LORAN C

Long RAnge Navigation version C

Originally a marine navigation system
Became feasible for aircraft navigation with the introduction
of microprocessors

Frequency of Operation: 100kHz (all stations)

LORAN C
A HYPERBOLIC SYSTEM
i.e. lines of position are hyperbolas
This results from the fact that the lines of position are
determined by measuring the DIFFERENCE in
distance from two points.

LORAN C

One station is referred to as the Master and the others as Slaves

LORAN C

At least two lines of position are required

for a position fix thus more than one slave
is required

LORAN C

A useful property of the hyperbola is that its tangent

at any point bisects the angle subtended by the line
joining the two foci
Exercise: Use this property to determine where the
best geometry occurs (LOP at 90)

LORAN C

How do we determine the time difference?

Each station, starting with the Master,
transmits a series of pulses with the
following shape:
This pulse has a
bandwidth of about
20kHz

LORAN C
Each station transmits a series of eight of these
pulses
Pulse separation is 1000s (1ms)
Note: In most chains the master transmits a ninth
pulse after 2000s. This can be used to indicate
the status or integrity of the chains signals

LORAN C
How do we identify the pulses from each
station?
The stations transmit their signals in
sequence. The delay between signals from
each station is such that the signal from the
previous transmission is out of the coverage
area before the next is sent.
Thus they always appear in the same order

LORAN C Chains

A group consisting of a Master and up to

four slaves is called a chain
Each chain is identified by a Group
Repetition Rate (GRI) which is the time
between transmissions from the master.

LORAN C Chains

Each slave transmits its pulse train at a specified

interval after the master has transmitted.
This is called the emission delay (ED) and is made
up of the master-slave time (MS) and a coding
delay (CD)

LORAN C Transmitters
Due to the long distances covered by each LORAN C
chain, the power transmitted must be high (0.5 to 4 MW)
Propagation is by ground wave and thus has to be
vertically polarized
Antenna therefore is a vertical mast (ideally a quarter
wavelength long (3km) (10,000 ft.)
Not very practical!!

LORAN C Antennas
Antennas are typically about 400m high
To improve the current flow, many are top
loaded
They are still not very efficient (~10%)

LORAN C Antennas

Top loaded antenna with ground plane

LORAN C Receivers
Receivers require a data base which provides
the location (Lat/Lon) of the Master and Slave stations
the GRI of the chains to be used
the Time Delays for the individual stations
The LORAN C signal travels both by ground wave and sky
wave
ground wave gives stable, reliable timing
sky wave does not due to the variable nature of the
ionosphere
ground wave is attenuated more and hence is weaker and can
be contaminated by the sky wave

LORAN C Receivers
Since sky wave is always delayed by a minimum of 30s, the
positive-going zero crossover of the third cycle of the ground
wave is used for timing

LORAN C Receivers
Problems to be solved by receiver
Signals strength may vary by 120dB
Large dynamic range required
Noise at LF can be very high due to long range
propagation of interference (e.g. lightning in tropics)
Signal to noise ratio can be 20 dB

LORAN C Receivers
Receiver Operation:
Searches for Master pulses using known GRI
PLL locks on to carrier to generate master clock
Locks on to slave pulses
Measures Master/slave time interval and subtracts the
Emission Delay (ED)
Calculates the distances and position

Phase Locked Loops (PLLs)

LORAN C Accuracy
Error Sources
Variation in propagation speed (land vs water, type of terrain)
Changes in signal strength

Absolute Accuracy depends on geometry

0.1 to 0.25NM
Repeatability
20 to 100m

LORAN C
Integrity
Monitors are installed throughout the LORAN C
coverage area
These monitors adjust the transmitter timing to
compensate for changing propagation conditions
If excessive errors are detected, the master
transmitter is commanded to blink the ninth pulse
off and on to indicate which station is unreliable
For airborne use, this can be done within 10 seconds
of detection

LORAN C Coverage