ELECTRONIC NAVIGATION

SYSTEM
 RADIO NAVIGATION AIDS
The 3 most common types of radio navigation:
1. VOR (VHF Omni Range ) – indicates the magnetic bearing from the station
to the aircraft (the radial). The original instrument, the Omni – Bearing
Selector (OBS) indicates the aircrafts position relative to the radial the pilot
has selected, and requires and requires careful interpretation.
2. ADF (Automatic Direction Finding) – indicates relative bearing to a radio
beacon, called an NDB (Non-directional Beacon). The original Relative
Bearing Indicator (RBI) only shows the relative bearing, and can still be
found.
3. DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) – indicates the distance in nautical
miles from the beacon to the aircraft. The display is usually digital.
• VOR and DME beacons are often located at the same position, with
the same published frequency.
• VOR radials and ADF bearings can be indicated in various ways.
• A Radio Magnetic Indicator (RMI) indicates the aircraft’s heading
together with the navigation aid bearings which the pilot has
selected in both magnetic and relative directions.
Radio Magnetic Indicator
(RMI)
Non-Directional
Beacon
VHF OMNI-DIRECTIONAL RANGE
(VOR)
• The VHF Omni-directional Radio Range, (VOR) also known
as ‘Omni’, enables a pilot to determine the direction of his
aircraft from any position to or from a VOR beacon, and, if
necessary, track to or from the beacon on a selected
bearing.
• VOR is a Very High Frequency (VHF) navigation aid which
operates in the 112.1 to 117.9 MHz frequency band. Because
it is a VHF aid, its ground to air range is limited to ‘line of
sight’ reception which is typical of VHF transmission.
• The range achieved is dependent on the siting of the VOR
beacon with relation to surrounding terrain, and on the
height at which the aircraft is flying.
• As a VHF navigation aid, the VOR is static-free, and the
information given by it is displayed visually on easily read
and interpreted cockpit instruments.
• An infinite number of bearings can be obtained and they
may be visualized as radiating from the beacon like
spokes from the hub of a wheel.
• However, for practical purposes the number of bearings
can be considered to be limited to 360, one degree apart,
and these 360 bearings are known as radials.
• A Radial is identified by its magnetic bearing outbound
from the VOR beacon.
• Instead of light signals, the VOR beacon transmits two
VHF radio signals from the same facility.
• One of these signals, analogous to the white light,
called the reference phase, is omni-directional and
radiates from the station in a circular pattern. The
phase of this signal is constant through 360° of azimuth.
• The other signal, analogous to the green light, is
transmitted as a rotating field. This signal pattern
rotates uniformly at 1800 rpm, varies in phase with
azimuth, and is called the variable phase.
AUTOMATIC DIRECTION FINDER
(ADF)
• ADF (Automatic Direction Finder) is the radio signals
in the low to medium frequency band of 190 KHz. to 1750
KHz.
• It is widely used today. It has the major advantage over
VOR navigation in the reception is not limited to line of
sight distance.
• The ADF signals follow the curvature of the earth. The
maximum of distance is depend on the power of the
beacon. The ADF can receives on both AM radio station
and NDB (Non-Directional Beacon).
 COMPONENTS
• ADF Receiver - pilot can tune the station desired and
to select the mode of operation. The signal is
received, amplified, and converted to audible voice
or morse code transmission and powers the bearing
indicator
 COMPONENTS
• Antenna - The aircraft consist of two antennas. The two
antennas are called LOOP antenna and SENSE antenna. The
ADF receives signals on both loop and sense antennas.
The loop antenna in common use today is a small flat
antenna without moving parts. Within the antenna are
several coils spaced at various angles. The loop antenna
sense the direction of the station by the strength of the signal
on each coil but cannot determine whether the bearing is
TO or FROM the station. The sense antenna provides this
latter information.
 COMPONENTS
• Bearing Indicator -displays the bearing to station relative to
the nose of the aircraft.
- Magnetic Bearing = Magnetic Heading + Relative
Bearing.
- Relative Bearing is the angle formed by the line drawn
through the center line of the aircraft and a line drawn from
the aircraft to the radio station.
- Magnetic Bearing is the angle formed by a line drawn from
aircraft to the radio station and a line drawn from the
aircraft to magnetic north (Bearing to station).
 COMPONENTS
• Control Box (Digital Readout Type) : Most modern
aircraft has this type of control in the cockpit . In this
equipment the frequency tuned is displayed as
digital readout. ADF automatically determines
bearing to selected station and it on the RMI.
 TYPES OF ADF INDICATOR

