuver that keeps them
controller cannot obtain a rep ly only from the airplane apart; for example, to avoid a collision, one flies up,
it needs to contact. the other flies down. T hat maneuver must be coordi-
Also, when radar sends a beam, it sweeps across nated by the transponder, but ATCRBS cannot provide
the airplane, making 20 or more inte1Togations in one this fu nction.
pass. On ly one interrogation and rep ly are required; Mode S. The answer to these problems came as
extra rep lies li mit the capacity of the system. a completely new transponder known as Mode S (S for
A nothe r sho ,tcoming is "synchronous garble," Select). It means "selective addressing," w hich e n-
which is two replies happen ing at the same time. Let's ables a controller to request a specifi c ai rplane to re-
say two ai rp lanes are on the same line north of the ra- ply, not the who le fl eet. This greatl y reduces the num-
dar site; one at 20 m iles, the other at 30 m iles . Because ber of u nnecessary signals fi lling the a ir.
they are both struck by the same radar interrogation, A requirement of Mode S is that it does not rap-
they reply nearly at the same time. The two replies idly obsolete the ATCRB S tra nsponder. T he two must
move a long the same line back to the radar ante nna and be able to ex ist side by s ide during a long tra nsition
96
Trans onder
MODE C - ALTITUDE

~7 ANTENNA ENCODING
ALTIMETER

1 MODE A- IDENTITY

14 TRANSMITIER -- MODULATOR -- ENCODER - CODE SELECTOR

1090 MHZ

'

• RECEIVER
1030MHZ
. DECODER

' t
I

SUPPRESSION SIDE LOBE

SUPPRESSION

•
DME

The transponder is a transmitter-receiver with these ma- MODULATOR

jor building blocks: Pulses that form the reply are amplified in the modulator
and applied to the TRANSMITTER for transmission on
RECEIVER 1090 MHz.
Interrogations from the ground station are picked up by SIDE LOBE SUPPRESSION
the antenna on a frequency of 1030 MHz. The pulses are The radar signal from the ground contains a main lobe
applied to the decoder. and several side lobes. If the transponder replies to a
DECODER side lobe, the radar operator will see the airplane at the
Measuring incoming pulses, the decoder identifies the wrong position. The side lobe suppression circuit pre-
type of interrogation. If they are recognized they are vents the transponder from replying if it senses recep-
passed on to the encoder. tion of a side lobe.
ENCODER SUPPRESSION
The encoder creates the pulse train which contains the There is a chance that other transmitters aboard the air-
reply. plane might interfere with the transponder. This usually
ENCODING ALTIMETER caused by the DME, which operates close in frequency.
After converting barometric pressure (based on 29.92 To avoid interaction, the transponder receiver is sup-
inches of mercury) to electrical signals, the encoding pressed when the DME transmits. The DME receiver is
altimeter sends altitude information to the encoder for also suppressed when the transponder is transmitting.
the Mode C reply.
CODE SELECTOR
The pilot dials in the 4-digit transponder code, which is
sent to the encoder.

97
Transponder Control-Display (Airline)

8
A Mode S transponder installed in the B-777 and numer- Ac
ous other large aircraft. Because it works so closely
with TCAS (anti-collision system}, several TCAS controls Line Replaceable Unit (LRU)
appear with the transponder knobs. For example, in the
circle marked "1," is the mileage range for TCAS surveil-
lance. In "2" are types of collision warnings selected for
display.

period. The Mode S system, therefore, is " backwardly

compatibl e" in that ATCRBS and Mode S transpon-
ders work within all air traffic control systems. Sur-
veillance radars for both types are now in service.
The FAA had issued an end date for the man ufac-
tme of ATCRBS transponders, ex pecting Mode S to ACSS
gradually take over as old transponders wore o ut. The LRU controlled by the transponder panel unit. Trouble-
shooting is helped by fault indicator lights that monitor
Announcing the end of ATCRBS, howeve r, raised the transponder, antennas and control panel.
protests from the General Av iation community. The When software upgrades occur, they are loaded
Mode S transponder was more expensive and didn 't offer through the data loader port.
any advantages to owners of light aircraft. The only
buyers of Mode S were airlines because it was a re- Aircraft Address. For ATC to single out one air-
qui rement for the anti-collision system (described in the plane each Mode S aircraft has its own "Aircraft Ad-
chapter on TCAS). dress ." lt's 24 bits long and obtained through the avia-
But a new development c hanged opposition to tion authori ty of each country. The add ress is pro-
Mode S. Sales of the new transponder surged in Gen- grammed into the transponder during installation, along
eral Av iation after the year 2000 because valuabl e new with the aircraft's maximum speed.
pi lot services were added to Mode S. The FAA intro- A caution about addresses was iss ued by
duced the Traffic Information Serv ice (TIS) which Eurocontrol , the air traffic agency fo r Europe. lt re-
uplinks, throug h the Mode S transponder, images of po11ed instances of errors by technicians in entering the
air traffic throug hout the U.S. It prov ides an option for address during installation, or when changing the coun-
light aircraft to have an anti-collision system at rela- try of registration . Eurocontrol says that such en-ors
ti vely low cost. can disable an Airborne Co llision Avoidance System
(ACAS), which is the same as TCAS in the U.S.
98
Mode A Interrogation

___.. "What is your identity?"- -~ ~

1-------- -8 microseconds - -

P1 P2 P3
INTERROGATION SIDE LOBE INTERROGATION
SUPPRESSION

Surveillance radar on the ground sends out an interro- avoidable loops of radio energy that lie on either side of
gating pulse to learn the aircraft ID (the code selected by the main beam of the radar antenna. The problem is that
the pilot on the transponder). The upgoing radar signal an aircraft transponder may reply to a sidelobe, which
consists of three pulses, as shown above; P1 , P2 and P3. places the airplane in the wrong location on the radar
Consider P1 and P3, which tell the airplane this is a screen. Pulse P2 eliminates the problem. If P2 remains
Mode A interrogation. It's done by the 8 microsecond below P1 in strength, it means the transponder is receiv-
time period between the two pulses. On measuring this ing the main beam of the radar. This triggers a reply.
interval, the transponder recognizes it as a Mode A inter- However, if P2 is higher than P1 , it means a sidelobe is
rogation and sends a reply containing the aircraft ID. being received; now the transponder will not reply. When
P2 overcomes a problem with the radar (and any other) the airplane is correctly illuminated by the main beam,
d irectional antenna known as "sidelobes." These are un- P1 remains higher than P2 and the transponder replies.

