BE – VII SEMESTER – AE 1401 AVIONICS

UNIT – I

INTRODUCTION TO AVIONICS

An overview on AVIONICS –

 Combination of aviation and electronics

 Avionics system or avionic sub system dependent on electronics
 Avionics industry – now a multibillion dollar industry world wide
 Avionics equipment on modern military or civil aircraft can account for around 30% of
the total cost of the aircraft 40% of in the case of a maritime patrol/anti-submarine
aircraft or helicopter Over 75% of the total cost in the case of an airborne early warning
aircraft such as an AWACS

NEED FOR AVIONICS or Avionics systems are essential

 To enable the flight crew to carry out the aircraft mission safely and efficiently
 Mission is carrying the passengers to their destination (civil airliner)
 Intercepting a hostile aircraft, attaching a ground target, reconnaissance or maritime
patrol.
MAJOR DRIVER IN THE DEVELOPMENT

To meet the mission requirements with the minimum flight crew (namely the first pilot and
the second pilot)
 Economic benefits like
 Saving of crew salaries
 Expenses and training costs
 Reduction in weigh-more passengers or longer range on less fuel

IN THE MILITARY CASE

 A single seat fighter or strike (attack) aircraft is lighter

 Costs less than an equivalent two seat version
 Elimination of the second crew member (navigator/observer/crew member)
 Reduction in training costs

OTHER VERY IMPORTANT DRIVERS FOR AVIONICS SYSTEMS ARE

 Increased safety
 Air traffic control requirements
 All weather operation
 Reduction in fuel consumption
  Improved aircraft performance and control and handling and reduction in maintenance
costs
 In the military case, the avionics systems are also being driven by a continuing increase
in the threats posed by the defensive and offensive capabilities of potential aggressors

CORE AVIONICS SYSTEM

Figure 1 Core Avionics System

Systems Which Interface Directly with the Pilot:

These comprise displays, communications, data entry and control and flight control.

Display:

The Display Systems provide the visual interface between the pilot and the air- craft
systems and comprise head up displays (HUDs), helmet mounted displays (HMDs) and head
down displays (HDDs). Most combat aircraft are now equipped with a HUD. A small but
growing number of civil aircraft have HUDs installed. The HMD is also an essential system
in modern combat aircraft and helicopters. The prime advantages of the HUD and HMD are
that they project the display in- formation into the pilot’s field of view so that the pilot can be
head up and can concentrate on the outside world.
The HUD now provides the primary display for presenting the essential flight
information to the pilot and in military aircraft has transformed weapon aiming accuracy. The
HUD can also display a forward looking infrared (FLIR) video picture one to one with the
outside world from a fixed FLIR imaging sensor installed in the aircraft. The infrared picture
merges naturally with the visual scene enabling operations to be carried out at night or in
conditions of poor visibility due to haze or clouds. The HMD enables the pilot to be presented
with information while looking in any direction, as opposed to the limited forward field of
view of the HUD. An essential element in the overall HMD system is the Helmet Tracker
system to derive the direction of the pilot’s sight line relative to the aircraft axes.

This enables the pilot to designate a target to the aircraft’s missiles. It also enables the
pilot to be cued to look in the direction of a threat(s) detected by the aircraft’s Defensive Aids
system. The HMD can also form part of an indirect viewing system by driving a gimbaled
infrared imaging sensor to follow the pilot’s line of sight. Image intensification devices can
also be integrated into the HMD. These provide a complementary night vision capability
enabling the aircraft (or helicopter) to operate at night or in poor visibility.

Colour head down displays have revolutionized the civil flight-deck with multi-function
displays eliminating the inflexible and cluttered characteristics of 1970s generation flight-
decks with their numerous dial type instrument displays dedicated to displaying one specific
quantity only.

