ELEC4600 Navigation Engineering Notes

ELEC4600
NAVIGATION
ENGINEERING
NOTES
OBJECTIVES
At the end of this part of the course the student should know:
a. the basic requirements for an air navigation system
b. the principles underlying the operation the navigation systems presented.
c. the means by which the system meets the requirements for an air navigation system.
d. the sources, magnitude and effects of errors in the systems presented
e. the means of reducing the effects of errors
f. the limitations, usage and current status of the systems
g. how the systems are used in practice
h. the coordinate systems used in navigation
i. how to compute position using LORAN C and GPS
j. the techniques for optimal combination of navigation data from multiple sources.
DEFINITION
Navigation is the art and science of determining the position and velocity of a vehi-
cle relative to its destination.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 1
1. ORGANIZATIONAL FRAMEWORK
1.1 ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization)
– based in Montreal
– an organization of the United Nations
– provides standardization for member states in the area of civil aviation this includes:
• personnel licensing
• rules of the air
• meteorological services
• aeronautical charts
• units of measurement
• operation of aircraft
• aircraft nationality and registration marks
• airworthiness of aircraft
• facilitation
• aeronautical telecommunications including navigation aids (equipment and pro-

cedures)
• air traffic control services
• search and rescue
• accident investigation
• aerodromes
• aeronautical information services
• environmental protection
• security
• transport of dangerous goods
2 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
EXAMPLE: Annex 10 - Navigation Aids Used in International Air Operations
– - signal format
– - signal levels
– - calibration procedures/frequency
– - accuracy requirements
– - quality
– - frequency of operation
does not apply to (for example)
– INS (not a ground-based system)
– or TACAN (not a civil system)
1.2 National Governments
– in Canada, Nav Canada and Transport Canada, in USA, the Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration (FAA)
• install and maintain ground-based navigation aids
• design the airway and air route structure
• approve aircraft navigation equipment installations (airworthiness)
• provide air traffic control services
1.3 ARINC (Aeronautical Radio Inc)
– organized by a group of airlines originally to provide a communications network
– one other objective is to standardize interfaces between aircraft and electronic “black
boxes” to allow a choice of suppliers
– has issued standards for equipment racking including connectors (and pin assignments)
for communicati
– currently working on data bus standards (ARINC 429 and ARINC 629)
1.4 RTCA (Radio Technical Committee for Aeronautics)
(There is one for marine as well)
– An organization of manufacturers, users, and government agencies (US and foreign)
– Its main function is to develop performance specifications for aircraft electronic

equipment
• e.g. DOC 160 - Environmental Testing Requirements for electronic equipment
– This committee is very influential in that the FAA (US Federal Aviation Administra-
tion) usually uses RTCA specifications as the main basis for certification of equipment
for aeronautical use. In fact the FAA rarely generates its own specifications, it just ref-
erences the appropriate RTCA document.
2. UNITS AND CONVENTIONS
Distance: Nautical Mile (NM)= 1852m exactly
(originally defined as the length subtended by 1 minute of arc at the equator)
Speed: knot (kt) = 1 nautical mile per hour
Angle: degrees measured clockwise from North and is always expressed as 3 digits.
e.g. 090, 006. Note: zero is pronounced zero
North: In most navigation the North reference is either TRUE (geographic North or the direc-
tion of the North Pole) or MAGNETIC (the direction of the magnetic pole currently near Res-
olute Bay NWT)
The angular difference between Magnetic and True North at any given point is called the
VARIATION
since the Magnetic Pole is constantly moving VARIATION changes from year to year.
Because it is quite difficult to determine True North and it is relatively easy to determine Mag-
netic North using a magnetic compass, most continental navigation is done using the Mag-
netic reference.
Heading: The angle between the longitudinal axis of a vehicle and the North reference (can
be either Magnetic or True)
Relative Bearing: The angle between the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and a line joining
the vehicle and the point in question
True Bearing: The angle between True North and the line joining the vehicle and the point in
question.
Magnetic Bearing: Same as True Bearing except that the reference is Magnetic North
Runway Identifiers: Runways are numbered according to their magnetic bearings with the
least significant digit removed.
e.g. the bearing of Ottawa runway 07 is 071(M)
Note: the runways at Toronto were renumbered several years ago because the changing mag-
netic variation caused the runway bearing to change from 055 to 056 and thus runway 05
became runway 06
TRUE
NORTH MAGNETIC
NORTH
True
Bearing
Variation
Magnetic
Bearing
Magnetic Heading
True Heading
Relative
Bearing
Figure 1: Definitions of Navigational Terms
3. LINES OF POSITION AND POSITION FIXES
3.1 Lines of Position
Typically a single measurement from a navigational aid provides only one variable to the
navigator e.g. a bearing, a distance or a difference in distances. There are therefore many
positions which would result in that one reading. These are called lines of position.
Lines of Position for Lines of Position for

Several Bearing Measurements Several Distance Measurements
Lines of Position for

Several Distance Difference Measurements
Figure 2: Lines of Position
3.2 Position Fix
In order to determine the observer’s position, at least two lines of position are required.
An additional requirement is that the lines of position must cross at a suitable angle
(ideally 90 degrees). The condition describing the quality of the fix due to the angle
between the lines of position is called the geometry of the fix. In the diagram below,
facilities A and B give poor geometry while A and C give good geometry.
B
A
Figure 3: Illustration of Geometry
Note: If the measurements were perfect, geometry would not have any effect except at 0
degrees. However, all measurements contain errors and the combined effect of errors and
geometry are shown below
UNCERTAINTY OF POSITION
B
A
UNCERTAINTY OF POSITION
Figure 4: Effects of Good and Bad Geometry
Good geometry gives a good overall position fix, however, if one is interested only in one par-
ticular dimension then the criteria for good geometry will change.
e.g. if the navigator in the above example were interested only in the cross track position then
the fix from A and B would be acceptable.
4. Requirements for an Air Navigation System:
a. Accuracy
b. Integrity
c. Availability
d. Continuity
Accuracy is almost self explanatory and is usually quantified as the magnitude of the
maximum permissible aircraft position error. This error has two major components: the
system error and flight technical error. Flight Technical Error (FTE) is the difference
between the actual position of the aircraft and the required position according to the
navigation system. This is due to such factors as the pilot’s skill at following the guid-
ance instruments (or the characteristics of the autopilot), the flight characteristics of the
aircraft and turbulence. The flight technical error affects the requirements for the navi-
gation system since there is not much point in reducing the system error to a level sig-
nificantly less than the FTE.
The total allowable error depends on the phase of flight under consideration.
e. g. for oceanic flight an error of 10 NM might be acceptable but in a busy terminal

area the acceptable error is 0.4 NM. For landing it is in the order of 17.1m laterally and
4.1 m vertically (Category I)
Note: Category I landing weather limits are 200 Ft. ceiling and 0.5 NM visibility.
Integrity is the ability of the system to warn the pilot if it has detected that the position
accuracy has degraded below the acceptable level. The minimum time lapse between
the detection of an out of tolerance condition and the receipt of the warning by the pilot
is specified once again according to the phase of flight. In the normal enroute (cruise)
phase it is 10 seconds. In the landing phase it is 6 seconds (Category I) and 2 seconds
(Category II and III)
Availability is the percentage of time that the navigation system is providing in-toler-
ance information. This is obviously related to the probability of failure.
Once again the required availability depends on the phase of flight.
Continuity is the probability that the specified system performance will be maintained
during the specified phase of operation, given that the system was available at the
beginning of that phase of operation.
10 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
5. RELATIVE NAVIGATION SYSTEMS
As the name implies with these systems the aircraft derives its position relative to a ground
station. There is no requirement to know the position (latitude/longitude) of either the air-
craft or the station (or facility as it is usually called). Normally the aircraft is travelling
either to the facility or directly away from it. Thus these facilities are used to define the
endpoints of airway segments. e.g
.
YOW (Ottawa)
YSO (Simcoe)
VIE (Coehill)
LANRK
Intersection
VCF(Campbellford)
YYZ(Toronto)
Figure 5: Airway System Between Ottawa and Toronto
Examples of relative navigations systems are: NDB (Non-Directional Beacon), VOR

(VHF Omnirange), TACAN (Tactical Air Navigation) and DME (Distance Measuring
Equipment) all of which we shall be studying in this course
5.1 NDB/ADF
The oldest radionavigation aid still in operational use is the NDB or non directional beacon. It
could also be called an omnidirectional beacon since it radiates its signal approximately
equally in all directions. The characteristics of the ground equipment are:
Frequency: 200-500kHz (immediately below the AM broadcast band)
Power: 20 Watts to several kilowatts
Modulation: Amplitude Modulated with 1020Hz tone + Morse Code Identifier at regular
intervals.
The NDB transmitter is all solid state and is reliable and cheap to install. There are about
500 in Canada at the present time.
The airborne part of this system is the ADF (automatic direction finder). Two techniques
for determining the relative bearing of the station are used: the rotating loop/sense antenna
and the crossed loop/sense antenna.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 11
The Loop/Sense Antenna Technique
As the name suggests, this technique uses a loop antenna, which is directional, and a
sense antenna, which is omnidirectional. The loop antenna is mounted on a servo motor
and can be rotated about the vertical axis. This antenna has a figure of eight pattern and
thus has two ambiguous minima. Fortunately, the signal phase is on one side is the
reverse of that on the other and thus the addition of the signal from the omnidirectional
sense antenna resolves this ambiguity. With proper matching of levels, this results in a
composite pattern with no ambiguity and a null in one direction. The output of the
antennas (after filtering, amplification and detection) is used to drive the loop antenna
servo motor to the null position. An indicator in the cockpit is slaved to the servo motor
and indicates relative bearing to the pilot
- +
Loop Antenna Pattern

Top View
Loop Antenna
Side View Loop/SenseCombination
Antenna Pattern
Sense Antenna Pattern

Top View
Figure 6: ADF Antennas and Pattern
12 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
Loop
Antenna
Housing
Figure 7:
Rotating ADF antenna installation on DC-3 aircraft
Crossed Loop/Sense Antenna
Problems associated with the rotating loop implementation are the size of the antenna
housing which produces excessive drag and susceptibility to icing, and the fact that it is a
mechanical system and prone to failure. It is usually preferable to design a system which
has few or no moving parts.
For the ADF this is accomplished by using orthogonal ferrite loop antennas.
Ferrite loop antennas are made of a core of ferrite material around which is wound a coil
of wire. The ferrite, being a magnetic material concentrates the magnetic field of the RF
signal along the axis of the coil and thus makes it more sensitive than a plain loop antenna
of the same size. For the same reason, a ferrite core antenna can be made smaller than a
loop antenna for the same sensitivity. It has the same antenna pattern as the loop antenna.
Two of these antennas are mounted at 90˚ to one another. (One configuration has four
antennas arranged in a square with the antennas on opposite sides conected in parallel). In
the example shown in Figure 8, one is aligned with the fore-aft axis of the aircraft and the
other is aligned with the port-starboard or pitch axis of the aircraft. To distinguish the sig-
nals from the two antennas, one is modulated
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 13
F/A (Fore/Aft) Pattern
= Kcos(θ) θ
F/A
P/S (Port/Starboard) Pattern
= Ksin(θ)
P/S
K=scale factor
Figure 8:
Crossed Ferrite Loop Antenna Patterns
Ksin(θ)cos(ωct) L/R Ksin(θ){sin(ωct-ωmt)+sin(ωct+ωmt)}/2