Mode C lnterro ation

(

"What is your altitude?"

f. ----- ------ -- -- 21 microseconds --- -- - -"'i

P1 P2 P3
INTERROGATION SIDE LOBE INTERROGATION
SUPPRESSION

Next, the surveillance radar sends out a set of pulses to P2 is the same as already described for Mode C.
learn the aircraft's altitude (Mode C). The aircraft tran- As the ATC radar antenna makes one full rotation, it
sponder recognizes it by the spacing between P1 and P3, transmits a Mode A interrogation, followed by a Mode C
which is now 21 microseconds long (more than 21 /2 times inte rrogation on the next rotation.
longer than for a Mode A interrogation). The purpose of

99
 ANTENNA
Altitude Reporting; ModeC

ENCODER TRANSPONDER _J
CODE LINES
04 04
84 84
82 82
81 81
A4 A4

-- C1 C1
C4 C4
A2 A2
C2 C2
BAROMETRIC A1 A1
PRESSURE

The transponder reports an airplane's altitude when and recalibrated every two years when the transponder
replying to a Mode C ground interrogation. It begins by is recertified by a technician.
measuring air pressure surrounding the airplane, often There are several reasons for reporting altitude based
done with an aneroid sensor, a capsule which is me- on a standard pressure. One is that pilot error could trans-
chanically squeezed by pressure. This movement is con- mit the wrong altitude to air traffic control. It could also
verted to an electrical signal representing altitude and is send incorrect information to TCAS {anti-collision) sys-
connected to the transponder. tems aboard nearby aircraft, which also interrogate the
There are two possible locations for an aneroid sen- transponder for altitude.
sor. When built into the altimeter, the instrument is called If all transponders report altitude based on a pres-
an " encoding altimeter." When mounted separately, it is sure of 29.92, the altitude sent to ground radar will con-
known as a "blind encoder" {because it has no dial and is tain the error caused by changes in the air mass. This is
hidden from view). corrected by the air traffic facility when it receives the
Altimeters have a knob for setting local air pressure Mode C reply; it corrects to 29.92 against local air pres-
because weather is always changing---as high and low sure at sea level.
pressure systems move across the country. During a As seen in the illustration above, the encoder sends
flight the pilot resets the altimeter to maintain an accu- information via code lines to the transponder. The let-
rate reading above sea level. ters represent pulse positions on the transponder reply
An important feature of transponder operation is that signal, which form binary words that encode altitude every
the aneroid sensor is never adjusted by the pilot. It is 100 feet. Known as the " Gray" or " Gilham" code, it can
permanently fixed to 29.92 inches of mercury, standard transmit altitudes from -1000 feet to 126,700 feet.
sea level pressure, and is known as " pressure altitude." During most of aviation's history, altitude has been
In the metric system it is 1013 millibars. A pilot may make based on instruments driven by air pressure. In the fu-
many adjustments to correct his altimeter reading in dif- ture, this function will be increasingly provided by GPS
ferent pressure areas, but this does not change the pres- or other satnav system. GPS can already fix the vertical
sure sensor. The sensor is preset at the factory for 29.92 position of an airplane to within a few centimeters, with
no reference to air pressure.

100
 TRANSPONDER ID CODE: 1 6 4 2

r1
4

_J_J r1lr1 r1u\J

I
I
I I
I I
I I
I I
'------'
r,
I I
I I
'--~~--'
x ri
I I
I I
r1
I I
I I
'------' .___,__,,___,
I I
I I
' I I
F C1 A1 C2 A2 C4 A4 81 01 82 02 84 04 F SPECIAL
R R PURPOSE
A A IDENT
M M PULSE
E E

- - - - - - - - - - 20.3 MICROSECOND FRAME LENGTH - - - - - -- 2

The transponder sends its ID by selecting various pulse aircraft ID, altitude and ground speed. Occasionally, how-
positions (time slots) spread over a " frame." Shown above ever, the controller wants to verify that he is looking at
are positions selected for an ID of " 1642". Although the the correct target and asks the pilot to " ldent." When the
coding uses digital signals (on-off pulses), it was devel- pilot presses the ldent button, it sends the Special Pur-
oped over 50 years ago and has only 4096 codes. This pose Identification Pulse. The target on th e radar
will eventually be replaced by the Mode S transponder, " blooms" in a circle of light, positively identifying the
with far more sophisticated coding and greater capacity. aircraft from all other targets. At the same time, the pilot
At the far right is the Special Purpose Identification sees the reply light on his transponder remain on for about
Pulse. In normal air traffic operations, the controller eas- 15 seconds.
ily identifies each aircraft by examining its " data block," The ldent button should never be pressed unless re-
an area on the radar screen next to the target showing quested by the controller.

ID CODE

-
;,f 9
.....
~\... ' -=-
I
•·I
•)
~

1200
-
-- - - - -- -

-'"""
ffill
-
anix
._

"i" 'T" T , -' 5 8 7 -~

••t-•

8
n•

Transponder ID selected by the pilot is 1200, the code for

VFR (vi sual flight rules) in the U.S. It is 7000 in Europe.
When flying under IFR (instrument flight rules) the code
is assign ed by air traffic control. The transponder sh own
is the Garmi n GTX-327.

When selecting a transponder code, avoid dialing through

the following, which are reserved for special use:

7500 Hijack
7600 Loss of communications
7700 Emergency
7777 Military interceptor operations (never use)
0000 Military (usually cannot be entered on
civil transpond ers)

101
 Mode S: Interrogations and Replies

1. Mode S - ATCRBS
All Call
In a mix of traffic carry- :cI
ing ATCRBS and Mode S MODES ATCRBS
transponders, the radar ADDRESS ID, ALTITUDE
sends out an "all call" in-
terrogation. All transpon-
ders reply with ID and al-
,u ~ /
titude. Each Mode S tran- ATCRBS
ID. ALTITUDE - - - . , MODES
sponder replies with its
ADDRESS
own 24-bit address. As
each aircraft enters the
radar coverage area, it re-
sponds to the "all call " in-
terrogation.

2. Mode S Discrete
All Call

--=I
All Mode S transponders
reply with their 24-bit ad-
dress. ATC RBS aircraft do
MODES ATCRBS
not reply.
ADDRESS NO REPLY
When the radar gets a
Mode S address, it locks
out the transponder from
,u ~
replying to further all call ATCRBS
interrogations. Until the NO REPLY MODES
airplane leaves the area, ADDRESS
it replies only when radar
interrogates it selectively.
The airplane, however, is
still tracked on the radar-
scope but with many
fewer interrogations.

3.Mode S Selective
Address
If a controller needs to
communicate with only ::cI
one aircraft, it transmits MODES ATCRBS
the Mode S address. Only ADDRESS NO REPLY
that airplane replies.
This greatly increases
capacity of the air traffic
system. It also eliminates ATCRBS ~ MODES
" syn c hronous garble" -·· NO REPLY
where two airplanes re- ( NO REPLY
ply to the same interroga-
tion. This can happen
when airplanes are on the
same line to the radar an- ···~
tenna or are closely
spaced.

102
Review Questions
Chapter 14 Transponder

14.1 A transponder receives an _ _ _ _ _ from 14. 6 The first secondary surveillance system is
a ground station and transmits a _ _ _ _ known as . The improved
system is called _ __ _ _
14.2 The transponder operates in a system known
as "SSR". What do the letters mean ? 14.7 What is the main benefit of Mode S?
14.3 How is an airline transponder labelled? 14.8 What transponder information is carried by
Mode A'? Mode C?
14.4 How many digits are in a transponder lD code'?
14.9 When a radar interrogator wants every air-
14.5. What are two advantages of transponder sig-
craft in range to reply (ATCRBS and Mode S), it
nals over primary radar, or "skin" return"? transmits _ __ __