The multi-function colour displays provide the primary flight displays (PFDs) of height,
airspeed, Mach number, vertical speed, artificial horizon, pitch angle, bank angle and heading,
and velocity vector. They provide the navigation displays, or horizontal situation indicator
(HSI) displays, which show the aircraft position and track relative to the destination or
waypoints together with the navigational information and distance and time to go. The weather
radar display can also be super- imposed on the HSI display. Engine data are presented on
multi-function colour displays so that the health of the engines can easily be monitored and
divergences from the norm highlighted. The aircraft systems, for example, electrical power sup-
ply system, hydraulic power supply system, cabin pressurization system and fuel management
system, can be shown in easy to understand line diagram format on the multi-function displays.
The multi-function displays can also be reconfigured in the event of a failure in a particular
display.

Communications System:

The Communications Systems play a vital role; the need for reliable two way
communication between the ground bases and the aircraft or between aircraft is self-evident
and is essential for air traffic control. Radio transmitter and receiver equipment was in fact the
first avionic system to be installed in an aircraft and goes back as far as 1909 (Marconi
Company). The communications radio suite on modern aircraft is a very comprehensive one
and covers several operating frequency bands. Long range communication is provided by high
 frequency (HF) radios operating in the band 2–30 MHz Near to medium range communication
is provided in civil aircraft by very high frequency (VHF) radios operating in the band 30–100
MHz, and in military aircraft by ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio operating in the band 250–
400 MHz (VHF and UHF are line of sight propagation systems.) Equipment is usually at
duplex level of redundancy; the VHF radios are generally at triplex level on a modern airliner.
Satellite communications (SATCOM) systems are also installed in many modern aircraft and
these are able to provide very reliable worldwide communication.

Data Entry and Control System:

The Data Entry and Control Systems are essential for the crew to interact with the
avionic systems. Such systems range from keyboards and touch panels to the use of direct
voice input (DVI) control, exploiting speech recognition technology, and voice warning
systems exploiting speech synthesizers.

Flight Control System:

The Flight Control Systems exploit electronic system technology in two areas, namely
auto-stabilization (or stability augmentation) systems and FBW flight control systems. Most
swept wing jet aircraft exhibit a lightly damped short period oscillatory motion about the yaw
and roll axes at certain height and speed conditions, known as ‘Dutch roll’, and require at least a
yaw auto-stabilizer system to damp and suppress this motion; a roll auto-stabilizer system may
also be required. The short period motion about the pitch axis can also be insufficiently damped
and a pitch auto-stabilizer system is necessary. Most combat aircraft and many civil aircraft in
fact require three axis auto-stabilization systems to achieve acceptable control and handling
characteristics across the flight envelope.

FBW flight control enables a lighter, higher performance aircraft to be produced

compared with an equivalent conventional design by allowing the aircraft to be de- signed with
a reduced or even negative natural aerodynamic stability. It does this by providing continuous
automatic stabilization of the aircraft by computer control of the control surfaces from
appropriate motion sensors. The system can be designed to give the pilot a maneuver
command control which provides excellent control and handling characteristics across the
flight envelope. ‘Care free maneuvering’ characteristics can also be achieved by automatically
limiting the pilot’s commands ac- cording to the aircraft’s state. A very high integrity, failure
survival system is of course essential for FBW flight control.

Aircraft State Sensor Systems

These comprise the air data systems and the inertial sensor systems.

Air Data System:

The Air Data Systems provide accurate information on the air data quantities that is the
altitude, calibrated airspeed, vertical speed, true airspeed, Mach number and airstream
 incidence angle. This information is essential for the control and navigation of the aircraft. The
air data computing system computes these quantities from the outputs of very accurate sensors
which measure the static pressure, total pressure and the outside air temperature. The air-
stream incidence angle is derived from air-stream incidence sensors.

Inertial Sensor System:

The Inertial Sensor Systems provide the information on aircraft attitude and the
direction in which it is heading which is essential information for the pilot in executing a
maneuver or flying in conditions of poor visibility, flying in clouds or at night. Accurate
attitude and heading information are also required by a number of avionic sub-systems which
are essential for the aircraft’s mission – for example, the autopilot and the navigation system
and weapon aiming in the case of a military aircraft.

The attitude and heading information is provided by the inertial sensor system(s). These
comprise a set of gyros and accelerometers which measure the aircraft’s angular and linear
motion about the aircraft axes, together with a computing system which derives the aircraft’s
attitude and heading from the gyro and accelerometer outputs. Modern attitude and heading
reference systems (AHRS) use a strapped down (or body mounted) configuration of gyros and
accelerometers as opposed to the earlier gimballed systems.