Kcos(ωt+θ)
sin(θ)
P/S
Kcos(θ)cos(ωct) 90˚ Amp/Demod
cos(θ)
cos(ωmt) SENSE
Kcos(θ){cos(ωct-ωmt)+cos(ωct+ωmt)}/2
Figure 9:
Signal Processing for Crossed Loop ADF
The signal processing is shown in Figure 9. The magnitude of the outputs of the F/A
and P/S antennas are proportional to the sine and cosine of the relative bearing. To
allow the receiver to distinguish these two signals they are modulated in quadrature
(sine and cosine) at a subaudio frequency ( about 45Hz). The process of modulating
using a balanced mixer (multiplier) removes the carrier frequency
{cos(ωct)xcos(ωmt)}={cos(ωct-ωmt)+cos(ωct+ωmt)}/2 which has no cos(ωct) compo-
nent. This signal can not be demodulated properly using an AM (amplitude modula-
tion) demodulator and it is necessary to reinsert the carrier. This can not be derived
14 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
from the either of the loop antennas because their amplitudes can be zero at any given
time. Thus the output of a sense antenna, which is omnidirectional, is used. The sum of the
three antennas is demodulated (which eliminates the carrier) and results in the sum (-
sin(θ)sin(ωmt)+cos(θ)cos(ωmt)) which is cos(ωmt+θ). This is again mutliplied by the sin
and cos of the modulating signal ωm results in two DC signals. One is proportional to the
sine of θ and the other is proprtional to the cosine of θ. Note that the multiplication pro-
cess gives both the differece and sum of the inputs. In this case the sums (cos (2ωmt+θ)
and sin((2ωmt+θ)) can be eliminated by averaging. This is the equivalent of low pass fil-
tering
The DC outputs can be converted to digital form by an A/D converter and processed by a
computer.
One form of the pilot’s display is shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10:
ADF Indicator
The yellow needle indicates the relative bearing from the aircraft to the NDB i.e. it is 60˚
to the left (330˚). In this case the scale around the outside of the instrument can be set so
that the heading of the aircraft is at the top of the instrument. When this is done, the needle
points to the magnetic bearing of the ADF as well.
Advantages of NDB/ADF:
Both the ground and airborne equipment are relatively cheap and reliable. The large num-
ber of NDBs installed (over 500 in Canada) and the fact that receivers also cover the com-
mercial AM broadcast band make the system very flexible and useful over a large area of
the world.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 15
Disadvantages
Since the receiver gives only relative bearing, a compass is needed to determine the
magnetic bearings required for airway navigation. Also, unless the aircraft has an
instrument called a Radio Magnetic Indicator (RMI) which combines the two types of
data, the pilot is required to do the calculations mentally which adds to the workload.
Even with an RMI it has been difficult until recently to generate an autopilot steering
signal from the ADF output.
The system is subject to low frequency propagation effects such as interference from
distant stations due to “hop” and refraction when the transmission path includes water
and land
Accuracy
System accuracy is about 4.5 degrees
Integrity
A “flag” on the bearing indicator is activated if the signal level drops below a specified
level or if the receiver detects a fault in its own signal processing process.
Availability
NDBs are simple and rugged and provide an availability of 99.9%
5.2 VOR (VHF Omnirange)
The name omnirange comes from the old term “range” (which actually meant bearing)
and the fact that its predecessor the Radio Range produced only four “ranges” or
courses. The VHF Omnirange is capable of providing guidance along any bearing. A
track with a given bearing from the VOR is called a “radial” e.g. the 065 radial.
Frequency: 108-112 MHz, 0.2MHz spacing i.e. 108.2 108.4 (the Instrument Landing
Systems (ILS) uses the odd tenths)
and 112 - 118 MHz, 0.1 MHz spacing
General Theory of Bearing Measurement Systems:
If one were looking at the revolving light from a lighthouse the only available
information would be the period of rotation. If, however, the lighthouse were
equipped with, say, a red light which is flashed when the main beam is pointing
16 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
North (or any other reference bearing), then one’s bearing to the lighthouse could
be determined. This is the general principle behind VOR and TACAN.
Example: Suppose the period of rotation of the lighthouse beam were 6 seconds
and the omnidirectional red light were flashed at the time that the beam pointed
Magnetic North. Thus the beam rotates 360˚/6s or at a rate of 60˚/s. If an observer
measured the time t seconds between the red flash and the white flash of the light-
house beam then the bearing from the lighthouse to the observer would be 60t
degrees magnetic.
In the VOR the part of the main lighthouse beam is taken by a limaçon-shaped
rotating antenna pattern, a limaçon being the figure generated by the equation
r = a + b ⋅ cos ( θ ) where b < a as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 11:
Limacon Antenna Pattern
This pattern is rotated at a rate of 30 Hz in a clockwise direction.
Thus an observer at a distance from the antenna would measure the carrier ampli-
tude modulated by a 30 Hz signal. This is called the variable signal since its phase
varies according to the relative bearing of the observer.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 17
e.g. an observer East of the station would see the maximum 1/4 period later than
an observer North of the station
The reference signal (the red light) is provided by an audio subcarrier (9960Hz)
which is frequency modulated at an amplitude of 480 Hz and a rate of 30 Hz.
The reference FM signal is in phase with the variable signal when the observer
is north of the facility. The reference north is magnetic in the south and true in
the far north of Canada.
At any bearing other than north, the variable signal lags the reference signal by
a phase difference which is equal to the bearing from the facility.
i.e. bearing = phaseREF - phaseVAR
In addition to these modulations, a 1020Hz AM Morse code identifier (3 char-

acters) is present.
9960 +/- 480Hz 9960+/-480Hz

Subcarrier Ident 30Hz 30Hz Ident Subcarrier
(Reference) 1020Hz 1020Hz (Reference)
Variable
fC
Figure 12:
Spectrum of a VOR Ground Station Signal
Antenna
The VOR antenna array is made up of four elements such as that shown in Figure 3
NW NE
Feed
Points
SW SE
Complete VOR Array
One Element
(Alford Loop)
Figure 13:
VOR Antenna Array
18 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
The arms of this antenna are less than λ/4 in length and are capacitively loaded at the ends
to place the current maximum at the centre of the radiators. Due to the above arrangement
the currents in the arms all rotate in the same direction thus generating an omnidirectional,
horizontally polarized radiation pattern.
Four of these antennas are arranged in a square with λ diagonal spacing . The array is fed
from a network as shown below: This creates the limaçon-shaped antenna pattern rotating
at 30 Hz.
NW SE NE SW
λ/2 λ/2
CW AM modulated
at 30 Hz
CW AM modulated
at 30 Hz phase shifted
CW modulated Transmitter by 90˚
with 9960 FM
and 1020Hz ident
9960Hz
Mod
FM +/- 480 Hz
at 30 Hz Eliminator
30 Hz mod 90˚
Figure 14: VOR Ground System Block Diagram
Airborne Receiver
A block diagram of an analog airborne receiver is shown below in Figure 5
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 19
Tuning AM 10 kHz Frequency
108-118MHz Filter Limiter
Detector Discriminator
VARIABLE REFERENCE
30 Hz Phase 30 Hz
Filter Comparator Filter
Phase Difference Phase

Detector Shifter
Bearing (synchro)
Course Deviation (DC)
Manual
Control
Figure 15:
VOR Airborne Receiver Block Diagram
The pilot receives the VOR information in two forms:
a. An analog indication of the bearing to the facility
b. An indication of the deviation from a selected course. The desired course is

selected manually by the pilot.
These can be displayed on separate instruments (bearing on an RMI and course devia-
tion on a course deviation indicator (CDI)) or on a multipurpose display called a hori-
zontal situation indicator (HSI)
Error Sources and Characteristics
The measurement of the VOR bearing depends to a large extent on the antenna
pattern being very close to a limacon. Any departure from the limacon pattern
results in a distortion of the sinusoidal 30Hz variable signal which in turn
causes errors in the phase measurement.
Departure from the limacon pattern can result from (1) shortcomings in the
equipment or (2) external environmental factors.
Examples of these are:
(1) Antenna or feed mismatch:
Causes cyclical errors in bearing around the station.
(2) Reflections from surroundings e.g. hills, buildings, trees
Depending on the type and location of the reflecting surface errors
20 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
reflections can cause:
a. long period displacement of a radial which an aircraft can follow (called

a bend)
usually caused by extensive reflective surfaces at a considerable distance from
the VOR
b. short period displacements which an aircraft cannot follow (called scal-

loping)
usually caused by large reflectiing surfaces close to the VOR
c. random displacements which an aircraft cannot follow (called rough-

ness)
caused by small reflecting surfaces close to the VOR
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 21
5.3 Doppler VOR (DVOR)
At some sites it is impossible to remove enough of the natural reflecting surfaces to per-
mit acceptable performance with a standard VOR. In such cases a Doppler VOR may
be the solution. The tradeoff being that the cost of Doppler VOR is about twice the cost
of a standard VOR.
The effect of reflections on an antenna pattern depend somewhat on the size of antenna
i.e. the larger the antenna the smaller the effect of reflections. This is shown in Figure
12.
Small Antenna Aperture
Large Antenna Aperture
Figure 16:
Effect of Antenna Size on the
Effect of Reflections
In the VOR syatem it is not practical to generate the limacon pattern using a large aper-
ture antenna so another approach is used which makes use of the Doppler effect. Recall
that the aircraft VOR receiver measures the phase difference between the FM subcar-
rier and AM signalto determine the bearing. Thus if we can set up a situation in which
the phase of the FM subcarrier signal is a equal to the bearing of the aircraft and the
phase of the AM 30 Hz signal is constant around the station then the aircraft receiver
will not notice the difference
Thus, in the DVOR, the roles of the FM and AM modulation is reversed.
The reference signal is produced by an omnidirectional antenna radiating the carrier

modulated by a 30 Hz AM signal plus the ident tone
The variable signal is generated by a circular array of Alford loops fed by a capacitive
commutator so that, as in the ADF case, the output is almost the same as that of a single
antenna being rotated at the frequency of the commutator (in this case 30 Hz)
Note that to preserve the correct phase relationship between the two signals, the Dop-
pler array is fed in the counterclockwise direction.
22 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
VOR as a Navigation Aid
Accuracy: radial alignment error <3 degrees - maximum amplitude of bend: 3 degrees
Integrity:
Ground:
monitors are placed around the site to detect drift in the radiated signal if
signal exceeds tolerance, the transmitter shuts down.
Air
If signal level, and or, if either of the modulation levels falls below a preset
level an error flag signal is sent to the HSI (Horizontal Situor CDI
Availability:
Most sites have dual transmitters so if one fails, the other takes over. Avail-
ability is better than 99.9%
5.4 DME
DME stands for Distance Measuring Equipment one of the few navigation system names
in plain language.
Frequency Band: -
Airborne - 1025 MHz - 1150 MHz (1 MHz spacing)
Ground - 63 MHz below transmit frequency 1025 -1087 MHz
63 MHz above transmit frequency 1088 - 1150 MHz
Note: This scheme gives 126 Channels. However by using pulse pairs of differing
spacing (12 and 30µs apart) the number of channels can be doubled. The modes
corresponding to the two spacings are called X and Y respectively.
General Principle
DME determines distance by measuring the time between its transmission of a

pulse and the reception of the reply from the ground station.
The aircraft DME transceiver initiates the process by transmitting a pulse pair (12
or 36µs apart depending on whether mode X or mode Y is being used). The ground
transponder receives the pulse pair and, after a 50µs delay transmits another pulse
pair back to the aircraft. The reason for the 50µs delay is to permit proper opera-
tion close to the station
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 23
Airborne Equipment
The airborne transceiver operates in two modes: search and track. When first
tuned to a facility the transceiver is in search mode in which it transmits pulse
pairs at an rate of 120 - 150 pp/s. The rate is varied at random to avoid synchro-
nizing with another aircraft.4
Pulse Pair Random Rate ~ 150 Hz Search Search/track

Transmitter
Generator Delay Clock ~ 30 Hz Track
Suppression 50µs w
Delay τ – ---- Pulse Width =
Tracking Gate Width (20µs)
Diplexer
2
Variable Pulse
Gate Delay - Stretcher
Control EARLY
τ
Gate Width/2
Counter
Delay Delay = Pulse
Measurement Gate Width/2 Stretcher
w PROMPT
τ + ----
2 Counter Decision
Delay = Pulse
Gate Width/2 Stretcher
LATE
Pulse Counter
Receiver
Decoder
Gate
Control
Figure 17:
DME Airborne Transmitter/Receiver
Block Diagram
Mode Delay
12 or 30 µs
Input Peak ÷2
Detector
Threshold Output
Detector
Figure 18:
Second Pulse Half Amplitude
Detection Circuit
24 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
Suppression
Due to the fact that
• more than one DME transceiver may be installed on an aircraft (typical installation
is two)
• DME shares the spectrum with ATC transponders (secondary radar)
• The peak output power can be quite high (1kW)
there is a requirement to protect non-transmitting transceivers from receiver overload. For