103
Chapter 15

Radar Altimeter

The radar altimeter is required for aircraft operat- . • •• I

•.
ing during the very low ceilings and visibilities of Cat-
egory II and Ill instrument approaches . The conven- Bl
,--, ,_,,-, ,--, ,_,,, ,_,,,
ti onal barometric altimeter can only read altitude above 7CRRA
sea level and needs freque nt readjustment as weather
brings changes in pressure. Under the best of condi-
tions, a con venti onal altimeter is usua lly accurate to 60
or 70 feet. That's not adequate when landing an air-
-
ALT AGL
-
TEST
'
DH
,• ~·"-
SET '. (
\ \ ~
\
plane in near-zero visibility, where errors of more than '· l
.. ' -
about six feet may cause a hard landing or worse. Terra -'
Radar altimeters, on the other hand, give altitude with Panel-mounted radar altimeter indicator. The transmit-
errors as small as two feet. Although the fully ''blind " ter-receiver is located remotely. The LED display is indi-
cating ALT AGL (altitude above ground level) of 50 feet.
landing is not regularl y fl own, most widebody trans-
The pilot preselected decision height (DH) to 200 feet, a
ports arc equipped for "autoland"---which can fly the typical ceiling minimum for a Category I instrument land-
a irp lane through descent, decrab (nose stra ight), fl are, ing. When the airplane descends below DH, the pilot hears
touchdown and rol lout. The radar altimeter is essential an audible warning (1 kHz tone).
for such operati ons so close to the ground. "GEAR" also illuminates and sounds the tone when
the airplane descends below 100 feet and the landing
A radar altimeter makes it possible by measur- gear is not down and locked.
ing absolute altitude. Instead of deriving altitude from Alerts can also give warnings every 100 feet, starting
at 800 feet, to help the pilot find the ground.
a ir pressure, it transmits a radio wave, listens for the When the TEST button is depressed, the display should
echo fro m the ground, then computes altitude. The re- read a 40-foot altitude and sound an audible alert.
sult is a reading in feet "AGL", above gro und leve l.
The computati on is done by knowing the speed of the
radio wave (speed of light) and amount of time that

104
 Radar Altimeter Antennas

Two independent radar altimeters are installed for some in-

strument operations requiring separate antenna installations.

!!WO

Front and back of a radar altim-

00 N O T PA IN T
eter antenna. Note arrow show-
I 0 0 ing direction of flight. The an-
tenna should not be painted be-
cause of possible detuning of the
element.

elapses for the wave to tra ve l from airplane to ground Now the rece iver has the information it needs: two
and bac k. This is similar to radar, whic h sends out a freque ncies that mark the beginning and end of the
pulse and measures th e returnin g echo, but most radar s igna l's round trip. Because the rece iver knows how
a ltimete rs do not use pulses . They operate on the prin- long it takes for the transmitter to shift frequency, it
c iple of FMCW; for " frequency modulation continu- uses thi s val ue (time) in a calculatio n: trave l speed of
ous wave". the s ig nal multipli ed by time equals distance. The rate
of travel is constant; radio waves move li ke light (6. 18
The radar a ltimeter is sometimes called by its older
microseconds per m ile). Because the signal travels down
name, "radio a ltimeter." O n the instrument panel is it
and up, the answer is divided in half before it is dis-
often abbrev iated as "RAD ALT."
played to the pil ot as a ltitude.
T he main components are a transmitte r and receiver
Radar a ltimeters are used on ly at low altitude, usu-
operating on a center freque ncy of4300 MHz. The trans- ally from-20 feet to 2500 feet. They are intended mostly
mitte r sends out low power of about 350 milliwatts. for "altitude awareness" when the airplane is low to the
The receive r a nd transmitter each has its own antenna .
ground in low visibil ity, and as part of the automatic
As shown in the illustration, the cycle begins with flight control system. When the airplane c ruises at alti-
a transmitted wave Alth ough it is basically on 4300 tude well above obstac les, or during a land ing in good
MHz, it continuously shifts in freq uency (thus the name, visibility, the regular barometric altimeter is suffic iently
frequency modulation). Let's say when the wave hits accurate.
the ground, it is slightly higher than the resting fre- T he key functions of the rada r altimete r are:
quency of 4300 MHz. When the echo reflects back to
the airpl ane the ro und trip takes a certa in amount of Decision Height (DH). During an instrument ap-
time. Whe n the echo reaches the a irplane, the passage proach, a pilot makes a decision to: continue to land,
of time has a ll owed the transmitter to shift to an even abo rt the approach, go around and try again, or ny to
higher frequency. better weather at an a lternate airport. The radar altim-

105
Radar Altimeter: 0 eration
1. The radar altimeter produces a
radio frequency carrier with a rest-
i ng frequency of 4300 MHz. A s it
transmits, the frequency shifts 50
times per second off the resting fre-
quency. The carrier increases to 4300 MHZ

T
about 4350 MHz and down to 4250 A B
MHz. This is shown at points AN.--
T_E_N_N_A- - - - ,
A (Low Freq) and B (High Freq) .
From this process, the system de- RADIO
rives its name ; FMCW, for Fre- ALTIMETER
LOW FREQ. HIGH FREQ
quency Modulation Conti nuous
Wave.

2. The airplane is shown over a point on the

ground. At this instant, the radar altimeter is
transmitting the carrier at its lowest frequency
(A). The signal travels to the ground and is
reflected back to the airplane at the same fre-
quency (A).
The returning signal reaches the airplane af-
ter an interval of time, the number of micro-
seconds it takes for the round trip.

G R OUND

3. Because time has passed, the radar altimeter is now trip and the speed of the signal (speed of light). They are
transmitting on a higher frequency (8). The system has computed as altitude above ground in feet.
two frequencies to process; A , the reflection from the The shift in the carrier during frequency modulation is
ground, and B, the higher frequency. Three quantities 50 times per second (50 Hz), enabling the radar altimeter
are now known: the amount the carrier frequency is to rapidly update. This is critical when an aircraft is de-
changing, elapsed time for the signal to make the round scending through the last few hundred feet above ground.

106
eter is required fo r performing a Category 11 or lll in-
strument approac h, w here decision height is 50 feet or
lower.

Altitude Trips. Tn this functi on, the radar altim-

ete r sounds a wa rning as the airplane descends through
preselected al titudes. It gives the pilot a clear indicati on
of whe n Decision He ight w ill occur.

Gear Warning. Jf the radar a ltimeter senses the

airc raft is close to touc hdown, and wheels are not down
and locked, it sounds a warnin g.
Other Applications. Radar altimeters work with
other avionics systems aboard the airplane. A ground
prox imity warning system needs several inputs, inc lud-
ing the radar a ltimeter, for determining whether to warn A round analog display indicating 160 feet
the pilot of a ground collision. Tt also operates the ''ris- above ground level.
ing runway," a symbol that appears at the botto m of the
attitude director di splay fo r a Category II or lllA in- A lthough not a requireme nt for helicopter fligh t,
strument la nding. It he lps the pilot keep the airplane radar altimeters are useful to pilots making a vertical
aligned with the runway during touchdown and ro ll-out. descent in darkness. The pilot sets Dec ision Height at
Other outputs of the radar a ltimeter go to the autothrottle, a round I 00 feet and, upon reaching that a ltitude,
flight control system and fli ght data recorde r. switches on a fl oodlight to see the landing spot be low.

Review Questions
Chapter 15 Radar Altimeter
15.1 What is the main application of the radar al- 15.6 What categories of approach require a radar
timeter? altimeter?

15.2 The radar altimeter measures _ __ _ _ 15.7 The carrier of a radar altimeter is frequency
altitude. modulated, meaning it moves and _ __
in frequency.
15.3 The altitude indicated by a radar altimeter is
AGL. What do the letters mean? 15.8 One factor in measuring radio altitude is the
difference in frequency between the _ __ _
15.4 What are three major components of a radar and wave.
altimeter?
15.9 When are radar altimeters useful in helicopter
15.5 What is the resting carrier frequency of a ra- operations?
dar altimeter?