The use of very high accuracy gyros and accelerometers to measure the aircraft’s motion
enables an inertial navigation system (INS) to be mechanized which provides very accurate
attitude and heading information together with the aircraft’s velocity and position data (ground
speed, track angle and latitude/longitude co-ordinates). The INS in conjunction with the air data
system also provides the aircraft velocity vector information. The INS is thus a very important
aircraft state sensor system – it is also completely self-contained and does not require any access
to the outside world.

Navigation Systems

Accurate navigation information, that is the aircraft’s position, ground speed and track
angle (direction of motion of the aircraft relative to true North) is clearly essential for the
aircraft’s mission, whether civil or military. Navigation systems can be divided into dead
reckoning (DR) systems and position fixing systems; both types are required in the aircraft.

Dead Reckoning Navigation System:

The Dead Reckoning Navigation Systems derive the vehicle’s present position by
estimating the distance travelled from a known position from knowledge of the speed and
direction of motion of the vehicle. They have the major advantages of being completely self-
contained and independent of external systems. The main types of DR navigation systems used
in aircraft are:
(a) Inertial navigation systems. The most accurate and widely used systems.
 (b) Doppler/heading reference systems. These are widely used in helicopters.
(c) Air data/heading reference systems these systems are mainly used as a reversionary
navigation system being of lower accuracy than (a) or (b).

A characteristic of all DR navigation systems is that the position error builds up with
time and it is, therefore, necessary to correct the DR position error and update the system from
position fixes derived from a suitable position fixing system.

Position Fixing Systems:

The Position Fixing Systems used are now mainly radio navigation systems based on
satellite or ground based transmitters. A suitable receiver in the aircraft with a supporting
computer is then used to derive the aircraft’s position from the signals received from the
transmitters.

The prime position fixing system is without doubt GPS (global positioning system). This
is a satellite navigation system of outstanding accuracy which has provided a revolutionary
advance in navigation capability since the system started to come into full operation in 1989.

There are also radio navigation aids such as VOR/DME and TACAN which provide the
range and bearing (R/θ ) of the aircraft from ground beacon transmitters located to provide
coverage of the main air routes.

Approach guidance to the airfield/airport in conditions of poor visibility is provided by

the ILS (instrument landing system), or by the later MLS (microwave landing system).

A full navigation suite on an aircraft is hence a very comprehensive one and can include
INS, GPS, VOR/DME, ILS, MLS. Many of these systems are at duplex level and some may be
at triplex level.

Outside World Sensor Systems

These systems, which comprise both radar and infrared sensor, systems enable all
weather and night time operation and transform the operational capability of the aircraft (or
helicopter).

A very brief description of the roles of these systems is given below. The Radar Systems
installed in civil airliners and many general aviation aircraft aircraft provide weather warning.
The radar looks ahead of the aircraft and is optimized to detect water droplets and provide
warning of storms, cloud turbulence and severe precipitation so that the aircraft can alter
course and avoid such conditions, if possible. It should be noted that in severe turbulence, the
violence of the vertical gusts can subject the aircraft structure to very high loads and stresses.
These radars can also generally operate in ground mapping and terrain avoidance modes.

Modern fighter aircraft generally have a ground attack role as well as the prime
interception role and carry very sophisticated multi-mode radars to enable them to fulfill these
dual roles. In the airborne interception (AI) mode, the radar must be able to detect aircraft up to
100 miles away and track while scanning and keeping tabs on several aircraft simultaneously
(typically at least 12 aircraft). The radar must also have a ‘look down’ capability and be able to
track low flying aircraft below it.

In the ground attack or mapping mode, the radar system is able to generate a map type
display from the radar returns from the ground, enabling specific terrain features to be identified
for position fixing and target acquisition.