this reason, all L-band pulse transceivers are connected together by a “suppression” coax
cable link. When a transceiver is transmitting, it asserts a signal on the suppression line
and all other transceivers respond by desensitizing their receivers.
Transceiver Operation
In the search mode, as mentioned above, the transmitter is generating pulse pairs at an
average rate of about 135 per second. The gate control varies the pulse delay starting from
zero and increasing at a rate equivalent to 10 NM/s i.e. The full sweep from 0 to 200 NM
takes about 20 seconds.
Since for each transmitted pulse, the gate is open for 20µs, and since there is an average of
135 pulses per second, the gate is open for 20x135 = 2.7 ms/s. The ground station trans-
mits 2700 random pulse pairs per second so that an average of 2.7 x 10-3 x 2700 = 7 pulse
pairs pass through the gate. However, when the gate gets to the delay which corresponds to
the aircraft distance from the ground facility, it receives a pulse pair for each transmission
and thus the rate of detection theoretically increases to 135pp/s. Since the gate is moving
at a rate of about 120µs/s the desired reply is in the gate for 20/120 = 1/6 seconds. Thus
the number of pulses detected increases to 135/6 = 22.5. In actual fact some pulses are
missed as will be explained later but in any case there is a sufficiently large difference in
rates for the receiver to decide to switch from search to track mode.
In the track mode, the transmission rate is decreased and the gate is kept centred on the
correct range by the use of early and late detection channels. If the pulses start to fall into
the late gate, the delay is decreased and if they fall into the early gate, the delay is
increased. Most DME transceivers keep track of the rate of change of the range gate and
thus can dead reckon through short periods of signal outage.
Timing
The point of reference for the timing is the half amplitude point on the second pulse. As is
shown above in Figure 7. the peak magnitude is measured from the first pulse. Half of this
is then used to set the threshold of the detector. This same scheme is used in the ground
station.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 25
Measurement
Once the round trip time has been measured, the processor computes the range from the
following expression:
τ – 50
D =  -------------- ⋅ c
 2 
where τ = round trip time (µs)
and c = the speed of light = 0.162 NM/µs
Outputs
The typical DME transceiver ouputs distance, speed (rate of change of distance) and
time to go (based on measured speed). Note that the latter two are valid only when the
aircraft is travelling directly towards or directly away from the station.
Note also that the distance measured is slant range distance and must be adjusted to
compensate for aircraft altitude before it can be used for accurate navigation.
Ground Station
The ground station simply detects the incoming signal as described above. It inserts the
50µs delay and then retransmits the pulse pair. As a protection against echoes produc-
ing false responses, the transponder inserts about 60µs of “dead time“ after each inter-
rogation during which it will not respond to another interrogation.
In addition to replies to incoming pulses the ground station also transmits “squitter”
pulses to make the total number of pulse pairs per second up to 2700 +/- 90. These
squitter pulses are generated by increasing the sensitivity of the receiver to the point at
which input noise generates a sufficient number of pulses to make up the 2700. If more
aircraft start interrogating, the sensitivity is decreased.
This has the following advantages:
a. The station is automatically maintained in its most sensitive condition
b. The transmitter duty cycle is maintained within safe limits.
c. The airborne receiver AGC has a constant number of pulses to work with.
This simplifies design.
d. In case of interrogation by too many aircraft, the nearest aircraft are the last
to lose service.
The ground station also transmits an identifier as a 3 character morse code group using
a 1350 prf tone.
26 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
Accuracy
The ICAO specification is 0.5NM or 3% of range whichever is greater, however, extensive

tests on Canadian DME station show that the errors are less than 30 m.
Errors result mainly from variation of the 50µs delay and from timing variations. Reflec-
tions can cause errors but good receiver design can virtually eliminate these. Since any
reflected signal will have a longer transmission path than the direct signal, the procedure
of searching from 0 range outward usually avoids reflections. However, for further protec-
tion, some receivers periodically do a search sweep to see if they are actually tracking the
direct signal.
Integrity
DME Ground stations are equipped with monitors which can detect degradation of trans-
mitter power as well as errors in the 50µs delay. If an out of tolerance condition is
detected, the transmitter is shut down.
DME transceivers contain considerable built in test capability and set a flag on the DME
indicator if they detect a fault.
Availability
DME ground stations have two transmitters which automatically switch over when a fail-
ure is detected. System Availability is usually above 99%.
5.5 TACAN (Tactical Air Navigation System)
General
Tacan is primarily a military system which was developed from the DME system by add-
ing a bearing measurement capability. Because of the frequency used, the antenna can be
made relatively small. Thus a Tacan beacon can be deployed in the field quite quickly.
Theory
A directional antenna pattern is obtained by adding two cylindrical drums concentric with
the DME antenna. As shown in Figure 8. the inner drum has a single parasitic element
attached to it while the outer drum has nine.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 27
DME
ANTENNA
Parasitic Elements
Figure 19:
TACAN Antenna
Configuration (Top View)
POLAR PLOT LINEAR PLOT

6 5
4
4
2
0 ANTENNA 3
−2
2
−4
−6 1
−5 0 5 0 100 200 300 400
Figure 20:
TACAN
Antenna Pattern
This creates the antenna pattern shown in Figure 16. The whole mechanism is rotated at
900 rpm which gives an RF signal AM modulated at 15 and 135 Hz. Instead of using an
FM modulated subcarrier as in VOR, Tacan uses specially coded pulse patterns added
to the DME squitter. The main reference occurs when the maximum of the main (15Hz)
lobe is pointing east. This is because the reference point for Tacan signals is the nega-
tive-going zero crossover. The main reference burst consists of 24 pulses alternately 12
and 18µs apart.
The 135 Hz modulation is used to obtain a much finer resolution than is available from
VOR. Once the receiver has determined which 40 degree segment it is in, it refines the
angle by measuring the relative phase of the 135 Hz signal. Thus 8 additional reference
bursts (called auxiliary bursts) are transmitted each consisting of 12 pulses 30µs apart
28 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
The receiver signal processing is relatively simple. 15Hz and 135 Hz filters separate the
two bearing signals. Using the time between the decoded North reference burst and the
negative-going zero crossover of the 15 Hz signal, the 40 degree segment can be deter-
mined. Once this has been established the Auxiliary Reference Burst and the next nega-
tive-going zero crossover of the 135 Hz is used to get the final bearing.
In the example below (Figure 17), the main reference burst occurs when the phase of the
15 Hz signal is 40˚. The negative - going zero crossover occurs at 180˚ and thus the bear-
ing is 140˚. i.e the negative-going zero crossover occurs 140˚ after the North (or Main)
Reference burst. Note for confirmation the negative-going zero crossover for the 135 Hz
signal is 180˚ after the 120˚ Auxiliary reference burst. Note that 180˚ of 135Hz signal is
20˚ of bearing and thus the bearing is 120˚ + 20˚ = 140˚
TACAN COMPOSITE SIGNAL

2
1.5
0.5
0
Amplitude
−0.5
Main
−1
Reference
−1.5
Burst
−2
−2.5 Auxiliary Reference Bursts

−3
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
ANGLE(degs)
Figure 21:
TACAN Composite Signal Including
Main Reference Burst and
Auxiliary Reference Bursts
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 29
Auxiliary
Burst
Decoder
135Hz Phase
Filter Shifter Comparator
Peak 9:1 ratio

Rider link
15Hz Phase Comparator

Filter Shifter
North
Burst
Decoder
Cockpit Bearing Indicator
Figure 22:
TACAN Receiver Block Diagram
The cockpit readouts are the same as those for VOR and DME
Accuracy, Integrity Availability
Accuracy and immunity to reflections is better than VOR

Integrity and Availability are about the same as VOR
Comments
Because military aircraft use the same airways as civilian aircraft, Tacans are usually
collocated with VORs to form a facility called a VORTAC
Stand alone Tacans are installed at military bases to provide an approach aid.
30 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
6. ABSOLUTE NAVIGATION SYSTEMS
Definition
An absolute navigation system is one which provides vehicle position referred to a general
coordinate system. The coordinate system might be local e.g. a locally level cartesian sys-
tem for test purposes or it could be global such as latitude/longitude.
Waypoints
In general the straight segments of a route are called “legs” and in relative navigation the
endpoints of the legs are determined by the facility on which the route is based (NDB,
VOR or TACAN). In absolute navigation there are no such facilities and the legs endpoints
are defined by “waypoints”. A waypoint being an imaginary point in space defined in
whatever coordinate system the navigation system is using (usually latitude/longitude).
Waypoints are usually 2 dimensional for enroute navigation by can be 3 dimensional espe-
cially when the navigation system is capable of providing vertical guidance.
Special Requirements for Absolute Navigation
a. Accurate survey of ground stations (if used by the nav system)

b. Accurate survey of Airway waypoints
c. Accurate data base of airway waypoints, facility locations.
Note 1: This last point is extremely important. First of all the size of the
data base determines the area of operation of the navigation system. Sec-
ondly, the data base has to be accurate and up to date. Data bases are usu-
ally updated every 28 days by the national government agency responsible
for air navigation
Good configuration control is mandatory.
Note 2: In addition to the data base received from government agencies,

airlines may generate their own to accommodate any special routings they
may have.
Advantages of Absolute Navigation
a. Airways can be defined in accordance with the requirements of the air

traffic control system without regard to the problems of installing a facility
at the end of a given leg. e.g. over water or in rough terrain
b. Fewer ground based facilities are required therefore less cost in equip-
ment and maintenance.
c. Greater flexibility for flight planning. More direct routes. This creates a
problem with air traffic control by making the locations and velocities of
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 31
aircraft more random. The newer automated air traffic control systems
are addressing this problem.
d. Absolute Navigation Systems in Use Today:
LORAN C,INS, GPS, Multi-DME
6.1 LORAN C
General
LORAN C stands for LOng RAnge Navigation version C. This was originally a marine
navigation system and, up until recently was maintained by the US Coast Guard. About
15 years ago relatively cheap processing capability became available which made
LORAN C viable for air navigation. in 1990 LORAN C receivers were installed in
more than 100,000 aircraft. Most of these were for VFR (Visual Flight Rules) use only.
About 10% of these installations were approved for enroute and terminal navigation
under IFR (Instrument Flight Rules).
Frequency: 100 kHz (all stations)
General Principle:
Each LORAN C transmitter transmits a pulsed wave and the receiver determines a line
of position by measuring the difference in the time of transit between each of two trans-
mitters’ signals. This is the equivalent of the difference in the distances from the
receiver to each transmitter. The line of position is a hyperbola as shown below:
RECEIVER x,y
M a S
c c
Figure 23:
LORAN C Geometry
Proof that LORAN C Lines of Position are Hyperbolas
The positions of the transmitters are (-c,0) and (c,0), the difference in the distances
from the receiver to each transmitter is 2a since when the receiver is on the base line the
distance to M is a-(-c) = a+c and the distance to S is c-a. Therefore ∆distance = a+c -
(c-a) = 2a
32 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
2 2 2 2 2 2
(x + c ) + y – (x – c ) + y = 2 ⋅ a
2 2 2 2 2 2
(x + c ) + y = 2 ⋅ a + (x – c ) + y
squaring
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
(x + c ) + y = 4 ⋅ a + 4 ⋅ c ⋅ (x – c ) + y + (x – c ) + y
expanding
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
x + 2xc + y = 4a + 4xc ⋅ ( x – c ) + y + x – 2xc + c + y
Thus
2 2 2 2
4xc = 4a + 4a ( x – c ) + y
2 2 2 2
xc – a = a ( x – c ) + y
Squaring
2 2 2 4 2 2 2 2
x c – 2xca + a = a ⋅ ( x – 2xc + c + y )
Expanding
2 2 2 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
x c – 2xca + a = a x – 2a xc + a c + a y
This reduces to
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
x ⋅ (c – a ) – a y = a ⋅ (c – a )
Setting b2=c2-a2
2 2 2 2 2 2
x b –y a = a b
Dividing by a2 b2
2 2
x y
----2- – ----2- = 1
a b
which is the equation of a hyperbola
One useful property of a hyperbola is that the tangent at any point bisects the angle
between the lines joining the point to the foci which, in the case of LORAN C are the mas-
ter and slave stations.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 33
xx
S M
Figure 24:
Property of
Tangent to Hyperbola
Position Fix
Since a position fix requires two lines of position, at least two slave stations are
required. In practice there may be up to 4 slave stations.
A master station with its slaves is called a chain and is each chain uniquely defined by
its signal format as described below.
A diagram of the hyperbolas formed by a master and two slaves is shown in Figure 20.
Note that the angle of intersection varies considerably over the coverage area. As an
exercise use the tangent property of the hyperbola to determine where the lines of posi-
tion intersect at 90˚.
34 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
S1 M
S2
Figure 11
Lines of Position
for Two LORAN C Stations
Figure 25:
Lines of Position for
Two LORAN C Station
Signal Format
The transmitter emits a pulse whose shape is shown in figure 21.
The pulse shape was chosen such that 99% of the energy lies between 90 and 110 kHz
Figure 11.
LORAN C Pulse
Figure 26:
LORAN C Pulse
The master station transmits a 9 pulse group with 1000µs spacing except for the last two
which are spaced at 2000µs. The ninth pulse is used to indicate unusable signals from one
of the stations. By “blinking” the ninth pulse on and off at 12 second intervals using Morse
code letter groups RE, REE, REEE and REEEE to indicate that slaves X,Y,Z and W
respectively are transmitting unusable signals (see Forssell). Subsequently, each slave
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 35
transmits an 8 pulse group with 1000µs spacing. In the event of an error detected by the
monitor, the slave also provides warning by blinking the first two pulses of each group
at a rate of 0.25s on and 3.75s off. A given slave transmits its group at a specified delay
(called the coding delay or CD) after it receives the group from the master. The coding
delays are designed so that there can be no interference between any of the groups. The
whole pattern is repeated at the Group Repetition Interval (GRI) which is unique for
each chain and is used to identify a particular chain. 40 different GRIs are available to
identify chains.
In addition, stations phase code their pulse groups i.e. the phase of the carrier is shifted
180˚ for certain pulses. This can be used for further identification and is useful for pro-
tection from sky wave contamination.
GRI
TDZ
TDX
M Z M
X
Figure 13.
Typical LORAN C Group
Signal Format
Note: some of the energy radiated from the stations follows the contour of the earth
(Ground Wave) and some radiates towards the ionosphere where it is reflected (Sky
Wave). Only the ground wave is used for navigation and the sky wave can be a problem
because it can contaminate the ground signal. Receivers can distinguish between them
up to 1000 miles so this is the coverage that can be expected.
LORAN C transmitter
The transmitter emits a peak power of up to 4 MW. This signal is fed into a single ver-
tical tower antenna as high as 1350 ft. An extensive network of wires is buried in the
ground to a radius of 1000 ft. to ensure a good ground plane. This is called a counter-
poiseand is used to make the RF electric field as close to vertical as possible..
36 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
The master and slave stations are separated typically by 600 - 800 miles.
Overall timing of the station transmissions is controlled by a monitor station located