107
 / ,

... '
' ' '
' t

• '

Rockw ell
A typical GPS satellite weighs nearly 1800 pounds and is
Satnav---sate llite nav igation---w ill re place nearly powered by a combination of solar panels (in sunlight)
cve1y other form ofradi onavigation. It meets or exceeds and rechargeable batteries (in the dark). Because pre·
the accuracy, reliability and globa l cove rage of land- cise time is essential, each satellite carries four atomic
based systems. Satnav is also supported by world avia- clocks that keep time accurate to one second in 80,000
years. The overall width of the satellite, including solar
tion agencies to e liminate the high cost of servicing thou- panels, is about 19 feet.
sands o fVOR , ILS, N DB and othe r ground stations. The satellite continuously broadcasts the GPS signal
through 12 rod-like (helical) antennas, shown in the il-
The bene fits of satnav w ill multi ply as GPS, a lustration as pointing "To Earth."
U.S. syste m, is jo ined in coming years by Europe's Ga-
The captain looked at hi m and replied, " You 're
lileo. To avoid obso leting the huge avionics investment
probably ri ght." He had noticed the man ho lding a
in o ld a ircraft, however, today 's land-based stations w il l
portable GPS. The airliner was navigating by the most
continue to operate well into the 21 st Century.
advanced system kn own; the ring laser gyro. (Three
Satnav. In the I 980's, the captai n of a trans-atlantic of them, in fact, fo r red undancy.) T he laser gyro is
fli g ht be tween Swede n and New York walked back to guara nteed not to exceed an error of l mile per hour-
the passe nger cabin. He was approached by a man w ho --meaning that afte r a 4-hour fli g ht across an ocean,
sa id, "Capta in, l believe we arc IO miles o ff course." the a irplane would be no more than 4 mi les off e ither
side of its assigned track. T hat passenger's pocket
108
 GPS Constellation: "Space Segment"

Number of satellites in orbit. ......... 24

(21 active and 3 spares)
Height above earth ........... 11 ,000 n miles
Orbital planes .... ............. ..... ............. 6
Time to complete one orbit.......12 hours
(circles the earth twice a day)

There are six paths, or "planes," with up to

five satellites each. To an observer on earth,
they appear to rise at the horizon, cross the
equator, then descend below the opposite ho-
rizon. Over most of the earth, at least five or
more satellites are available for navigation at
any time.

GPS not onl y knew the aircraft position within less Launch Vehicle
tha n l 00 mete rs, but he ld that accuracy throughout the
trip (updating once pe r second).
Radionavigation for nearl y l 00 yea rs sent out
signals to be detected by an a irbo rne receiver. But by
the l 960's the microcompute r introduced dig ita l signal
process ing . Instead of transmitting simple tones or tim-
ing pulses, a sate llite could encode large amounts of
data and broadcast it over the earth 's surface. This
data could the n control the accuracy and performance
of even the most inexpensive G PS rece iver.
This places the costli est componcnts--- li ke preci-
sion timing generators---aboard the satellites, not in the
receiver. Each GPS satellite carries at least two atomi c
c locks, which measure time by the motion of atomic
parti cles of the ele ments rubidium or cesium. When the
Galileo sate llites appear, they will add yet another tech-
nology; the " maser," a cousin to the laser. ln the ma-
ser, rad io waves a re dri ven to a high state of ene rgy,
then allowed to fall to a lower level. During the fa llback,
they produce oscillations whic h are extremely accurate
timing references. GPS satellite is launched by Delta II rocket at Cape
Kennedy. Although satellites are usually rated for
The GPS c lock aboard the a irp lane, one the other a life of 7.5 years, many have operated 11 years.
hand, is a simple quartz type, like the one in w ri st-

109
watches. Its accuracy is controlled by precision data clock time. The difference between them is the amount
streaming down from the satellite. of time the signa l travelled. The rece iver doesn't re-
quire an expensive atomic clock because its time is kept
Clocks are the key to fixing the position of the accurate by reference to the sate! Iite clock.
a irplane. They measure the time for a s ignal to leave
the satellite and arri ve at the airborne receive r. By The ability to correla te signals between satel-
mu ltipl ying tra vel time by speed of the signal (which is lite and receiver provides another benefit. Satel li tes
the speed of light), the answe r is the number of miles to carry a limited payload and generate radio carriers of
the satellite. By solving that fo r several satellites, the very low power. So low, in fact, that when the signal
receiver fixes the position of the a irplane. arrives at the receiver it is below the " noise" (natural
a nd man-made). In most radio communications, it is
As shown in the illustrations, a satellite trans- nearly impossible to pick out a signal w hen it is below
mits its position and health, plus the position and health the noise level. The GPS receive r, however, has stored
of eve,~v other satellite in the GPS constellation. Data in its database an exact pattern of the s ignal and can
is received continuously and stored in the receiver da- narrow its response to that coding. By acting so selec-
tabase. Thi s enables the receiver to select a satellite tively, the receiver rejects much of the no ise.
and perform a "correlation". The receiver tries to lo-
cate a nd match the signal pattern transmitted by the Early GPS receivers acq uired only one satellite at
satellite w ith patterns stored in its database. Once a a time, which is too slow for aviation. Today's GPS
match is di scovered, the receive r can measure the travel receivers are often " 12-channel parallel," meaning they
time of the signal. T he receiver knows when the signal can process up to I 2 satellites simultaneously. If a
left the sate llite because the sate llite transmitted a " navi- GPS receiver is taken thousands of miles from its home
gation" message which tells when the signal was broad- base with the power turned off, it "finds itself" a minute
cast and the satellite's location in orbit. T he receiver or two afte r being turned on. With a 12-channel paral-
then compares the time with its own internal ("local" ) le l system, the receiver performs a rapid "sky search".

GPS Fre uencies

RED = MILITARY BLUE= CIVIL

PRESENT
GENERATION L2 L1
1227.60 MHz 1575.42 MHz

FUTURE
GENERATION

LS L2 L1
1176.45 MHz 1227.60 MHz 1575.42 MHz
BLUE = CIVILJ3UT
NOT AVIATluN

In early GPS generations, civil aviation used L 1 and shared it with the military. L2 was
exclusively for the military who used it with L1 to achieve high accuracy. In the coming
generation, civil users get a second frequency {LS) for increased accuracy. Error will
drop to 3 to 10 meters. A major advantage of two frequencies is the ability of the
receiver to measure and correct propagation error caused by differences in signal speed
through the unstable ionosphere.

110
 Satnav Terms and Service SA: Selective Availability. Because GPS began
Some major terms and acronyms to describe sat- as a system for the U.S. Dept. of Defense, the highest
nav systems: accuracy was reserved for the military. T he signa l avail-
able to civil users was degraded by "SA," which lim-
GNSS: Global Navigation Satellite System. The ited receive rs to about 100-meter accuracy.
international term to describe navigation based on sat-
ellites. When GNSS describes a prec ision instrument In the year 2000, Selective Availability was turned
approach, it is ca lled GLS (the LS meaning Landing off and acc uracy improved by about five times.
System).
SPS: Standard Positioning Service. T his ser-
vice is intended for civil use rs and is located on L 1,
one of two existing GPS channels. More channels wi ll
be added in the future.
Panel-Mount GPS Receiver

DATA LOADER JACK

DATABASE CARD

A GPS receiver used in IFR (instrument flight rules), like this Bendix-King KLN-
94, must update its navigation database regularly. This can be done in two ways.
A database card is inserted into the slot, or the dataloader jack connected to a
PC. Updates may be obtained over the Internet.