Infrared Sensor Systems:

The Infrared Sensor Systems have the major advantage of being entirely passive
systems. Infrared (IR) sensor systems can be used to provide a video picture of the thermal
image scene of the outside world either using a fixed FLIR sensor, or alternatively, a gimballed
IR imaging sensor. The thermal image picture at night looks very like the visual picture in
daytime, but highlights heat sources, such as vehicle engines, enabling real targets to be
discriminated from camouflaged decoys. An IR system can also be used in a search and track
mode; the passive detection and tracking of targets from their IR emissions is of high
operational value as it confers an all important element of surprise.
FLIR systems can also be installed in civil aircraft to provide enhanced vision in poor
visibility conditions in conjunction with a HUD.

Task Automation Systems

These comprise the systems which reduce the crew workload and enable minimum crew
operation by automating and managing as many tasks as appropriate so that the crew role is a
supervisory management one. The tasks and roles of these are very briefly summarized below.

Navigation Management:

Navigation Management comprises the operation of all the radio navigation aid systems
and the combination of the data from all the navigation sources, such as GPS and the INS
systems, to provide the best possible estimate of the aircraft position, ground speed and track.
The system then derives the steering commands for the autopilot so that the aircraft
automatically follows the planned navigation route, including any changes in heading as
particular waypoints are reached along the route to the destination. It should be noted that this
function is carried out by the flight management system (FMS) (if installed).

Autopilots and Flight Management System:

The Autopilots and Flight Management Systems have been grouped together. Because
of the very close degree of integration between these systems on modern civil aircraft. It should
be noted, however, that the Autopilot is a ‘standalone’ system and not all aircraft are equipped
with an FMS.

The autopilot relieves the pilot of the need to fly the aircraft continually with the
consequent tedium and fatigue and so enables the pilot to concentrate on other tasks associated
with the mission. Apart from basic modes, such as height hold and heading hold, a suitably
designed high integrity autopilot system can also provide a very precise control of the aircraft
flight path for such applications as automatic landing in poor or even zero visibility conditions.
In military applications, the autopilot sys - tem in conjunction with a suitable guidance system
can provide automatic terrain following, or terrain avoidance. This enables the aircraft to fly
automatically at high speed at very low altitudes (100 to 200 ft.) so that the aircraft can take
advantage of terrain screening and stay below the radar horizon of enemy radars.
Sophisticated FMS have come into wide scale use on civil aircraft since the early 1980s
and have enabled two crew operations of the largest, long range civil jet air- liners. The tasks
carried out by the FMS include:

• Flight planning.
• Navigation management.
• Engine control to maintain the planned speed or Mach number.
• Control of the aircraft flight path to follow the optimized planned route.
• Control of the vertical flight profile.
• Ensuring the aircraft is at the planned 3D position at the planned time slot;
often referred to as 4D navigation. This is very important for air traffic control.
• Flight envelope monitoring.
• Minimizing fuel consumption.

Engine Control and Management System:

The Engine Control and Management Systems carry out the task of control and the
efficient management and monitoring of the engines. The electronic equipment involved in a
modern jet engine is very considerable: it forms an integral part of the engine and is essential
for its operation. In many cases some of the engine control electronics is physically mounted on
the engine. Many modern jet engines have a full authority digital engine control system
(FADEC). This automatically controls the flow of fuel to the engine combustion chambers by
the fuel control unit so as to provide a closed-loop control of engine thrust in response to the
throttle command. The control system ensures the engine limits in terms of temperatures,
engine speeds and accelerations are not exceeded and the engine responds in an optimum
manner to the throttle command. The system has what is known as full authority in terms of the
control it can exercise on the engine and a high integrity failure survival control system is
essential. Otherwise a failure in the system could seriously damage the engine and hazard the
safety of the aircraft. A FADEC engine control system is thus similar in many ways to a FBW
flight control system.

Other very important engine avionic systems include engine health monitoring systems
which measure, process and record a very wide range of parameters associated with the
performance and health of the engines. These give early warning of engine performance
deterioration, excessive wear, fatigue damage, high vibration levels, excessive temperature
levels, etc.