within the chain. The monitor station compensates for some of the propagation variations
which change with time.
LORAN C receivers
The receiver must be provided with the coordinates of the stations in each chain as well as
the GRI for each chain.
The receiver must first of all identify the chain by its GRI. It then locks its reference oscil-
lator to the master signal and then locks onto the slave signals and measures the appropri-
ate phase differences.
In another attempt to reduce the interference from skywaves, only the first three cycles of
the RF pulse are used.
As the signals may be immersed in atmospheric noise the signal to noise ratio can be
around -20dB. Other interfering sources may add another 35 dB. Also the desired signal
strengths may vary as much as 120dB.
Thus the receiver can not be implemented using conventional filter. Therefore phase
locked loops acting as tracking filters with long integration times (~10 s) are used.
To accommodate aircraft acceleration, such as in turns, the filter bandwidths must be

increased thus reducing sensitivity.
Accuracy
Errors depend on the accuracy of the time delay measurement, the variation in propagation
speed from nominal and the geometry at a given point. Typical errors are in the range of
200m
Integrity
Ground monitors are installed throughout the LORAN C coverage area. In the USA 196
were installed at VOR locations. These monitors communicate directly with the LORAN
C transmitters and correct for changes in propagation conditions. If the corrections are not
adequate, the transmitter starts to “blink” the signal indicating to the receiver that the sig-
nal is unusable.
Availability:
Above 99%
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 37
Future Prospects
Although the US Coast Guard is no longer funding LORAN C and despite the
advent of GPS which provides much superior performance, The LORAN sys-
tem is still growing. The US installed a chain in the central US a few years ago
to accommodate general aviation aircraft and new chains are being built in the
Far East. It is difficult to explain this except that there are many LORAN C
receivers installed in ships, boats and general aviation aircraft and people are
reluctant to invest in a replacement.
Note: Recently LORAN C has been proposed as a backup for GPS in the air navigation
system
6.2 Multi DME
As the name implies, multi DME uses the measured ranges to two or more DME sta-
tions to determine the position of the aircraft.
DME1
DME3
DME2
Figure 27: . Multi DME Geometry
38 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
Two architectures for such a system suggest themselves
1. Two or more standard DME transceivers providing data to a navigation computer.
2. One frequency hopping DME transceiver providing data to the navigation computer.
DME#1
Navigation
Navigation DME Computer
DME#2 Computer
DME#3
Figure 28: . Early Multi-DME Architectures
The first solution was necessary when only standard transceivers were available. This has
the disadvantage of requiring more hardware and more antennas thus consuming more
space, power and weight. One way around this was to tune the transceiver to the necessary
stations in succession. The disadvantage of this technique was that the transceiver had to
be in search mode most of the time and that the dwell time on each station had to be long
enough to achieve lock. Thus it might take a minute or more to get enough data for a fix in
which time the aircraft could have travelled 3 or 4 miles. Thus some means of interpolat-
ing the results was necessary. This was sometimes done with an inertial navigation system
but this was expensive.
As multi-DME became more popular, and as better navigation computers became avail-
able, DME transceiver manufacturers started to develop transceivers which were able to
track several stations at the same time. This was done by adding processing channels.
As was mentioned in the section on DME, the signal processing channel has the capability
of remembering the position of the range gate and the rate at which the range gate is mov-
ing so that the system can provide guidance information during short periods of signal
loss. Thus, in a frequency hopping system, each channel tracks the range and range rate
for one DME and is kept up to date when the RF is tuned to its frequency.
Computations
The measured DME range must be converted from slant range to ground range using alti-
tude information input from the aircraft altimeter.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 39
The navigation computer then solves the set of resulting equations:
2 2 2
x – x DME1 ) + ( y – y DME1 ) = R DME1
2 2 2
x – x DME2 ) + ( y – y DME2 ) = R DME2
2 2 2
x – x DME3 ) + ( y – y DME3 ) = R DME3
Note: Typically these equations are not solved explicitly but are linearized and solved
using an iterative technique.
Note that a position fix may be obtained with 2 DME ranges as long as the geometry is
good and provided that the initial position is known. However, if the flight path is
expected to cross the line joining the two DMEs then an additional position data source
will be required until the aircraft reaches a position with better geometry.
DME1
DME2
Figure 29:
Baseline Geometry
Another option is to select another DME if one is available.
Accuracy
Accuracy depends on the number of DME stations being interrogated and their geome-
try. With 3 stations and reasonable geometry the accuracy would be around 100m.
Integrity:
The integrity system for the normal DME provides integrity for that part of the system.
The navigation computer monitors the number of station and their geometry and pro-
vides a warning if these are not adequate.
40 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
Availability:
Availability is slightly less than for stand alone DME because more stations are required
but it is still around 99%.
6.3 GPS
GPS stands for Global Positioning System. It is also called Navstar (Navigation System
with Timing and Ranging)
Basic Principle
The basic principle of GPS is the same as for multi-DME. i.e. in three dimensions, if the
distances of the vehicle from three known points is known then the position of the vehicle
can be determined.
Figure 30:
Principle of GPS
In the GPS system the known points are the satellites (or space segment) and the ranges
are determined by measuring the time of travel of an electromagnetic wave from the satel-
lite to the receiver. Note that the navigation equipment is not required to transmit as is the
case with DME. Thus the number of users is unlimited. The system is designed to give
world-wide, all-weather coverage.
The GPS is arbitrarily divided into three segments: the space segment, the control segment
and the user segment
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 41
Space Segment:
The space segment naturally consists of the satellite constellation.
The specification calls for 24 satellites (21 + 3 active spares) arranged in 6 orbital
planes. As of 06/01/17 there were 29 satellites in orbit of which 28 were operational.
Note: The satellite designations are block II and IIA for the satellites which formed the
original operational constellation. As these failed they were replaced by block IIR
(replenishment) satellites.
When the supply of block IIRs has been exhausted they will be replaced by block IIF
(Follow-on) satellites.
Satellite Characteristics:
Weight: 1667 kg
Design Life:(II/IIA) 7.3 years (IIR) 7.8years (IIF) 10years
Frequency Standards:(II/IIA) 2 Cesium Beam, 2 Rubidium, 1 TCXO (Tempera-

ture Controlled Crystal Oscillator):
(IIR) 3 Rubidium.
L Band Transmitters (Navigation Signal):
1575.42 MHz (L1)
1227.6 MHz (L2)
S Band Communications:
1783.7 (Uplink)
2227.5 (Downlink)
Orbit Characteristics:
To specify an orbit, 6 parameters are required. For GPS these are:
a. semimajor axis(actually the square root) a
b. eccentricity
c. argument of perigee
d. inclination at reference time (Reference time provided by satellite data message)
42 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
e. mean anomaly at reference time
f. longitude of the ascending node at weekly epoch. (Midnight Saturday)
GPS satellite orbits are all circular (or as close to circular as possible) i.e. eccentricity = 0
The semimajor axis is 26609 km making the orbit semi synchronous. i.e. the period is 12
hours and thus the satellite passes over the same track every other orbit.
The orbit inclinations are all 55˚. and they are arranged so the longitudes of the ascending
nodes are 60˚ apart.
The constellation is designed to give the optimum coverage and geometry on a world-wide
basis.
Control Segment
The control segment consists of tracking stations around the world and a control station at
Falcon Air Force Base in Colorado with a backup at Vandenburg Air Force Base in Cali-
fornia.
The purpose of the tracking stations is to measure the satellite orbital parameters and to
send this information to the control station. These are spread around the world, close to the
equator
The control station transmits updated orbital and clock correction data to the satellites and
performs orbital corrections
User
The user segment is simply a name for all of the receivers which are using the system for
their own purposes.
Satellite Position Determination
The position of each satellite is derived from the ephemeris (plural: ephemerides), or set of
orbital parameters, and the GPS system time obtained from the position fix calculation
described above. As with many of the computations involved in the GPS system this is a
chicken and egg situation. i.e. the satellite position calculation requires system time
which, in turn depends on the position solution, which depends on the knowledge of satel-
lite position. Fortunately these problems can be solved by iterative computations which
converge rapidly. Thus rough satellite positions can be used to determine an initial posi-
tion fix which in turn can be used to obtain an approximate clock bias which can then be
used to refine the estimate of the satellite positions.
Satellite position is first computed in the orbital coordinate system. The x and y axes lie in
the plane of the orbit with the x axis passing through the perigee (point P) which is the
point at which the satellite is closest to earth. The x and y coordinates of the satellite in
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 43
this coordinate system are determined from true anomaly and the distance (ν and r in
Figure 2.1). x being r cos ν and y being r sin υ . ν and r are calculated as follows using
Kepler’s laws of orbital motion which are:
a. The orbit of a satellite about the earth is an ellipse with the centre of
the earth as one of its foci.
b. A line joining the satellite to the earth’s centre sweeps out equal areas
in equal times.
c. The square of the orbital period is proportional to the cube of the
mean distance from the satellite to the earth’s centre
.
y
s
r
bs
ν
E
x
P
as
Figure 31:
Determination of Satellite Position
in Orbital Plane Coordinate System
One consequence of Kepler’s second law is that, if the eccentricity of the ellipse
2 2
as – bs
( ε s = -------------------------- ) is not 0 i.e. the ellipse is not a perfect circle, then the rate of change
as
of ν is not a linear function of time. In order to simplify the position calculation, it is
convenient to develop a variable which is a linear function of time. This is done
through the angle E in Fig. 2.1 which is called the eccentric anomaly and is related to ν
2
1 – ε s sin E
through the equation ν = atan ------------------------------
cos ( E – ε s )
In turn E can be determined from M, the mean anomaly, which is a linear function of
time, specifically
44 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
M ≡ E – ε s sin E = n ( t – t p )
where n is the mean motion or average angular velocity over an orbital period, tp is the
time of perigee passage i.e. the time at which the satellite passed point P in Fig. 2.1, and t
is the current time.
In the GPS implementation, the navigation data message gives M for a reference time (Mr
) as well as the reference time itself (tr) thus the mean anomaly for any time t can be deter-
mined from the equation M = M r + n m ( t r – t ) where nm is the mean motion modified
by a correction factor ∆n which is also included in the navigation message.
Once the satellite coordinates have been determined in the orbital plane they must be con-
verted to the GPS coordinate system
The satellite orbit is (relatively) fixed in inertial space and is defined relative to the ECI
(earth centred inertial) coordinate system. As the name implies, the origin of this system is
at the centre of the earth and its orientation is fixed relative to inertial space which may be
taken as defined by the positions of the “fixed” stars (stars which are so far from earth that
they exhibit no relative motion). The x axis is the line of intersection of the plane of the
earth’s orbit (the ecliptic) and the plane of the equator. The positive x direction is defined
as the direction of the earth-sun vector at the vernal equinox. The z axis is the mean orien-
tation of the earth’s spin axis and the y axis is defined so as to form a right hand orthogonal
system
The GPS coordinate system is ECEF (earth-centred earth fixed). That is, its origin is the
centre of the earth as with the ECI system, however it rotates with the earth and thus
appears fixed to it. The x axis is defined by the line joining the origin with the intersection
of the equator and the prime meridian i.e. the meridian which passes through Greenwich,
England. The z axis is the same as the z axis of the ECI system since this is the axis abnout
which the coordinate frame rotates and the y axis is defined so as to form a right hand
orthogonal coordinate system. The transformation from ECI to ECEF is a rotation about
the z axis by an amount Ω̇t where Ω̇ is the earth’s rotation rate (7.2821151467 x 10-5
rad/s) and t is the time since the two coordinate systems concided which occurs once each
sidereal day.
The transformation from orbital coordinate system to ECEF coordinate system is done in
three stages. First the orbit coordinate system is rotated about its z axis by an amount
equal to the argument of the perigee. This places the x axis in the plane of the equator
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 45
.
y y’
x
Descending Node P
argument of
perigee
x’
Ascending Node
Figure 32:
Rotation of x Axis into the Equatorial Plane
Then the orbital Plane is rotated about the transformed x axis by an amount equal to the
inclination angle i.
z’
z
y
i
y’
x’ Equatorial Plane
ne
la
lP
ita
rb
O
Figure 33:
Rotation of y axis into Equatorial Plane
The final transformation into the ECEF coordinates is a rotation about the z’ axis. The
amount of rotation Ω er is made up of two components. One is the angle or longitude of
the ascending node Ω and the other is the angle between the ECEF x axis and the ECI
x axis which, as mentioned above, is a function of time. To simplify the receiver calcu-
lations, these two components are combined as follows.
46 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
As mentioned above the angular difference between the ECI and ECEF coordinate sys-
tems is Ω̇t where t is the time referred to the instant the two systems coincided. The time
determined by the GPS receiver is GPS time which is referenced to the start of the GPS
week which is Saturday/Sunday midnight. In order to be able to use GPS time to deter-
mine the amount of rotation required, it is necessary to compensate for the offset between
the two time references ∆t which results in an angle offset equal to the ECI angle of the
Greenwich meridian at the beginning of the GPS week (angle α in Figure 2.4).
Angle Ω e which combines the longitude of the ascending node Ω and the angle offset α
resulting from the time offset, is transmitted as part of the Navigation Message. Thus the
amount of coordinate rotation is Ω = Ω – Ωt ˙
er e GPS
Greenwich
x’ Meridian
Ωe x’’ at GPS time t
Ascending Ω
Node Greenwich Meridian
Ωer at beginning of GPS week
α=
z Vernal Equinox
(x axis of ECI
system)
Figure 34:
Rotation from ECI
to ECEF coordinate system
Signal Format
Spread Spectrum Systems
Spread Spectrum techniques were developed by the military primarily to reduce the prob-
ability of interception of communications (LPI - low probability of intercept) and to
reduce the effect of jamming. One by-product of the spread spectrum technique is commu-
nication by code division multiple access (CDMA). In this system, all communication
takes place on the same carrier frequency with each individual user or channel being dis-
tinguishable by its pseudo random code. Two major approaches to spread spectrum are
frequency hopping and direct sequence.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 47
Frequency Hopping (FH),
As the name suggests FH involves the shifting of the carrier in a random fashion
through a given set of frequencies. Since the carrier is at any given frequency
for only a short time, it is difficult to detect. Also, since, for maximum effect, a
jammer tends to concentrate over a small part of the spectrum, the desired com-
munication link is jammed for only a small proportion of the time.
In recent commercial applications, frequency hopping is applied to situations