Airplane Measures Time to Compute Distance to Satellite

1. The signal from the satellite is trans-

mitted as a pulse code. Each satellite
sends a unique identification, as rep-
resented by red , green and blue
pulses.
CODE TRANSMITTED BY SATELLITE
2. The receiver in the airplane already
knows the code patterns sent by ev-
ery satellite. It searches until it lo-
cates a satellite signal that matches
a stored pattern.
The satellite message also tells the
CODE STORED BY GPS RECEIVER
receiver the time the signal was trans-
mitted. By comparing this time with
the time of arrival at the receiver, a
time difference is calculated. This is
multiplied by the speed of light and
the answer is distance.

111
 Finding Position

When only one signal is received , the

airplane may be located anywhere on
the surface of a sphere (or "bubble"),
with the satellite (SV1) at its center. Af-
ter receiving a second satellite (SV2)
the spheres intersect and narrow the
position. With SV3, the position is f~r-
ther refined. It takes a fourth satellite
to obtain latitude, longitude and alti-
tude, which is a 3-dimensional fix.
Receiving a fourth satellite is re-
quired for correcting the clock in the
GPS receiver. That enables a low-cost
clock to keep sufficiently accurate
time for the distance-solving problem.

CIA Code: Coarse/Acquisition Code. T his is The atomic c locks aboard satellites are extremely
the code trans mitted on the c ivil c hannel, L 1. 1t is precise, however, they do d rift in ti 1~1 e .. The error is
''coarse" beca use it has the least accu racy. measured b y ground stations, but thi s 1s not used _to
PPS: Precise Positioning Service. Provides the correct satellite time. Atomic c locks are not easily
grea test accuracy for 111 ilitary users and op_e rat~s _on the reset w hil e in o rbit. It is more practical to deve lop a
two existing GPS c hannels, Ll (s hared w ith civ il) and time co rrection factor based on the error and se nd it to
L 2 (mili tary only). Jt uses the " P Code," whic h is en- the G PS receiver. The receiver stores the correcti on fac-
crypted a nd ava il ab le on ly to qua lified users. tors for a ll satellites in orbit and applies them whi le
d eveloping a position fix. For maxim um timing accu-
Propagation Corrections. The advan~age of racy, at least fo ur satellites should be received.
two channels, Ll a nd L2, is reducing propagation er-
ror. As sate llite signa ls m ove toward ea rth, they pass Position-fixing . Determining aircraft position is
th ro ug h the ionosphe re, which lies from about 60 miles s imila r to "tri angulation." T he receiver draws l ines ?f
to 200 miles above earth. A lthough radi o signals move pos ition from several satellites, and loc~tes ~he a1!··
at c lose to the speed of lig ht, hi ghe r frequencies move plane w he re they in tersect. One way to visuali ze th is
faster through the ionosp here, which introduces error. is to imagi ne each satelli te surrounded by a large bub~le.
By m easuring different G PS frequ enc ies, LI and L 2, When th e airplane m eas ures distance from a satellite,
the receiver computes the " propaga ti o n" error and re- the receive r places the ai rplane somewhere on the sur-
moves it. face of the bubble. For exam ple , if the range is 15,000
miles, the a irplane may be anywhere on the bubble and
The military removes t he e rror beca use it is able still be at 15,000 mil es.
to rece ive both LI and L2. However, future satellites
w ill add a civil cod e to L2, e nab ling an y c ivi l receiver Next, assume the receiver measures 18,000 mi les
to solve the error. L ater, c ivil avia ti on wi ll receive a to another satellite, placing the airpla ne on the surface
third c ivi l freq uency, LS. of the bubble s urrounding that satelli te. As more satel-
lites a re measured, intersections among the bub bles
PRN Code orow sm a lle r until the receive r has a position accurate
Each satellite transmits a unique identity know n ;o several feet. It is not u nusual to receive e ight or more
as a "pseudorando m " code. T he term "pseudo" usua lly satellites at once.
means ''false" bu t in GPS it means " un corrected". 1t is
called " random " because the GPS s ig nal resembles ran-
dom noise.
11 2
The Satellite Signal

The signal broadcast by a GPS satellite contains " frames" The first frame is devoted to clock time, used by the
of information. They not only describe the position and aircraft receiver for measuring travel time of the signal
health of the satellite, but data for every other satellite in (and thus distance).
the system.

11 3
 GPS Segments

Sundstrand

The three major components of the GP$ or more ground stations around the world.
system: They track satellites for performance and
Space Segment: The satellites, also health. Orbit information and clock cor-
known as "SV" (satellite vehicle), circle rections are uplinked to the satellites sev-
the earth every 12 hours at an altitude of eral times a day. This data is broadcast
11 ,000 miles. At any point on earth, up to on the navigational signal to users.
ten satellites are in view. User Segment: Consists of airplanes,
Control Segment: A master control sta- ships, other vehicles and portable GPS.
tion in Colorado Springs connects to five

For an a irpla ne fl y ing over the eart h, three sate l- turned off in 2000, it was inadequate for Category I.
lites prov ide a 2-dimensiona l fi x; w hic h is latitude and
longitude. Receiving fou r satellites provides a 3-dirnen- The solution in the U.S. is WAAS, or Wide Area
siona l fix ; longitude, latitude a nd altitude. Augmentation System. A ne twork of 25 gro und refer-
ence stations a re placed around the country. The loca-
WAAS: W ide Area Augmentation System tion of each station is surveyed w ith g reat accuracy. A
As G PS spread through aviation, it proved highly G PS receiver at the station picks up the sate llite signa l
successfu l for cross-coun try tra vel between c ities . B ut a nd compares it with the known geogra phic position.
its fu ll va lue wou ld never be rea lized unless it re placed The diffe re nce is the error (mostly due to propagation
the instrument landing system (£LS), the key to on-sched- effects in the ionosphere). The g round stations re lay
ule operations in a lm ost any wea ther. GP S wou ld have that error to a geostationary sate II ite, which rebroad-
to equa l the performance of a Category l ILS (200- ft casts it as a GPS s ignal. Airplanes in the general area
ceiling and 1/2-mi le visibility). A lthough GPS accu- of the ground station, therefore, can use the error to
racy increased when Selective Ava il ab ility (SA) was correct their G PS position. It is estimated that WAAS

114
 Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)
5. GEOSTATIONARY
SATELLITE
1. GPS SATELLIT E

2. AIRPLANE

4. WIDE AREA
MASTER
STATION -,..-r-".._,
AND
GROUND
EARTH
STATION

WAAS is a form of differential GPS designed to bring the error is sent cross-country through a network to one of
equivalent of an Instrument Landing System (Category I two Wide Area Master Stations (on east and west coasts).
ILS) to almost any airport. The sequence of events: A correction is developed.
1. GPS satellite transmits a navigation signal. 5. Geostationary Satellite. The correction is sent to a
2. The aircraft receives the signal, which has accumu- geostationary satellite which appears fixed overhead. The
lated errors, mainly because of delays through the iono- satellite then broadcasts corrections (from every loca-
sphere. tion in the country) to the airplane. This removes the
3. Wide Area Reference Station. About 25 such ground "differential" error and raises accuracy sufficiently for
stations cover continental U.S., spaced several hundred precision landings (vertical and horizontal guidance).
miles apart. They pick up the same signal as the air- The geostationary satellite transmits the error in a GPS-
plane. A ground station, however, knows the error be- like format, which can be received as if it were another
cause its location was precisely surveyed. The surveyed GPS satellite. Thus, WAAS for an airplane needs no sepa-
location is compared with the position given by the GPS rate receiver.
receiver at the ground station---and the error is deter- Several countries have WAAS systems, but call them
mined. different names. All systems, however, are compatible
4 , Ground Earth Station-Wide Area Master Station. The and can be used by any satnav receiver.