House Keeping Management:

House Keeping Management is the term used to cover the automation of the
background tasks which are essential for the aircraft’s safe and efficient operation. Such tasks
include:
• Fuel management. This embraces fuel flow and fuel quantity measurement and control
of fuel transfer from the appropriate fuel tanks to minimize changes in the aircraft trim.
• Electrical power supply system management.
• Hydraulic power supply system management.
• Cabin/cockpit pressurization systems.
• Environmental control system.
• Warning systems.
• Maintenance and monitoring systems. These comprise monitoring and record- ing
systems which are integrated into an on-board maintenance computer sys- tem. This
provides the information to enable speedy diagnosis and rectification of equipment and
system failures by pin-pointing faulty units and providing all the information, such as part
numbers, etc., for replacement units down to module level in some cases.

ILLITIES OF AVIONICS

Digital avionics are rife with ilities and it is helpful to examine them early since they
serve as valuable yardsticks by which to access a design. The importance of ilities depends on
the system design and its application.

Major ‘ilities of Avionics System

 Capability
 Reliability
 Maintainability
 Certificability
 Survivability(military)
 Availability
 Susceptibility
 vulnerability
 Life cycle cost(military) or cost of ownership(civil)
 Technical risk

Capability:
– How capable is avionics system?
– can they do the job and even more?
 – Designer to maximize the capability of the system within the constraints that are imposed.

– Designer strives to make systems as reliable as possible.

– High reliability less maintenance costs.
– If less reliable customer will not buy it and in terms of civil airlines the certificating
agencies will not certify it.

– Closely related to reliability

– System must need preventive or corrective maintenance.
– System can be maintained through built in testing, automated troubleshooting and easy
access to hardware.

– Combination of reliability and maintainability

– Trade of between reliability and maintainability to optimize availability.
– Availability translates into sorties for military aircraft and into revenue flights for civil
aircrafts.

– Major area of concern for avionics in civil airlines.

– Certification conducted by the regulatory agencies based on detailed, expert examination
of all facets of aircraft design and operation.
– The avionics architecture should be straight forward and easily understandable.
– There should be no sneak circuits and non obvious modes of operation.
– Avionics certification focus on three analyses: preliminary hazard, fault tree, and FMEA.
Survivability:
– It is a function of susceptibility and vulnerability.
– Susceptibility: measure of probability that an aircraft will be hit by a given threat.
– Vulnerability: measure of the probability that damage will occur if there is a hit by the
threat
Life cycle cost (LCC)or Cost of ownership:
– It deals with economic measures need for evaluating avionics architecture.
– It includes costs of varied items as spares acquisition, transportation, storage and training
(crew and Maintenance personnel's), hardware development and test, depreciation and
interest.
Risk:
– Amount of failures and drawbacks in the design and implementation.
– Overcome by using the latest technology and fail proof technique to overcome both
developmental and long term technological risks.

Functional Integration

As avionics systems have evolved, particularly over the past two or three decades, the level
of functional integration has increased dramatically. The nature of this increase and the
accompanying increase in complexity is portrayed in Figure
In the early stages, the major avionics subsystems such as radar, communications, navigation
and identification (CNI), displays, weapons and the platform vehicle could b
considered as discrete subsystems, the function of which could be easily understood. The
performance requirements could be relatively easily specified and captured, and, although there
were information interchanges between them, each could stand alone and the boundaries of each
subsystem was ‘hard’ in the sense that it was unlikely to be affected by the performance of a
neighbouring subsystem.
As time progressed, the functionality of each subsystem increased and some boundaries
blurred and functions began to overlap. Also, the number of subsystems began to increase owing
to the imposition of more complex mission requirements and because of the technology
developments that furnished new sensors. Improved data processing and higher bandwidth data
buses also contributed to providing much higher data processing capabilities and the means to
allow the whole system to become more integrated.
Further technology developments added another spiral to this trend, resulting in greater
functionality, further increasing integration and with a blurring of functional boundaries as
subsystems became able to share ever greater quantities of data. This evolution has been a
continual process, although it is portrayed in three stages in Figure for reasons of simplicity.
The outcome of this evolution has been to increase: performance; sensor types;
functionality; cost; integration; complexity; supportability (reuse); software programs in terms of
executable code; memory requirements; throughput; reliability; data handling; data links; and
obsolescence.
The result has been to decrease: size; weight; power consumption; and technology
windows.
Air Superiority