where severe multipath fading occurs (such as a cellular phone moving through
a building). Since the amount of fading, (or destructive interference) at any
given point depends on wavelength (hence frequency), by hopping the fre-
quency, as in the case of jamming, the fading is effective for only a small part of
the total time.
The pattern of frequencies for hopping is a pseudo-random sequence (also

called a pseudo-noise or PN sequence). These are called pseudo-random
because they are, in fact, deterministic since they are generated by a defined
mechanism, and also because they are periodic. The receiver is able to complete
the link because it also knows the sequence and, by shifting its detection
sequence in time and measuring how often it receives a valid signal, it eventu-
ally locks on to the transmitted sequence.
Direct Sequence (Used in GPS)
τd
Data
Sequence +1
Symbol
τc
-1
PN Sequence
Tx
Rx DELAY
Stored
Reference
Despread
Figure 35:
The Direct Sequence Code/Decode Process
48 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
In the direct sequence technique, the data sequence is multiplied by a PN sequence
whose bit length (τc above) is considerably shorter than that of the data (τd above).
τc is usually called the chip width and its inverse is called the chip rate. The ratio of
chip rate to data rate is called the processing gain (measured in dB) and is a mea-
sure of the advantage of the system over a jammer.
Autocorrelation and Spectral Density
The autocorrelation function of a random sequence is the correlation of the

sequence with itself i.e.
∞
F (τ) = ∫ f ( t ) f ( τ + t ) dt
–∞
For a random sequence of square pulses as shown above this is:
−τc τc τ
Figure 36:
Autocorrelation of a Random
Sequence of Square Pulses
From the Einstein -Wiener -Khinchin theorem (from stochastic processes) the
power spectral density of such a signal is the Fourier transform of the autocorrela-
tion process and in this case is:
 sin ( π ⋅ f τ c ) 2
τ c  A ⋅ -----------------------------
 π ⋅ f τc 
or the sinc2 function
Note that the bandwidth (to the first null where f τ c = 1 ) is inversely proportional
to the bit or chip width and that the peak amplitude is directly proportional to chip
width. Thus the higher the frequency of the spreading code, the lower the peak
power and the wider the spread of its spectrum.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 49
Thus, by using a high chip rate the signal energy is spread across the spectrum
and the maximum amplitude can be pushed down below the noise, thus making
it difficult to detect.
Detection and Time Synchronization
As in the frequency hopping case, the receiver carries a means of replicating the
code and thus uses a correlation process to decode the signal.
Note that by locking on to the transmitted signal, the receiver synchronizes

itself to the clock of the transmitter and thus providing a means by which time
can be determined accurately.
PN Code Generation
Digital code generation is usually done using linear shift registers with some type of
feedback as shown in Figure 10. Mathematically this is described by a polynomial
whose coefficients are either 1 or 0; a 1 indicating that there is a tap at that location in
the register.
α7 α6 α5 α4 α3 α2 α1 α0
f =1 + α3 + α7
+ +
Figure 37:
Linear Feedback Shift Register
for Pseudonoise Code Generation
The maximum period of the sequences generated by a linear shift register of length n is
2n-1 (the all zeros state is not admitted because it is stable and creates a constant output
of zero), however most polynomials produce sequences whose periods are less than the
maximum. The maximum length sequence is called an m-sequence and is generated by
a polynomial called a prime polynomial. Prime polynomials are available in tabulated
form for given register lengths.
e.g. For a sequence of length 8 the taps for an M-sequence are at (4,3,2) and (6,5,1)
or α4 + α3 + α2 + 1 and α6 + α5 + α + 1.
50 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
N
-1
Figure 38:
M-sequence Autocorrelation
The autocorrelation of a m-sequence is as shown in Figure 34. This shows that, away from
the correlation point, the number of -1s is always one greater than the number of +1s. The
peak value depends on the number of bits being considered, N in this case.
Although they have good autocorrelation characteristics, m-sequences from the same shift
register length (there are 16 prime polynomials for a shift register of length 8) have poor
cross correlation properties. This makes them unsuitable for CDMA applications because
cross correlation peaks create the likelihood that one code will lock on to another,
unwanted, code.
Thus for GPS, Gold codes are used for the C/A (Coarse/Acquisition) code which is used
for most civilian applications. These are generated by adding the outputs of two m-
sequences together. The two polynomials must have a specified relationship to each other.
Gold codes have good auto- and cross-correlation properties
N
>26dB
-1
Figure 39:
Gold Code Autocorrelation
-1
Figure 40:
Gold Code Cross Correlation
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 51
GPS Codes
The GPS L1 frequency is BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying) modulated with two
codes: the C/A code and the P (precision) code. These codes are in quadrature with
each other. The C/A code is a Gold code of length 1023 chips and the chip rate is
1.023MHz i.e. this code repeats every 1ms. The P code is a long (264 days) m-
sequence with a chipping rate of 10.23MHz. Each satellite uses a different, one week
long segment of the code. They are reset every week at midnight on Saturday.
The original purpose for the C/A code was to provide a means of directing the military
receivers to the correct part of the P code. Since a 1 ms code can be locked onto
quickly, it can be used to transfer information on the phase of the P code. It was deter-
mined fairly early by civilian users that the C/A code could also be used for range mea-
surements.
The GPS L2 frequency is BPSK modulated with the P code only. Thus, with the two
frequencies, the military receiver can measure the extra delay due to the ionosphere
since this delay is inversely proportional to the square of the carrier frequency
In addition to the two spreading codes, the GPS signal is modulated with a Data Mes-
sage which provides the receiver with information by means of which it can determine
its position and the status of the satellites in the GPS constellation.
The message is sent at a data rate of 50 bits/sec is 1500 bits long and is divided into 5
subframes of 300 bits each.
Each subframe includes a Handover word (HOW) which tells P code receivers the
approximate phase of the P code to permit easy acquisition. It also includes the time for
the start of the next frame. The telemetry word (TLW) includes frame identifier and a
Barker code for determining the bit polarity for synchronization.
The Clock Correction contains the corrections to the satellite clock and also the param-
eters for the Ionospheric delay model
The Ephemeris contains the data describing the satellite orbit.
The Almanac contains rough ephemeris and status data for all of the other satellites in
the constellation. This allows the receiver to acquire other satellites quickly after the
first on has been acquired (since it can determine a good estimate of the code delay and
the doppler shift
52 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
50 BITS/SECOND DATA RATE
0 30 60 300
SUBFRAME 1 TLM HOW CLOCK CORRECTION/IONOSPHERIC MODEL PARAMETERS
300 330 360 600
SUBFRAME 2 TLM HOW EPHEMERIS
600 630 660 900
SUBFRAME 3 TLM HOW EPHEMERIS
900 930 960 1200
SUBFRAME 4 TLM HOW MESSAGE (MULTIPLEXED THROUGH 25 FRAMES)
1200 1230 1260 1600

SUBFRAME 5 TLM HOW ALMANAC/HEALTH/STATUS (MULTIPLEXED THROUGH 25 FRAMES)
TLM: TELEMETRY WORD
HOW: HAND OVER WORD
Figure 41:
The GPS Navigation Data Message
Position Calculation and Geometric Dilution of Precision (GDOP)
GDOP provides a numerical measure of the effects of the spatial distribution of satellites
on the accuracy of the position fix. Although, theoretically, four satellites can provide a
position fix, the accuracy of the fix can be quite poor if two or more of the satellites are
close together.
The basic range equations for 4 satellites are:
2 2 2
( x – x 1 ) + ( y – y 1 ) + ( z – z 1 ) + ct = R 1
2 2 2
( x – x 2 ) + ( y – y 2 ) + ( z – z 2 ) + ct = R 2
2 2 2
( x – x 3 ) + ( y – y 3 ) + ( z – z 3 ) + ct = R 3
2 2 2
( x – x 4 ) + ( y – y 4 ) + ( z – z 4 ) + ct = R 4
Where x,y and z are the user position coordinates (unknown) and t is the user clock bias
(also unknown)
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 53
and xi,yi and zi are the coordinates of satellite i (known)
Ri is the pseudorange to satellite i (measured)
Note: pseudorange is the sum of the actual range and the offset due to the user clock bias
The above four equations are to be solved for the four unknowns, however the equa-
tions are nonlinear and a receiver will usually use a simpler, linearized version of the
equations.
Let xn,yn,zn,and tn be (a priori) best estimates of x,y,z and t (nominal position)
∆x,∆y,∆z and ∆t be the corrections to these positions
Rni be the nominal (a priori) pseudorange to the ith satellite
i.e. the distance between the assumed position and the satellite
∆Ri be the difference between the actual and nominal measurements
Hence:
x = xn+∆x
y = yn+∆y
z = zn+∆z
t = tn+∆t
Ri=Rni+∆Ri
2 2 2
and R ni = ( x n – x i ) + ( y n – y i ) + ( z n – z i ) + ct n (2)
Substituting into equation 1
2 2 2
( x n + ∆x – x i ) + ( y n + ∆y – y i ) + ( z n + ∆z – z i ) = R ni + ∆R i – ct n – c∆t
i = 1,2,3,4
Expanding and ignoring second order terms:
:
2 2 2
( x n – x i ) + ( y n – y i ) + ( z n – z i ) + 2 ( x n – x i )∆x + 2 ( y n – y i )∆y + 2 ( z n – z i )∆z
= R ni + ∆R i – ct n – c∆t
54 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
Gathering terms
2 2 2 2 ( x n – x i )∆x + 2 ( y n – y i )∆y + 2 ( z n – z i )∆z

[ ( x n – x i ) + ( y n – y i ) + ( z n – z i ) ] 1 + ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 2 2
( xn – xi ) + ( yn – yi ) + ( zn – zi )
= R ni + ∆R i – ct n – c∆t
δ
Using 1 + δ ≈ 1 + --- on the second term
2
2 2 2 ( x n – x i )∆x + ( y n – y i )∆y + ( z n – z i )∆z