could add precision instrument approaches to over 5000 WAAS to approach any run way at the airport (once
a irports in the U.S. the approach has been designed and certified by a gov-
ernment agency).
Only o ne WAAS g round station is needed to
cover ma ny airports within its coverage area. C onti- GPS approaches use terminology that is different
nental U. S. can be serv iced by only 25 station s. They fro m that of fLS components, such as localizer and
prov ide accuracy down to about 1 meter, which satis- glideslope:
fi es the most critical requireme nt of Category I, ve rti-
LNAV/VNAV. This refers to " lateral and vertical
cal guidance fo r the glideslope.
navigation". "Lateral" is eq uivalent to the loca lizer;
Another benefit involves the aircraft receiver. Be- "vertica l" is the g lideslope component. LNAV/V NAV
cause the WAAS correction arri ves as a G PS signal, a prov ides GPS guidance down to a 350-ft ceil ing and
separate receive r is no t required. Also, no ground sta- 1.5 m il e visibility, whic h is not as good as a Cat r TLS,
tion is requ ired at each airport and an airplane can use but offers thousands of airports their first precision ( or
any) instrume nt approach.
115
 LPV: Localizer Performance A pp roach with landi ng and roll-out. But civil air regulations in most
Vertical Guida nce. This improvement reduce the cou ntries do not permit it in actual instrument condi-
weather minimums to 250-ft cei ling and 1.5-mi le vis- tions, where the pilot sees nothing beyond the wind-
ibility. It's still not as good as an rLS Category I ap- shield .
proach but close to it.
Thi s is the "zero-zero" landing---no ceil ing and no
SBAS: S pace Based Augmentation System. The visibility (or Runway Visual Range). It is known as
WAAS system is used in the U.S., but is also part ofan "Category llle." Even Category If requires special
equipment aboard the airplane and tighter specifica-
international system known as ·'SBAS,' for space -based tions for the !LS transmitter on the ground. As a result
augmentation system. It is so-call ed because it uses there are few Category Ill operations anywhere in the
geostationary satellites for relayi ng correction signals. world. Another obstacle is that autoland systems can
Other countries use different names: put the ai rplane on the runway. but there is no guidance
EGNOS: European Geostationary Navigation for taxiing to the terminal when dense fog blocks any
Overlay Serv ice. view outside. (This should be solved with emerging "syn-
thetic" and "en hanced" vision systems, which sec the
MSAS: Mu ltifunction Transport Satellite run way with infrared light, or construct an image from
System (Japan). a mapping database.)
LAAS. A system known as LAAS, for Loca l Arca
LAAS: Local Area Augmentation System Augmentation System, raises the accuracy of the GPS
The first "blind'' landing was demonstrated by landi ng system above Category l. It is similar to the
Jimmy Doolittle in 1927. It is surprising that well into
the 2 1st Century, the complete bl ind landing was still
not achieved. It is tme that widebody ai rliner are often Block IIR: Second Frequency
equipped for "auto land," which provides a hands-off
for Civil Aviation

Set up for a GLS Approach

Every GLS approach has a unique 5-digit channel num-

ber, in this example, "30915." Above it is "GLSA'' to iden-
tify it as a GLS approach. The display is a page in a Flight
Management System typical of a large transport. Once
the GLS channel is selected, the pilot (or flight control GPS continuously improves with each generation. Shown
system) is guided through courses and altitudes to make here is a Block IIR satellite (built by Lockheed Martin).
the approach to the airport. This example is the approach The major enhancement is a second GPS signal for civil
to Runway 32L (left) at Grant County International Airport aircraft to improve accuracy. Earlier satellites provided
in Washington State. only one civil signal , which picks up errors when it
changes speed through the ionosphere. With two signals,
their speeds are compared and used to reduce the error.
The new satellites also provide the military with an
" M code," which operates at higher power to improve
resistance to jamming.

116
w ide area system ( WAAS) desc ribed above, except that
LAAS for High Accuracy
the ground mo nitoring station fo r correcting error is
located on the a irport. Because G PS error is sensed
w ithin hundreds of feet (not miles) from run ways, the
correcti on provides high accuracy in the airborne re-
ceiver. As shown in the illustration, correction s are not
re layed via a n orbiting sate IIite, but thro ugh a VHF sta-
tion w hose signa l is pi cked up by the a irplan e. Now
the acc uracy of nav igation is down to I meter, and
satisfies the de mands of vertical descent. It can a lso
prov ide a moving ma p of run way and tax iways for the
pi lot to fi nd his way to the terminal in the densest fog.
T he internationa l term fo r the LAAS system is
G BAS, fo r "ground-based augmentation syste m". It re-
fers to the VHF gro und stati ons that transmit the cor-
rection signa l.
Multimodc Receivers. T he aviatio n world is in
a lo ng-term c hangeover from lLS lo GL S, and both
syste ms w ill ex ist side by side fo r ma ny years . Fo r this
reason, many new long-range a ircraft are equipped with
MMR---multimode receivers--- that ope rate on all sys-
te ms, including Microwave La nd ing System (MLS),
YOR, !LS and GLS . No matter w hat system is in op-
eration al an ai rport, the pil ot sees the same steerin g
comm ands on his instruments and di spl ays .

RAIM : Receiver Autonomous

Integrity Monitoring
During the transition to satnav, GPS w ill not be
cert ified for ins trument approaches unless there is a
back-up system on the airplane in the event o f fa ilure.
The backup may be anothe r fo rm of navigation, suc h
as I LS (instrume nt landing system). The pil ot must not
Honeywell
on ly monitor the GPS, but the other source, as well. A Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) installed
T his is ha rd ly practical and places a heavy workload at an airport. The GPS ground station receives the
on the pilot. same satellites as the airplane. The station location,
however, was surveyed and its precise position
To avoid this problem, the RA IM system was de- known . If it detects differences between its known
veloped, which enables the G PS rece iver to check it- geographic location and GPS position, a correction
is transmitted to the airplane.
se lf. Mea ning "Receiver A utonomous Integri ty Moni-
The technique is called "Differential GPS" (DGPS)
toring," RAlM checks whether the re are enough sate l- because it detects error as a "difference" signal. In-
lites fo r the approac h, whethe r they are hea lth y and if ternationally, it's called "GBAS," for ground-based
the ir geometry is adequate. The last factor, geometry, augmentation system.
is the layo ut of satellites durin g reception; the ir sig-
ahead" and determ ine if RATM wil l be acceptab le be-
na ls must arrive from w ide ly differe nt a ngles for the
fo re the a irp lane commences the instrument approach.
G PS receiver to deve lop an acc urate posit io n.
If it's inadeq uate a warning appears; "No GPS RA IM."
lt us uall y takes fo ur sate llites to determine longi-
tude, latitude, a ltitude and a correction !o r the receiver
c lock. RA IM is acco mplished by receiving at least fi ve
sate llites, w hich should be possible anywhe re in the
wo rl d. The receiver searches fo r the best satell ite
combination a nd, w hen satellites drop below the hori-
zo n, new ones are acquired as they rise into v iew.
Five satellites assure that integrity is s uffic ient to fly
the instru ment approach. The G PS receiver w ill " look

11 7
Galileo Constellation

The European system, Galileo, inserts

30 satellites into orbit, with three
standing by as spares. Unlike GPS,
which has six orbits, Galileo has three
(shown in the illustration).
The constellation, at an altitude of
14,600 miles (23,616 km), is slightly
higher than GPS (12,500 miles).
Two ground stations in Europe
gather data from 20 sensor stations
around the world and uplink data to
synchronize clocks and maintain or-
bits.
The source of Galileo's timing accu-
racy are two clocks carried aboard
each satellite. One is a rubidium
atomic clock (as in GPS), the other is
a newer type,"passive hydrogen ma-
ser."
Galileo is interoperable with GPS;
a receiver aboard the airplane pro-
cesses both signals.