• Fixed Compass Card

• Rotatable Compass Card
• Single-Needle Radio Magnetic Indicator
• Dual-Needle Radio Magnetic Indicator
RADIO DIRECTION FINDER
(RDF)
 RADIO DIRECTION FINDING

• Loop Antenna
• Errors in Direction Finding
• Adcock Direction Finders
• Direction Finding at Very High Frequencies
• Automatic Direction Finder
 RADIO DIRECTION FINDER

• A radio direction finder (RDF) is a device for

finding the direction, or bearing, to a radio source.
• Must consist of two or more measurements from
different locations, the location of an unknown
transmitter can be determined.
• RDF systems can be used with any radio source,
although the size of the receiver antennas are a
function of the wavelength of the signal.
 LOOP ANTENNA
• A loop antenna is a coil carrying radio frequency
current. It may be in any shape such as circular,
rectangular, triangular, square or hexagonal
according to the designer’s convenience.
• The frequency range of operation of loop antenna is
around 300MHz to 3GHz. This antenna works
in UHF range.
TYPES OF LOOP ANTENNA:
1. Large Loop Antenna
2. Small Loop Antenna
 LARGE LOOP ANTENNA
Large loop antennas are also called as resonant
antennas. These antennas have length nearly
equal to the intended wavelength.
 Where,
L=λ •L is the length of the
antenna
•λ is the wavelength
The main parameter of this antenna is
its perimeter length, which is about a
wavelength and should be an enclosed
loop.
 SMALL LOOP ANTENNAS
Small loop antennas are also called as magnetic
loop antennas. These are less resonant. These are
mostly used as receivers.

These antennas are of the size of one-tenth of the

wavelength.
 • Where;
L=λ/10 • L is the length
of the antenna
• λ is the
wavelength
Due to its high reactance, its impedance is
difficult to match with the transmitter. If loop
antenna have to act as transmitting antenna,
then this impedance mismatch would definitely
be a problem. Hence, these loop antennas are
better operated as receiver antennas.
 APPLICATION OF LOOP ANTENNA

The following are the applications of Loop

antenna −
•Used in RFID devices
•Used in MF, HF and Short wave receivers
•Used in Aircraft receivers for direction finding
 ERRORS IN DIRECTION
FINDING
• Errors due to abnormal polarization of
incoming wave (Night Effect)
• Errors due to abnormal propagation
• Site Errors
• Instrumental Errors
ERRORS DUE TO ABNORMAL POLARIZATION OF
INCOMING WAVE (NIGHT EFFECT)

• Radio waves reflected back by the ionosphere can

cause signal strength fluctuations from the transmitter,
especially just before sunrise and just after sunset.
• . This has the effect of suppressing the aerial signal in a fairly
random manner. The needle on the indicator will start
wandering. The indication will be most erratic during
twilight at dusk and dawn.
 PROPAGATION IN THE IONOSPHERE
Sometime propagation of radio wave at the
Ionosphere can attain much greater distance which can be
hundred or even thousand of miles due to a broad charged
area ionosphere.

Coastal Refractions
Abnormality can also be caused by the arrival waves
in the coastline which can affect the bending angle of the
of the waves. Mostly 1 degree angle change in the wave.
 ADCOCK ANTENNAS
• The Adcock antenna is an antenna array consisting of four
equidistant vertical elements which can be used to transmit or
receive directional radio waves.
• The Adcock array was invented and patented by British engineer
Frank Adcock in 1919 and has been used for a variety of
applications, both civilian and military,
• The Adcock antenna is used to eliminate polarization errors by
dispensing with the horizontal members.
 HIGH FREQUENCY DIRECTION FINDING
(HUFF-DUFF)
• is the common name for a type of radio direction finder (RDF)
introduced in World War II.
• refers to a radio band that can efficiently communicate over
long distances; for example, between U-boats and their land-
based headquarters.
• HF/DF was primarily used to catch enemy radios while they
transmitted.
DISTANCE MEASURING EQUIPMENT
(DME)
 DISTANCE MEASURING EQUIPMENT
(DME)

• In the DME system the interrogating equipment, known as

the ‘interrogator’, is installed in the aircraft and the target,
located in the ground, is referred to as the ‘Transponder’ or
‘Ground Beacon’.
DISTANCE MEASURING EQUIPMENT
(DME)
 DISTANCE MEASURING EQUIPMENT
(DME)
• The DME will measure the distance in a straight line to the
ground beacon (the slant range), not the distance from a
point on the ground vertically below the aircraft (ground
range).
• DME operates in the UHF band and the 252 available
channels are contained between 960 and 1215 MHz.