( x n – x i ) + ( y n – y i ) + ( z n – z i ) + ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (3)
2 2 2
( xn – xi ) + ( yn – yi ) + ( zn – zi )
= R ni + ∆R i – ct n – c∆t
From (2)
2 2 2
( x n – x i ) + ( y n – y i ) + ( z n – z i ) = R ni – ct n
Substituting into (3)
xn – xi yn – yi zn – zi
--------------------- ( ∆x ) + --------------------- ( ∆y ) + --------------------- ( ∆z ) + c∆t = ∆R i
R ni – ct n R ni – ct n R ni – ct n
These four equations (for i=1,2,3,4) are the linearized equations relating pseudorange
measurements to the desired user navigation information and the user’s clock bias.
The known quantities (RHS) are the differences between the measured pseudoranges and
the values predicted on the basis of the assumed position and clock bias and the known
satellite positions.
The quantities to be computed, ∆x,∆y,∆z and ∆t are corrections that the user will make
to the current estimate of position and clock bias.
Note: the coefficients of the quantities on the LHS are the direction cosines of the lines
joining user to the satellite projected on the x, y and z axes.
Writing these equations in matrix form:
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 55
α 11 α 12 α 13 c ∆R 1
∆x
α 21 α 22 α 23 c ∆y ∆R 2
=
α 31 α 32 α 33 c ∆z ∆R 3
α α α c ∆t
41 42 43 ∆R 4
Where αij = direction cosine of the angle between the line to the ith satellite and the jth
coordinate
Let A = [ α ij ]
∆x
x = ∆y
∆z
∆t
and
∆R 1
∆R 2
r =
∆R 3
∆R 4
Therefore
Ax=r or x = A-1r
This last equation compactly expresses the relationship between pseudorange measure-
ments and user position and clock bias. Since the relationship is linear, it can be used to
express the relationship between the errors in pseudorange and the errors in user-mea-
sured ranges. This relationship may be expressed as follows:
–1
ξ x = A ξr
where ξr represents the pseudorange measurement errors and ξx the corresponding

errors in user position and clock bias.
Let us now consider the covariance matrix of the expected errors in pseudorange mea-
surements and the covariance of the measurement quantities. The first is 4x4 array
composed of the expected values of the squares and products of the errors in the pseu-
56 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
dorange measurements. The diagonal terms are the variances, i.e. the squares of the
expected 1σ values of the pseudorange errors. The off-diagonal terms are the covariances
between the pseudorange measurements and reflect the correlations to be expected in
these measurements. Likewise, the covariance matrix for the user quantities is composed
of the expected values of the squares and products of the errors in the user quantities. The
diagonal terms are the variances or the squares of the 1σ errors in user position and time,
while the off-diagonal terms reflect the correlations in these errors. These covariance
matrices are given by
 T
cov ( r ) ) = E  ξ r ξ r 
 
 T
and cov ( x ) ) = E  ξ x ξ x 
 
where the symbol E{} designates the “expected value” of the quantity inside the braces.
–1 –1 T
cov ( x ) = A cov ( r ) ( A )
From the relationship between the covariances just developed, it should be noted that the
relationship between the pseudorange measurement and the user’s position and clock bias
errors is a function only of the solution matrix A which, in turn is a function only of the
direction cosines of the lines-of-sight from the user to the satellites along the axes of the
coordinate system being used. In other words, the error relationships are a function only of
the satellite geometry. An important consideration in the proper usage of GPS is that the
geometry of the four satellites being employed possess “good” geometric properties. In
this context “good” indicates that, because of satellite geometry, a given level of pseudor-
ange error results in small user position errors. This leads to the concept of Geometric
Dilution of Precision (GDOP), which is a measure of how satellite geometry degrades
positional accuracy.
The following assumption regarding pseudorange measurements errors provides a method

of determining quantitatively whether a particular four-satellite geometry is good or bad:
Assume that the individual pseudorange measurement errors are equal and that the mean
error is zero. Also assume that the correlation of errors between satellites is zero. In this
case then the covariance matrix for the errors in the pseudorange measurements becomes a
4x4 diagonal matrix.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 57
VR 0 0 0
1 0 0 0
0 VR 0 0
= VR 0 1 0 0
0 0 VR 0 0 0 1 0
0 0 0 VR 0 0 0 1
Thus, for this case the covariance matrix for user position and clock errors is given by
the following:
T –1
cov ( x ) = V R ( A A )
The GDOP is defined as the square root of the trace of cov(x) when cov(r) is the iden-
tity matrix. (VR)=1)
NOTE: the TRACE of a matrix is the sum of the diagonal elements.
Therefore:
T –1
GDOP = TRACE [ ( A A ) ]
Letting Vx, Vy, Vz and c2Vt be the variances of the user position and time we have:
2
GDOP ⋅ V R = Vx + V y + Vz + c Vt
As an alternative to GDOP as the criterion for selecting satellites or evaluating satellite

constellations, only some of the variances of the user position and time might be used.
These are defined as follows:
- Position Dilution of Position - The square root of the sum of the squares of the
three components of user position i.e.
Vx + Vy + Vz
PDOP = -------------------------------------
VR
- Horizontal Dilution of Precision - The square root of the sum of the squares of
the horizontal
components of the position error i.e.
Vx + Vy
HDOP = ------------------------
VR
58 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
- Vertical Dilution of Precision - The altitude error i.e.
Vx
VDOP = -----------
VR
NOTE: PDOP2 = HDOP2 + VDOP2

Example:
Because matrix inversion for matrices larger than 2x2 is time-consuming, an example for a
2 dimensional case will be given. Except for the number of dimensions, the principles are
the same as for the GPS case.
Consider the case shown in Diagram 1
20NM
30NM
Diagram 1
The nominal position of the aircraft is 0,0
The direction cosines for DME A are
0–0 20 – 0
------------ = 0 and --------------- = 1
20 20
and for DME B are
30 – 0 0–0
--------------- = 1 and ------------ = 0
30 30
Thus the A matrix is 0 1

1 0
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 59
Coincidentally the AT is also 0 1
1 0
Therefore ATA is 1 0
0 1
1
and (ATA)-1 is ---- 1 0 where D is the determinant of ATA (=1 in
D 0 1
this case)
Note: for the 2 x 2 matrix TRACE(ATA)-1 is 1 + 1 = 2
and GDOP (or HDOP in this case) is 2 = 1.414
Now consider the case in Diagram 2
20NM
20NM
30NM
Diagram 2
20 – 0 20 – 0
The direction cosines for DME A are --------------- = 0.707 and --------------- = 0.707
28 28
30 – 0 0–0
and for DME B are --------------- = 1 and ------------ = 0
30 30
Thus the A matrix is 0.707 0.707

1 0
60 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
The AT is therefore 0.707 1
0.707 0
Thus ATA is 1.5 0.5

0.5 0.5
The determinant is 1.5 x .5 - .5 x .5 =.5
Therefore (ATA)-1 is 1 –1
–1 3
–1
a a 1 a – a 21
Note: for a 2x2 matrix 11 12 = ---- 22
a 21 a 22 D –a
12 a 11
TRACE((ATA)-1)is therefore 3+ 1 = 4
and GDOP (or HDOP in this case) is 4 = 2
Note that these calculations can accommodate any number of facilities or position lines:
For Example Diagram 3

20NM
20NM
30NM
20NM
Diagram 3
10NM
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 61
The direction cosines for DME A are
20 – 0 20 – 0
--------------- = 0.707 and --------------- = 0.707
28 28
and for DME B are
30 – 0 0–0
--------------- = 1 and ------------ = 0
30 30
and DME C are
10 – 0 20 – 0
--------------- = 0.45 and --------------- = 0.9
22.3 22.3
0.707 0.707
Thus the A matrix is 1 0
0.45 0.9
The AT is therefore 0.707 1 0.45

0.707 0 0.9
Thus ATA is 1.7 0.9

0.9 1.3
The determinant is 1.7x 1.3-.9x.9= 1.4
62 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
Therefore (ATA)-1 is 0.92 – 0.64
– 0.64 1.206
TRACE(ATA) is therefore.92+ 1.2= 2.1
and GDOP (or HDOP in this case) is 2.1 = 1.45
Thus adding more information (in the form of another DME range) improved the accuracy
of the position fix
6.4 Receivers and Signal Processing
Antennas
The signal is circularly polarized and is received at a level of about -125 dBm (-130dBm
minimum) from a 0 dB gain antenna. Due to the low signal level most antennas include a
Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) with a gain of about 30 dB to compensate for antenna cable
losses. The Carrier to Noise ratio (C/N0) is between 30 and 50 dB-Hz which, when
divided by the typical LNA bandwidth of 2 MHz (63dB) gives a signal to noise ratio (S/N)
of -13 to -33 dB. The processing gain of the C/A code correlation is about 43 dB which
results in a final S/N of 10 to 30 dB
Receivers
The first function of the receiver is to convert the signal to a lower frequency. This is done
for several reasons. Firstly, it is easier to build A/D converters which operate at lower fre-
quencies. Secondly, amplifiers are more readily available and cheaper and thirdly, it is eas-
ier to build narrow band filters at lower frequencies. The practical lower bandwdth limit
for filters is about 1% of centre frequency. At lower bandwidths, the insertion loss is too
high.
Note: Almost all GPS receivers convert the signal to digital form as soon as possible after
the antenna.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 63
20MHz
1.57542GHz
Digital IF
LNA Filter ADC
2MHz BW
LO
1.55542 GHz
Figure 42:
GPS Receiver RF Processing
The processor performs the following actions:
a. Acquisition of (locking onto) the spreading code
This involves generating the code for the desired SV, correlating it with the
input signal and tracking it.
This also requires generating a duplicate of the IF signal as shifted by the Dop-
pler effect (due to the radial velocity of the satellite)
b. Reading the Navigation Data Message which gives the orbital parameters.
c. Measuring the time between the transmission and reception of the signal
d. Calculation of position.
The main processor tells each processing channel which SV signal to look for.
Since the data sequence is unknown, it is necessary to regenerate a phase coherent rep-
lica of the intermediate frequency to decode it.
Virtually all GPS receivers today use digital processing after the IF has been produced.
That is, the output of the mixer is applied to an A/D converter which provides the data
64 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
stream to the receiver computer.
Figure 43:
Delay Locked Loop (DLL) for One Processing Channel
Correlation with C/A code
Correlation
The basic circuit for the correlation process is the delay locked loop (DLL). The
main components of this circuit are a PN code generator which generates a replica
of the code to be detected, a numerically controlled oscillator which controls the
rate of the PN code, and a delay element which provides three ouputs each delayed
by the period of its input clock The delay element (a shift register) is thus clocked
at a rate which determines the spacing of the correlators (Early, Prompt and Late)
i.e. if the correlator width is 1/n chips, the delay element will be clocked at n times
the chip rate.
As was described previously, the correlation function of a PN code is a triangle as

shown below.
In order to lock on to the code, three replicas of the PN code are generated, but
shifted in time by an amount ∆. Both are correlated with the incoming signal and
the resulting outputs are passed on to the discriminator. The discriminator calcula-
tion can have any of several forms depending on the memory and speed of the pro-
cessor. One such calculation is:
2 2 2 2
I ES + Q ES – I ES + Q ES
------------------------------------------------------------------- which uses only the early and late samples
2 2 2 2
I ES + Q ES + I ES + Q ES
This gives a response characteristic as shown in the diagram. Note that the final
response is a function of the relationship between T (the chip period) and ∆
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 65
Late
-T-∆ ∆ T+∆
-∆
Early
τC/2
τC
τC/4
Detector Characteristics for

various values of ∆
The output of this phase comparator is then fed through a low pass filter to a
voltage controlled oscillator which determines the rate at which the PN code
generator is clocked. Thus if the code starts to fall behind the incoming signal,
the VCO frequency is increased so that the code is forced to the null (locked)
position.
Note that both the in-phase and quadrature values are generated. This is to
ensure that the signal can be processed regardless of the phase relationship
between the incoming signal and the replica
The input to the correlator has been multiplied by a signal whose frequency is
equal to the IF frequency, and is thus proportional to cos2 (ωIFt). This is neces-
sary because the input to the integrators must have a non-zero average value and
the average value of cos(ωIFt) is zero.
Thus the receiver has to regenerate a phase-coherent copy of the carrier (or IF)
66 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
.
Figure 44:
Carrier Lock Circuit
Due to the Doppler shift introduced into the received signal by the relative velocity
of the satellite and receiver, there is an uncertainty of about ±10 kHz in the fre-
quency of the signal from any given satellite. Thus, in addition to searching for the
correct time alignment (phase) of the code in the Code Loop, the receiver also
must search for the correct frequency offset in the Carrier Loop.
Thus a two dimensional search is required.
Note: If the approximate position of the satellite is known (from the almanac) then
the Doppler shift can be calculated and the search time reduced considerably. Thus
a receiver will gather almanac information during operation and store it in non-vol-
atile memory in preparation fo the next time it is turned on. (this is feasible
because the almanac changes very slowly and the satellite position does not have
to known very accurately.
GPS Errors
Ionospheric
GPS signal must pass through the ionosphere to reach terrestrial receivers and thus
the effects of the ionosphere must be taken into account.
The ionosphere is the upper part of the atmosphere which is affected to a very large
degree by the solar wind or stream of atomic particles and ionizing radiation pro-
duced by the sun. It consists of a large volume of ionized particles and, more
importantly for radio wave propagation, their dissociated electrons. The effect of
the free electrons is to slow the speed of electromagnetic waves passing through
them. Since GPS receivers measure the time delay and assume a constant speed of
light to determine the pseudoranges, any slowing of the signal results in a delay
and hence a measurement error.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 67
Because the number of ions and hence free electrons varies considerably with
the time of day, the season, solar activity (flares and sunspots) the resulting
delays are irregular and impossible to predict to any degree of accuracy.
The C/A code receivers have an algorithm which can compute the delay to an
accuracy of about 4m. The coefficients for this algorithm are transmitted by the
satellites as part of the navigation message.
P code receivers operate on two frequencies and can take advantage of the fact
that the ionospheric delay is inversely proportional to the square root of the fre-
quency and can compute the correct range from the equation
f2 2
R 1 – ------ R 2
f1
R TRUE = ----------------------------------
f2 2
1 – ------
f1
where R 1 is the range measured on frequency f 1
and R 2 is the range measured on frequency f 2
Selective Availability (Removed 1 May 2000)
When GPS was designed it was expected that the range errors for receivers
using the C/A code would be about 10 times those for receivers using the P
code. The US military apparently felt that this was sufficient advantage.
However, in the early days of GPS development, even when only a few satel-
lites were available and periods during which the GDOP was favourable were
very infrequent, the surveying community saw the possibilities of such a sys-
tem. For example, it was much easier to install GPS receivers at each end of a
10 km base line and wait for them to record enough data to make a measure-
ment than to, for example, have to use transits and have to cut 10 km of sight
lines through the bush.
68 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
Other errors are less significant and are included in the table below for information
Table 1:
Error Source Error Magnitude (C/A Code, 1 sigma)
Satellite Clock Errors 30m (with S/A) (bias) 2m (without S/A)