Role Description

The primary aim of this role is to deny to an enemy the airspace over the battlefield, thus
allowing ground attack aircraft a free rein in destroying ground targets and assisting ground
forces, secure in the knowledge that the airborne threat has been suppressed.
The air superiority aircraft is typically designed to enable the pilot to respond rapidly to a
deployment call, climb to intercept or loiter on combat air patrol (CAP) and then to engage
enemy targets, preferably beyond visual range. The aircraft should also have the capability to
engage in close combat, or dogfight; with other aircraft should this prove to be necessary. For
this to be successful, an extremely agile machine is necessary with ‘carefree handling’ capability.
The systems must allow for accurate navigation, accurate identification of targets,
prioritization of targets, accurate weapon aiming capability and the ability to join the tactical
communications network. A typical mission profile is shown in Figure

Key Performance Characteristics

The air superiority aircraft is usually a highly maneuverable aircraft with a high Mach
number capability and rapid climb rate. Many fighters are equipped with afterburning to allow
Mach 2 capability, a power to weight ratio greater than 1, allowing acceleration in a climb, and
the ability to climb to beyond 60 000 ft. Some types are designed to operate from carriers and
will be equipped for catapult launch and for steep approaches and arrestor wire decelerations.
Many modern fighters are unstable and have full authority flight control systems that are
designed to allow the pilot to execute maneuvers to envelope limits without fear of losing control
or damaging the aircraft. This is known as ‘carefree handling’ capability.

Crew Complement

Usually single pilot, but some types employ a pilot and a rear-seat air electronics officer
or navigator depending on the role. Trainers or conversion aircraft will have two seats for
instructor and student.
Systems Architecture

Typical air superiority platform architecture is shown in Figure

Air Superiority – Aircraft Types

The various types of air superiority aircraft are as follows:

McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom;

English Electric Lightning;
Eurofighter Typhoon;
Panavia Tornado F-3;
Dassault Rafale;
Dassault Mirage 2000;
SAAB Gripen;
F-15;
F-16;
F-18;
Mig-21 Fishbed;
Mig-23 Flogger;
F-117.

GROUND ATTACK

Role Description

The ground attack role has been developed to assist the tactical situation on the
battlefield. The pilot must be able to identify the right target among the ground clutter and
multiplicity of targets and friendly units on the battlefield. The ability to designate targets by
laser has enabled precision bombing to be adopted by the use of laser-guided bombs or ‘smart’
bombs. The role must enable fixed targets such as buildings, radar installations and missile sites,
as well as mobile targets such as tanks, guns, convoys, ships and troop formations, to be
detected, positively identified and engaged.
This role includes close air support (CAS), where support is given to ground forces, often
under their direction, where weapons will be deployed in close proximity to friendly forces.
Key Performance Characteristics

Depending on the target and the on-going military situation, the ground attack role may
be performed by either fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft. A fixed-wing aircraft usually needs
very fast, low-level performance with good ride qualities. It should also be reasonably agile to
perform attack maneuvers and take evasive action. Rotary-wing aircraft benefit from extreme
low-level nap of the earth penetration, and the ability to loiter in natural ground cover – popping
up when required to deliver a weapon.

System Architecture

Crew Complement

This role is usually conducted by two crew members, a pilot and a crew member to
operate the sensors and weapons systems. The advent of smart weapons or cooperative target
designation means that the mission can be conducted by a single crew, often a role designated to
a fighter aircraft as a secondary role.

Ground Attack – Aircraft Types

The various types of ground attack aircraft are as follows

Sepecat Jaguar;
 Panavia Tornado GR4;
Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt;
Apache;
Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer.

Strategic Bomber

Role Description

The role of the strategic bomber is to penetrate deep into enemy territory and to carry out
strikes that will weaken defenses and undermine the morale of the troops. The strategic bomber
was usually a very high-flying aircraft capable of carrying a large load of bombs which were
released in a ‘carpet bombing’ pattern. The modern aircraft may choose to fly low and fast and
rely on stealth to evade enemy radar defenses. Different weapons may also be employed such as
Cruise missiles and joint direct attack munitions (JDAM).