Galileo Satellite
Solar panels, which generate 1500 watts
of primary power, rotate with the satel-
lite around an earth-pointing axis. The
panels are kept facing the sun, while
navigation antennas point toward earth.
Each satellite weighs 1400 pounds (650
kg).
A goal of Galileo is to achieve navi-
gational accuracy to within 5 meters
without augmentation systems on the
ground (see WAAS and LAAS).

118
Review Questions
Chapter 16 GPS/Satnav

16.I How many satellites are there in a GPS con- by the letter _ _
stellation?
16.10 How many satellites are required for a three-
16.2 Row many CPS satellites are active? How dimensional fix (latitude, longitude and altitude)?
many are spares? 16.11 How many satellite frequencies are required
16.3 What is the European equivalent of GPS? to perform propagation corrections?

16.4 Why don' t CPS receivers in airplanes 16.12 What part of the satellite signal carries the
require expensive atomic clocks (like those in satellite's precise position in orbit?
satellites) to measure time with high accuracy?
16.13 Name the three segments of the GPS system.
16.5 How does a GPS receiver identify a satellite?
16.14 The Wide Arca Augmentation System
(WAAS) uses ground stations and satellites to
16.6 What is the term for a satellite's identity?
16.7 How does a CPS receiver measure the time for 16.15 What is the advantage ofLAAS (Local Area
the signal to travel from satellite to receiver? Augmentation System) over WAAS?
16.8 How is distance determined between the CPS 16.16 What is the purpose of RAIM (Receiver Au-
receiver and the satellite? tonomous Integrity Monitoring)'?
16.9 CPS frequencies, or channels, are designated

119
Chapter 17

EFIS
Electronic Flight Instrument System

A long w ith digital e lectro nics a nd G PS na viga- EFIS is ofte n cal led the "glass cockpit" because
tion, the Electro nic Flight Instrument System changed T V screens replace mechanical and e lectromechani-
the face o f the flig ht deck. The term EflS orig ina lly cal instruments. Dozens of old "steam ga uges" are now
described an a irline system (that first ro lled out w ith re placed by an EF IS d isplay tha t is rap idly changi ng
the Boe ing 767 in 198 1) but today it identifi es elec- fro m about a ha lf-dozen separate screens to "wall-to-
tro nic instrume nts fo r a ircraft of a ll s izes . wall " glass.

120
 Replacing Old Instruments

Aerospace Display Systems

Electronic instruments are also designed as direct ability of these solid-state devices is much greater than
replacements for old electromechanical equivalents. that of mechanical types.
In these two examples, the instruments are LCD The instrument on the left is a torque indicator used
that provide both analog and digital read-outs. Reli- in military helicopters. The one on the right is a verti-
cal torque indicator for commercial helicopters

Electronic in sh·uments bring many benefits. They Instead of spreading information over different in-
e liminate hundreds of gears, bearings, pointers, rotat- strume nts on the panel, EFlS overlays them into a
ing drums a nd other frag il e mechanica l components. sing le, easy-to-understand image, fo r example; a map
A ny instrument is easily duplicated on the screen by display can a lso show thun derstorms, high terrai n and
programming its image. nearby aircraft.
An EFTS di splay may be dec luttered to show only
EFIS Pictorial Display information required for that phase of the flig ht. l f
there's an "exceedance," mea ning a system is develop-
ing a fa ult, it automaticall y appears to warn the pilot.
Because there is a lmost no limit to w hat can be
s hown as an image on a screen, EFIS brought in new
generations of symbols that are pilot-friendly. The first
systems simpl y created pictures of instrume nts they
rep laced, but it became apparent the re were better im-
ages. For example, pilots fly an ILS (instrument land-
ing system) by keeping two needles centered ; one for

An example of how EFIS presents an easy-to-

read pictorial view. This environmental con-
trol system was once a collection of knobs and
gauges on an overhead panel. Now it's in the
instrument panel. At a glance, the pilot sees
how bleed air flows from the engines (lower
left and right) and is distributed for control-
ling temperature in the cockpit and passenger
cabin, including position of valves.
Also shown is bleed air from the APU (aux-
iliary power unit) and from an external source
ijust below center of screen).
This presentation is more useful for trouble-
shooting the system in flight than consulting
a paper manual.

Honeywell. Primus Epic

121
the loca lizer to rema in on the runway centerline, the had narrow viewing angles and low reso lut ion. Dri ven
other a glidcslope for vertical guida nce. ln a series of by the large market in portable PC's, the tech no logy
experiments by NASA, the " highway in the sky" was advanced rapid ly and a ll new EFIS systems are flat
developed. The pilot a ims the airpla ne at a rectang le pane l.
(o r hoop) on the screen and flie s through it. Additional
There is much retrofitting of old aircraft to re-
hoops appea r in the dis tance; if the pilot keeps fly ing
place their electromechan ical instrume nts w ith EFl S.
through them ( li ke threading a needle), the a irplane
It's happened in most major transport aircraft in "de-
rema ins on the loca lize r, gl ideslope or othe r 3-dirnen-
sional path. rivative" models , usuall y shown by a " dash number;"
fo r exam ple; the Boeing 737- 100 first rolled out in
The origi na l technology for EFIS was the hea vy 1967 with conve nti onal instruments . It is now up to
g lass cathode ray tube. F lat pane l L CD 's of the I 970's 737-900, w ith recent gene rations equipped with EFIS.
were not ready fo r aviation ; they were monochrome,

Transition from Electromechanical to EFIS

This EFIS screen is a "Primary Flight
Display" and combines many early
instruments into a single screen. The
top half was once the artificial hori-
zon. One of the first improvements
was the addition of "command" bars-
·-the V-shape near the middle of the
screen. Driven by the flight control
system (autopilot), the bars helped
guide the pilot fly manually or en-
abled him to observe commands of
the autopilot. At this stage, the in-
strument was called an "ADI, " for at-
titude director indicator.
When EFIS appeared, all the same
functions were pictured on a video
screen. This called for a new name,
EADI, for electronic attitude director
indicator. At the same time, several
other instruments were added to the
image; air speed indicator, altimeter,
vertical speed indicator and others.

The lower half of the screen was once

the horizontal situation indicator
(HSI). When the electromechanical
instrument is shown on an EFIS
screen it is known as an EHSI, the
" E" is for electronic.

When the two major flight instru-

ments---ADI and HSl---are placed one
above the other and connected to the
autopilot, they are known as a " flight
director."

The trend in EFIS, however, is to com-

bine those instruments onto one
screen, as shown here, and call it a
"Primary Flight Display."

The system in the illustration is the

Honeywell Primus EPIC, a flat panel
measuring 8-in by 10-in.