Ephemeris Errors 4m (bias)
Ionospheric Delay 4m (bias)
Tropospheric Delay 0.5m (random)
Noise and Quantizing in Rx 0.2m (random)
Multipath 0.2m (random)
LDGPS/WAAS
As was mentioned above, the major source of error in the GPS is the unknown ionospheric
delay.
One way of getting around this problem is to install a receiver at a location whose position
is known very accurately. (The error of the final results includes the errors in this position).
This reference can now measure the pseudoranges and, because it knows its own position
it knows the true ranges to the satellites and therefore can determine the total error in each
of the pseudoranges. Once this has been determined corrections can be broadcast to
receivers in its vicinity and they can apply them to achieve a much higher accuracy.
Note that in most cases the satellite pseudorange errors are used rather than the actual
position error of the station. This is due to the fact that the receivers may not be using the
same set of satellites as the reference station in which case the reference station position
error would be different from that of the airborne receiver.
There are two main approaches to this idea: Local and Wide Area Differential GPS
Local Differential GPS (LDGPS)
As the name suggests LGPS involves a differential service which serves a

restricted area. The data link, which is the key to differential systems is usually a
VHF communications channel or a radar data link. In either case the range of the
corrections transmission is line of sight.
Also limiting the range of effectiveness of LDGPS is the fact that the ionospheric
errors decorrelate with distance i.e. the ionospheric errors 100 miles away are dif-
ferent from those at the reference site. A typical rate of degradation for this error is
1 part in a million or 1mm per km of distance.
Although S/A does not change with distance, it is a dynamic error and thus the rate
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 69
at which errors are measured and transmitted has an effect on the system accu-
racy. An estimate of this error is
2 x 10-3 t2 metres.
where t is the time between updates
INTEGRITY
An additional function which DGPS can perform, which is vital to aircraft nav-
igation, is integrity. The reference receiver can monitor all of the satellites in
view and warn aircraft if any show degraded performance.
The accuracy of LDGPS can be as good as 20 cm in real time. In fact, Novatel

is advertising a system capable of 2 cm accuracy in real time.
There are now commercial DGPS services which broadcast the corrections on
unused parts of FM radio transmissions e.g. in Ottawa, CBOF.
Wide Area Augmentation (WAAS)
As mentioned above, LDGPS is limited in range.
In order to overcome this and hence reduce the number of reference stations
required to service all of the airports in the USA, the FAA is planning to intro-
duce a Wide Area GPS Augmentation System.
This system will have reference stations located at approximately 500 NM

intervals across the US.
Instead of broadcasting the corrections directly the stations transmit the errors
to a master station presently located in Atlantic City NJ.
The master station combines the information to generate a two dimensional

model of the pseudorange errors. It then computes the pseudorange errors for
the intersection points of a 5 degree grid. Finally it formats these into a message
which is sent up to an INMARSAT satellite.
The satellite simple rebroadcasts the message to the North American Continent
on the GPS frequency using one of the unused C/A codes.
Thus a separate data link system is not required.
The airborne receiver, knowing its apporoximate position, can select the four
nearest grid point and interpolate the errors estimates to get the appropriate
value for its position.
70 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
6.5 INS
Advantages
• instantaneous output of position and velocity
• completely self contained
• all weather global operation
• very accurate azimuth and vertical vector measurement
• error characteristics are known and can be modeled quite well
• works well in hybrid systems
Disadvantages
• Position/velocity information degrade with time (1-2NM/hour).
• Equipment is expensive ($250,000/system) - older systems

had relatively high failure rates and were expensive to maintain
• newer systems are much more reliable but still expensive to repair
• Initial alignment is necessary - not much of a disadvantage for commercial

airline operations (12-20 minutes)
Usage
• most long range aircraft have at least 2 INS installations and many have triple(vot-
ing) systems
• have been used for many special uses such as aerial photography/remote sensing and
aerial spraying programs - also extensively used as part of position reference
• systems for the all-weather calibration of ground based navigation aids
• Prime source of navigation information (i.e. no other nav system is required)

(Oceanic and Remote Areas )
Accuracy/Integrity/Availability
• accuracy - 1-2 NM/hour
• integrity - extensive BIT (built-in test) capability
a. - in multi system installations - intercomparison
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 71
b. with hybrid systems and flight management systems - comparison
• availability
c. current systems MTBF (mean time between failures) as high

as 20,000 hours
Principle of Operation
Basic
• measurement of acceleration (two or three dimensions)
• integration to get velocity (doesn’t work for vertical)
• second integration to get position

if initial position and velocity are known can determine current position
and velocity
Main Problem
- accelerometer can not distinguish between vehicle acceleration and gravitational

acceleration - thus it is necessary to implement a means of eliminating the effect of
gravity on the acceleration measurement.
- this is usually done in one of two ways:
- keep the accelerometers perpendicular to the gravity vector (i.e per-

fectly horizontal) - this eliminates the effect of gravity
(Stable Platform Implementation or Mechanization)
- by measuring the angle between the accelerometer and the gravity vec-
tor and computing the necessary correction.
(Strap Down Mechanization)
Secondary Problems
- isolation from (or compensation for) vehicle attitude changes (rotations)
- compensation for earth rotation
- compensation for motion over ellipsoidal earth surface
Stable Platform INS
Isolation from changes in vehicle attitude
72 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
gimbal system (see diagram)
Rotation of platform is detected by gyroscopes (spinning mass) which provide an

error signal to servomotors at appropriate gimbal pivots which rotate the stable
platform back to its null position - thus the gyroscope is a sensor in a feedback
mode
This implementation was popular because it provides a wide dynamic range which
was not available using spinning mass gyroscopes in a strap down implementation
Note: On a stable platform mechanized INU, synchros mounted on each gimbal pivot pro-
vide a direct measurement of aircraft attitude (heading, pitch and roll)
Alignment
Stationary
- entry of position coordinates
- coarse alignment
- fine alignment
- gyrocompassing (see below)
NOTE alignment at high latitudes (>70 N) is difficult
Moving alignment
- not done in commercial aviation
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 73
- required for such applications such as aircraft on aircraft carriers
Gyrocompassing
Ω PLATFORM
VERTICAL AXIS
Ω
PLATFORM
VERTICAL AXIS
PLATFORM
NORTH AXIS
Φ
Φ
ΩcosΦ ΩsinΦ
PLATFORM SIDE VIEW

ΩcosΦ NORTH
Y X
ΩcosΦcosα
ΩcosΦsinα α
Ω = Earth rotation rate
Φ = latitude
α = Wander angle
PLATFORM TOP VIEW
Figure 45:
Geometry of
Gyrocompassing
NOTE: In Figure 39 the wander angle is defined in accordance with the navigation con-
vention i.e. clockwise from True North. Later in the course we shall consider a wander
angle which is defined in the mathematical system i.e. counterclockwise from the x
axis.
During alignment the stable element is levelled by rotating the gimbals so that the out-
puts of the horizontal accelerometers are zero. Since the gyroscopes are trying to main-
tain the platform at the same attitude in inertial space and the earth is rotating, it is
necessary to insert signals into the gimbal control loops to accomplish this. This is
known as “torquing” the gyros. The rate of rotation around a given axis necessary to
maintain the platform level can be determined by the amount of torquing required.
The rotation necessary to keep a platform horizontal at latitude Φ can be determined by

resolving the earth’s rotation vector into two components, one vertical and the other
horizontal in the direction of True North. Note that the horizontal vector must be point-
ing True North because it must lie in the same plane as the earth rotation vector and the
platform vertical vector. The intersection of this plane and the earth’s surface is a
meridian who’s orientation, by definition, is True North. i.e. all meridians are great cir-
74 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
cles which pass through the North and South poles.
As is shown above, the required rotation about the vertical axis is Ω sin Φ and about the
North axis is Ω cos Φ
During alignment the X axis of the platform is oriented at a random angle α from True
North.. Some INS mechanizations force this angle to zero so that the platform x axis is
always pointing North. This has disadvantages when navigating in polar regions since the
angles of the meridians are changing rapidly. Most IN systems use a “wander azimuth”
technique in which the wander angle α is measured during alignment and, in flight, is
computed. Thus the direction of True North can be can determined.
The wander angle can be calculated during alignment by resolving the North axis rotation
rate into components along the platform’s x and y axes as shown above. Thus by knowing
the rotation rates about the x and y axes, both wander angle and latitude may be measured.
e.g.
R X = Ω cos Φ cos α Rx is the angular rate about the x axis
R Y = Ω cos Φ sin α Ry is the angular rate about the y axis
RY
α = atan --------
RX
RX
Φ = acos -----------------
Ω cos α
Navigation
Once the platform has been aligned the system can be put into the navigation
mode.
One consequence of alignment and the necessity to compensate for the earth’s curvature
during horizontal motion .is the so-called Schuler oscillation. This expained as follows
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 75
:
θ0
X
Figure 46:
Initial Conditions for
Schuler Oscillation
At the end of the alignment procedure, the accelerometer above has a tilt of θ0 radians.
. When the INS enters the navigation mode it senses, due to gravity, an acceleration in
the x direction of magnitude -g sin θ.
Since the misalignments are always small, this may be approximated by -gθ.
Therefore a = – gθ
Even if the system is actually stationary, the navigation system assumes this to be sys-
tem acceleration and propagates system position and velocity accordingly. However, in
order to compensate for the perceived motion over the earth’s curved surface, the sys-
tem rotates the platform through an angle θ = s/R where s is the computed distance and
R is the earth’s radius. Thus
2 2
∂θ d s1 a
= --- = ---
2R
∂t
2
dt R
or
2
∂θ
a = R 2
∂t
76 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
Therefore
2
∂θ
R 2
= – gθ
∂t
or
2
∂θ
R 2
+ gθ = 0
∂t
The general solution to this equation is
θ = C1 cos ω t + C2 sin ω t
since at t = 0, θ = θ0
C1 = θ0
θ = θ0 cos ω t
where ω2 = g/R
Thus the apparent acceleration of the system will oscillate with a period of about 84 min-
utes. Since the position is obtained by double integation of the acceleration, the position
error will also oscillate with the same period
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 77
Accelerometers
Requirements
- high dynamic range (10-4 g to 10g)
- low cross coupling
- good linearity
- little or no asymmetry
- use of “proof mass”
Types: -Pendulum
-floating
-flexure pivot
- Vibrating String or Beam
- MEMS (micro electromechanical systems)
Basic Principle of Inertial Grade accelerometers
- force rebalance (nulling)