Key Performance Characteristics

Strategic bomber aircraft attributes include high altitude cruise, long range and high
payload capacity.

Crew Complement

The crew includes pilots, a navigator, an engineer and specialist mission crew. For very
long missions a relief crew may be provided.
Systems Architecture

Typical strategic bomber platform architecture is shown in Figure

Strategic Bomber – Aircraft Types

The various types of strategic bomber aircraft are as follows (Figure 1.10):

Boeing B-52;
AVRO Vulcan;
Northrop B-2;
Tupolev Tu-22M Backfire;
Tupolev TU-160 Blackjack;
General Dynamics F-111.

Battlefield Surveillance

Detailed knowledge of the tactical scenario on the battlefield is of importance to military

commanders and planners who need real-time intelligence of enemy and friendly force
disposition, size and movement. Many commercial aircraft types have been converted to perform
this role to complement specifically designed military types. The aircraft are equipped with a
radar located on the upper or lower surface of the airframe that is designed to look obliquely at
the ground. The aircraft flies a fixed pattern at a distance outside the range of enemy defenses
and detects fixed and moving contacts. These contacts are confirmed by using intelligence from
other sensors or from remote intelligence databases to build up a picture of the battlefield and the
disposition of enemy and friendly forces. The mission crew operate as a team to build up a
surface picture, and can operate as an airborne command centre to direct operations such as air or
ground strikes.

Role Description

A battlefield surveillance mission profile is shown in Figure

Key Performance Characteristics

The key performance characteristics are high altitude, long range and a stable platform
often based on a commercial airliner airframe.

Crew Complement

The flight deck crew consists of two pilots who may alternate the roles of flying pilot and
second officer throughout a long-duration mission in order to maintain vigilance. Some types
may carry an engineer who will operate the general systems and usually acts as a monitor for
height. On types expected to perform very long-duration missions, for example, with air-to-air
refueling this may be in excess of 20 h, a supernumerary pilot may be carried. The mission crew
will be sized to operate the sensors and conduct the tactical mission. Crew sizes for a long-range,
long-duration mission may exceed 10.

Systems Architecture

Typical battlefield surveillance platform architecture is shown in Figure

Airborne Early Warning:

Role Description

Early detection and warning of airborne attack is important to give air superiority and
defensive forces sufficient time to prepare a sound defense. It is also important to alert ground
and naval forces of impending attack to allow for suitable defense, evasion or countermeasures
action.

Operating from high altitude gives the airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft an
advantage of detecting hostile aircraft at longer range than surface radar, which gives vital
seconds for ground defenses forces.

Key Performance Characteristics

A long-range, long-endurance aircraft enables a patrol pattern to be set up to cover a wide

sector area from which attack is most likely. Radar with a 360 scan, and a capability to look
down and look up, provides detection of incoming low-level and high-altitude attack. The radar
will usually be integrated with an interrogator to enable friendly aircraft to be positively
identified. The aircraft will also act as an airborne command post, controlling all airborne
movements in the tactical area, compiling intelligence and providing near real-time displays of
the tactical situation to both local forces and remote headquarters.

Crew Complement

The flight deck crew consists of two pilots who may alternate the roles of flying pilot and
second officer throughout a long-duration mission in order to maintain vigilance. Some types
may carry an engineer who will operate the general systems and usually acts as a monitor for
height. On types expected to perform very long-duration missions, for example, with air-to-air
refueling this may be in excess of 20 h, a supernumerary pilot may be carried.
The mission crew will be sized to operate the sensors and conduct the tactical mission.
Crew sizes for a long-range, long-duration mission may exceed 10.
Systems Architecture

Typical airborne early warning platform architecture is shown in Figure

AEW Aircraft Types

The various types of AEW aircraft are as follows:

Grumman E-2 Hawkeye;

Boeing E-3 Sentry;
Lockheed P-3 AEW;
Tupolev Tu-126 AEW;
Westland Sea King