122
Three-Screen EFIS

The future of instrument panels is shown

in this "Smartdeck" by L3 Communica- Primary Flight Display
tions. It is " wall-to-wall" glass, with three Attitude Engine Power
10.5-inch panels that display information Heading Selected Heading
once required by three separate instru- Altitude Selected Course
ments. Airspeed Autopilot/Flight Directo
Panels like these are usually inter- Vertical Speed Navigation
changeable, with their function determined LateralNertical Path Timer
by how their software is programmed. This
permits "reversionary modes," meani ng
that any display on one panel can be
switched over to another. Multifunction Display
The panels are arranged as Primary Radio Management Charts
Flight Displays for captain (left) and first Aircraft Systems Runway Diagrams
officer (right). In the center is the multi- Engine Instruments Wind Direction/Speed
function display. Because the multifunc- Checklists Ground Track
tion display typically displays engine in- Moving Map Caution/Warning
struments and warnings it is also called Flight Plan Geographic Overlays
EICAS, for engine instrument and crew Terrain Lightning/Weather
advisory system. Datalink (Traffic/Weather) Traffic Information
The Primary Flight Display is mainly
for controlling the attitude of the airplane
and for navigating.

123
EFIS Architecture

AIRDATA AIRDATA + Pitot

Pitot + ATTITUDE ATTITUDE + Static
Static + HEADING REF HEADING REF

MAGNETOMETER
2

ADF ADF
1 2

GPS 1 GPS2

RADIO RADIO

FLIGHT DIRECTOR FLIGHT DIRECTOR

AUTOPILOT

FLIGHT
MANAGEMENT
COMPUTER

An EFIS system requires inputs from various sources, temperature, pressure, altitude, airspeed and others. It
as shown in this system known as " MAGIC," for Meggitt also eliminates "spinning iron" gyro's for aircraft attitude
Avionics new Generation Integrated Cockpit." and heading. It's done with solid-state devices contain-
Because the electronics are digital, any analog sig- ing almost no moving parts.
nals from outside must go through the Data Acquisition Note how the instrument panel is divided into to nearly
Unit {DAU). Signals from engine sensors and fuel probes, identical halves; for captain and first officer {co-pilot).
for example, are converted to digita l format. The DAU This provides the safety of redundant systems, which are
can also store data for engine trend monitoring, which powered from different sources. In a typical EFIS a dis-
ca n detect faults before they ca use a failure. play on one side of the panel can be switched and viewed
The Air Data Attitude Heading Reference System o n the other side.
{ADAHRS) replaces conventional sensors for measuring

124
 Multifunction Display: MFD
One MFD, like this Apollo MX-20 displays a wide variety
of navigation, weather and traffic information.

The 360-degree compass rose is a horizontal situ-

ation indicator. The red, yellow and green areas
are terrain warnings.

This screen shows weather radar images and

works with several makes of radar sets.

Weather shown here is not from aircraft radar, but

signals from NEXRAD, a nation-wide system of gov-
ernment ground radars. The pilot may select
weather images from any area of the country.

Horizontal Situation Indicator with waypoints along

the route. Also shown is nearby traffic; targets
appear as small blue arrowheads.

Navigational charts for enroute and approach phases

of flight. When the airplane lands, the chart changes
to a taxi diagram.
125
EFIS on the B-747-400 ~
CAPTAIN'S DISPLAY LEFT EFIS CONTROL PANEL EICAS DISPLAY
TRANSFER PANEL Enables the Captain to select SELECT PANEL
Switches displays among different modes in the Navigation Controls the two EICAS
various screens. Useful Display; a full compass rose for (Engine Indication and Crew
in the event of a display approach, a full rose and expanded Alerting System) screens in the
failure. VOR display, a map and an expanded center position. Pilot may select
plan view. engine performance, electrical,
maintenance and fuel system \
displays.

FIRST OFFICER'S POSITION

The co-pilot has most of the
The Captain may switch various sources between same control panels on the right
left, right and center screens. This includes the side of the instrument panel,
Flight Management Computer, Flight Director as shown by similar colors.
and air data.

AIRPLANE SYSTEMS
INSTRUMENT PANEL
AUXILIARY POWER UNIT (APU)
AUTOPILOT
COMMUNICATIONS
DOORS
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
SYSTEM (ECS)
ELECTRICAL
ENGINES
FIRE PROTECTION
FLIGHT CONTROLS
---1l INTERFACE
UNIT
FUEL
HYDRAULICS
ICE/RAIN
FLIGHT RECORDER
INDICATING/RECORDING
LANDING GEAR
NAVIGATION
CENTRAL MAINTENANCE
PNEUMATICS --~~~~~ COMPUTER

Information from airplane systems is applied to an EICAS screens. The interface also sends some of
interface unit. The data is digitized and symbols that data to the flight data recorder and the central
generated for displaying images on the EFIS and maintenance computer for storage.

126
 Airbus A-320 Flight Deck
SIDESTICK
CONTROLLER

A feature of the A-320 is the absence of control yokes for captain and
The A-320 began flying in 1988 as a twin first officer. Yokes are replaced by two sidestick controllers, as found in
medium-range transport. Because EFIS fighter aircraft. This gives a wide, unobstructed view of the instrument
panels are interchangeable , fewer panel.
spares are required for maintenance. It is also "fly-by-wire," where the sidesticks drive computers that, in
turn, control actuators for rudder, ailerons, elevator and spoilers. Safety
is assured by operating each sidestick through five computers, each
with different software, microprocessors and manufacturers.
The advantages of fly-by-wire: large mechanical linkages and cables
are eliminated, less weight, built-in test and flight envelope protection
(which prevents excessive control inputs). It also provides " gust load
alleviation," which senses turbulence, then operates aileron and spoiler
to relieve strain on the wingtips. This enables a lighter, longer wing for
better fuel economy.

PRIMARY
FLIGHT
NAV
DISPLAY ELECTRONIC
I PRIMARY
FLIGHT
NAV
DISPLAY
DISPLAY CENTRALIZED DISPLAY
~ IRCRAFT \
MONITOR
SYSTEM
(ECAM)

CAPTAIN FIRST OFFICER

MULTI- MULTI-
(Co-Pilot)
I
PURPOSE PURPOSE
CONTROL& CONTROL&
DISPLAY DISPLAY
UNIT UNIT

The instrument panel of the A-3 20 has six main lem of returning a unit to the shop and finding nothing
J
CRTdisplays, all physically interchangeable. This elimi- wrong (a major cost item for the airlines).
nates 75% of conventional instruments. The engine thrust levers are controlled by FADEC (Full
The two screens in the center (ECAM) monitor engines, Authority Digital Engine Control). It adjusts fuel and
flap and other settings, and system malfunctions. power setting for best efficiency. Weighing less than the
The two multipurpose displays at the bottom have built- conventional (hydro-mechanical) system, FADEC also
in test equipment (BITE) that show malfunctions, diag- provides engine protection (from exceeda nces) and
nostic data and failed components. It reduces the prob- health monitoring.

127
Review Questions
Chapter 17 EFIS
17.l What are two benefits EFIS? 17.6 The control yokes on recent Airbus aircraft
are replaced by sidestick controllers. Why'?
17.2 The EFIS screen directly in front of the pi-
lot, which shows attitude instruments, is 17.7 First-generation EFIS was based on cathode
called a _ _ __ ray tubes. What replaced them?
17.8 Why are fewer spares required to maintain an
17.3 The EFLS screen usually in the center of the
EFIS system'?
instrument panel is the _ _ _ __
17 .9 What can a pilot do if images fail to appear on
17 .4 The center screen of a typical airline displays
his EF1S screen?
EICAS, which means _ _ __
17.10 Why is it easier to troubleshoot a problem in
17.5 An EFJS system can display BITE, which
stands for _ _ _ _ __ flight with an EFJS-equipped airplane?

128