-required for wide dynamic range
78 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
Floating pendulum
- proof mass is floated in a liquid and arranged such that the pivots are
at the centre of buoyancy
- provides good damping
- possibility of leakage
- potential for misalignment leading to cross coupling
Figure 47:
Floating Pendulum Accelerometer
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 79
Flexure pivot
- flexible support
- support must have stable characteristics (beryllium copper)
- susceptible to damage in shipping or in removal/installation
Figure 48:
Flexure Pivot Accelerometer
Pendulum Equation
2
d θ d
= T R – kθ + mb f y – mb f z = I  +
dt2 d
Where:
T R = residual torque applied to the pendulum by friction in the supports and connecting
wires, and by electrical forces (dynes)
k = spring stiffness, (dyne-cm/radian)
mb = pedulosity, (gm-cm2)
I = moment of inertia of pendulum about pivot axis (rad/sec2)
φ = angular deviation of the case about the pivot axis (rad)
80 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
If damping is neglected, the deflection in the steady state is:
2
I d φ
f y + T R – -------
mb mb dt
2
θ = ------- -------------------------------------------
k 1 + mb f z
2
d φ
is the angular acceleration of the case around the pivot axis, which is negligible in
2
dt
stable platform systems but can be considerable in strap down systems
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 81
Vibrating String or Beam
Principle
T0 Proof Mass T0
f1 f2
acceleration
Figure 49:
Vibrating String Accelerometer
The proof mass is supported by two strings (or beams) usually made of quartz
or a dimensionally stable metal. If the case is accelerated, the tension of one
wire is increased and the tension in the other is decreased. The natural fre-
quency of oscillation of these strings is proportional to the square root of their
tension and thus
f 1 = k 1 T 0 + mga and
f 2 = k 1 T 0 – m ga
Equation of operation
f 1 – f 2 = k 1  ----------- + ---  ----------- + …

mga 1 mga 3
 T 8 T 
0 0
If T0 is large in comparison with the maximum acceleration load mga then the
difference frequency will be proportional to the acceleration
Not used very much
82 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
- problems with supporting the proof mass
MEMS Accelerometers
Typical MEMS accelerometer design:
Spring
S F F S
PROOF MASS
S F F S
Proof Mass is suspended from the body of the accelerometer
Fingers on both the body and proof mass form a set of capacitors
Some of these are used to sense movement of proof mass (S)
Others are used to apply force to push proof mass back to nominal position
i.e. a voltage is applied to opposite sides of the capacitor and the resulting electrostatic
force moves the proof mass back to the nominal position
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 83
Testing and calibration
- Dividing head (precision tilting machine)
- requires a gravimetric survey
- limited to 1 g
- Centrifuges for higher g levels
84 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
Gyroscopes (Greek gyros = ring/rotation, scope= observe)
Three main types
a. Spinning Mass
b. Ring Laser (not really a gyroscope)
c. MEMS
Spinning Mass Gyroscopes
Principle of operation
These derive their usefulness from their rigidity in space i.e. their tendency
to maintain their orientation with respect to inertial space (what is inertial
space? Theory of relativity?)
Rigidity
rigidity is proportional to the moment of inertia and the rate of rotation-

INU gyroscopes usually rotate at about 25000 rpm
The main useful property: Precession
If a torque is applied perpendicular to the axis of rotation the gyro will precess,
about an axis which is perpendicular to both the applied torque and the axis of
rotation
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 85
2 Degree of Freedom gyro (TDF)(see diagram)
Usually floated (at neutral buoyancy) in case filled with fluid to keep the
load on the
pivots to a minimum. The fluid should be of high density and low vis-
cosity. Neutral
buoyancy is usually achieved at temperatures in the neighbourhood of

170 degrees Fahrenheit. and is maintained by close temperature control
Note: Only two TDFs are required for a three axis system and one gyro axis is
redundant.
Figure 50:
Schematic Diagram of Two Degree
of Freedom Gyro
1 Degree of freedom gyro
As the name implies this gyro has only one sensitive axis. Kayton and Fried
mention that they are more difficult to manufacture than TDF gyros but give no
explanation.
Three are required for a three axis system
86 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
Gyro Error
Due to unavoidable extraneous torques, all gyros tend to precess slowly (called
drift). Some of the gyro drift can be calibrated out during each alignment proce-
dure but there is always some residual. This causes the platform to develop an
increasing tilt which in turn causes an exponential increase in position error.
Note: Although the error increases exponentially, it is essentially linear over the
normal periods of INS operation
A typical drift rate for an Inertial Grade Gyro is.02 degrees/hour
Mass imbalance in the gyro will cause drift under high g loads but this is not sig-
nificant in civilian applications
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 87
Ring Laser Gyro (RLG) - First operational service 1986
This is not really a gyroscope but a device for measuring angle of rotation
Advantages:
more rugged than spinning mass gyros
- inherently digital output
- large dynamic range
- good linearity
- short warm up time
Figure 51:
Physical Layout of
Ring Laser Gyro
88 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
As shown in the above diagram, a triangular cavity is bored out of a block of glass
and is filled with a mixture of Helium and Neon (approximately 10% He and 90%
Ne). When an electrical discharge (generated by the anode and cathode above) is
passed through the gas mixture, conditions for amplification of light waves (laser
action) become favourable. The light so produced is constrained to travel in a trian-
gular path by means of very high quality mirrors at each vertex. The frequency of
the light generated is determined mainly by the quantum characteristics of the
medium but partly by the length of the path. This is because, to maintain oscilla-
tions, there must be an integer number of wavelengths around the path i.e. there
can not be any phase difference between waves travelling on their second or subse-
quent orbit and those on their first orbit. Because the system is symmetrical, light
waves are propagated in both directions around the triangular path.
In the absence of rotation, the two beams form a standing wave pattern as shown
below. Note for simplicity the path is shown as circular, however the same situa-
tion will exist for any closed path.
4
Photodiode Detector
Figure 52:
Standing Wave Pattern
in Ring Laser Gyro
If the RLG is rotated about its axis, then the path for one beam becomes effectively
longer and thus the frequency of oscillation decreases. Likewise the frequency of
the other beam increases. This causes the standing wave patter to rotate. The rate
of rotation is exactly equal and opposite to the rate of rotation of the RLG and thus
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 89
the standing wave pattern stays fixed in inertial space. By observing the relative
motion of the fringes with a photodiode array, the amount and direction of rota-
tion can be measured directly.
Problems
Lock-in
Two resonant systems, if they are loosely coupled have a tendency to

assume the same frequency of oscillation when difference between their
own natural frequencies is small.
The coupling mechanism in a ring laser is the backscatter from the mir-
rors.
The result is a phenomenon exactly analagous to static friction in a

mechanical system i.e. the standing wave pattern appears to “stick” to
the body of the gyro
This effect is reduced by applying an oscillating rotation to the gyro

(called dithering). Typically with an amplitude of a few minutes of arc at
a frequency of a few hundred Hertz.
Bias
Motion of the HeNe in the laser cavity can give rise to extraneous
Doppler shifts and non-zero outputs at rest
Reduced by careful design
90 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
RLG Errors
Undetected pulse outputs cause an accumulative error similar to the drift in the
spinning mass gyro
This is an example of the familiar “random walk problem”
Random walk is concerned with the sum of periodic discrete increments of equal
size which have a known or estimated probability of occurrence.
e.g. If one were to toss a coin and take one step to the left of the result is heads and
one step to the if the result is tails, what is the probability of being 6 steps to the
left after 20 tosses of the coin? What is the most likely position after 20 tosses?
RLG errors depend on the probability of missing a pulse (a function of the signal
to noise ratio) and the rate of rotation of the gyro.
Fibre Optic Gyro (FOG)
The principle of the FOG is similar to that of the RLG except that the optical path
is defined by an optical fibre which is wound about a coil. The readout is the fringe
pattern caused by the interference of the two beams.
It is potentially more rugged than the RLG and does not suffer from the lock-in
effect It is also easier to manufacture and hence cheaper. However, in spite of these
advantages FOGs have made little or no headway in the commercial aviation field.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 91
MEMS Gyroscopes
MEMS gyroscopes use the phenomenon of Coriolis acceleration to detect rota-

tion.
When an object is moving in a rotating coordinate system (such as the earth), it

appears to undergo an acceleration perpendicular to its velocity vector. This
acceleration is proportional to the speed of the object and the rate of rotation of
the coordinate system. A good example of this is the fact that, in the Northern
hemisphere, air travelling from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure,
is deflected to the right which causes it to rotate counterclockwise about the
area of low pressure.
H H
H H
In a MEMS gyroscope, the tines of a tuning fork are the moving object and are
deflected from their nominal path if the gyroscope is rotated. A capacitive
detector is used to measure this deflection.
Capacitive Detectors Deflected Path
Nominal Path
MEMS gyroscopes are small, rugged and cheap but are much less sensitive than
ring laser or FOG gyroscopes
92 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
INS Errors and Effects
Table 2:
Error Effects
Initial Position ∆x0 ∆x=∆x0
Initial Tilt φy0 ∆x=aφy0(1-cosωst)
Initial Azimuth φz0 ∆x=yφy0+aφz0
Accelerometer bias A ∆x=a(A/g)(1-cosωst)
Gyro Error - Constant Drift, ε ∆x= aε(t-ωs-1sinωst)
where ωs is the Schuler radian frequency
g is the magnitude of gravity
a is the earth’s radius
t is the time in Navigate mode
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 93
INS as a Navigation System
Accuracy:
1 to 2 nautical miles error for each hour after alignment
Integrity
Extensive internal monitoring in individual units.
Cross-checking among units in multi-unit installations
Availability (Reliability)
RLG INUs provide MTBFs of up to 20,000 hours
94 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
7. Navigation Fundamentals
7.1 General Outline.
Destinations
Radio, radar, Position-Fix
GPS transformations
Range, bearing
Most-probable Position, Course-line to displays
position computer
calculations Velocity
Inertial, doppler Dead-
reckoning
Air data calculations
Heading
Figure 53:
Block Diagram of a
Navigation System
– Position Fix (radio, radar, GPS)
– Dead Reckoning (Inertial, Doppler, Air data/Heading)
– Computation of Most Probable Position
– Course Line Computation
– Data to Pilot
• range/bearing to waypoint
• steering signal (HSI/Autopilot) to keep aircraft on selected course
7.2 Geometry of Earth
The Geoid (Mean Sea Level)
The gravitational equipotential surface
i.e. normal to the gravity vector at all points
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 95
ELLIPSOID g VECTOR DEFLECTED
DUE TO HIGHER DENSITY
GEOID
NORMAL TO
ELLIPSOID
VOLUME OF
HIGH DENSITY
Figure 54:
Relationship Between The Geoid
and an Ellipsoid
Ellipsoid
Since the Geoid is complex in shape, a simpler model is chosen as a reference

for navigation and surveying purposes. This is an ellipse rotated about the
earth’s spin axis.
2 2 2
x y z
Its formula is: ----- + ----- + ----- = 1
2 2 2
a a b
The variables to be chosen are:
- semi - major axis (a)
- eccentricity (ε) or flattening (f)
96 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
2 2
a –b (a – b)
ε = --------------------- f = ----------------
a a
- coordinates of centre (x, y, z)
National Ellipsoids (NAD 27, NAD 83)(North American Datum)
designed to minimize (on a root sum square basis) the difference between the
geoid and the ellipsoid over the area of interest e.g. North America. Europe.
ELLIPSOID 1
GEOID
ELLIPSOID 2
Figure 55:
Examples of Local Ellipsoids
World Ellipsoid (WGS 84)
Due to the advent of satellite navigation (primarily GPS) a world-wide ellipsoid

was required. This was designated WGS (World Geodetic System)
Dimensions of the WGS coordinate system
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 97
a = 6378137 m
f = 1/298.257
ε2 = 2 f - f2
standard g = 9.78049(1 + 0.00529 sin2 Φ) m / s2
ΦC ΦT
Figure 56:
Illustration of Geocentric and
Geodetic Latitude
98 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06
Definitions of Latitude
Geocentric Latitude (ΦC) is the angle between the x y plane and the line joining
the centre of the ellipsoid to the point in question. This is not observable
Geodetic Latitude (ΦT) is the angle between the x y plane and the normal to the
ellipsoid at the point in question.
Radii of Curvature
In order to convert linear measurements of motion to angular speeds and displace-

ments, local radii of curvature are used. The radius of curvature being simply the
constant of proportionality between differential linear displacements and the corre-
sponding differential angular displacements.
Prime Radius of Curvature
The radius of the best fitting circle to a vertical east - west section of the
ellipsoid at the point under consideration
2
a ε 2
ρ P = ---------------------------------------------- ≈ a 1 + ----- sin ( Φ T )
1 2
---
2 2 2
( 1 – ε sin ( Φ T ) )
Meridian Radius of Curvature
Radius of the best fitting circle to the vertical north - south (meridian) sec-
tion of the ellipsoid at the point under consideration
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 99
2
a(1 – ε )
ρ M = ---------------------------------------------- ≈ a 1 + ε  --- ⋅ sin ( Φ T ) – 1
2 3 2
---
3 2 
2 2
 1 – ε sin ( Φ ) 
2
 T 
Gaussian Radius of Curvature
Radius of the best fitting sphere at the point under consideration.

2
ε
ρG = ρ P ⋅ ρ M ≈ a 1 –  ----- ⋅ cos ( 2Φ T )
2 
Thus the rate of change of latitude and longitude are
VN
Φ̇ = -----------------
ρM + h
and
1 VE
λ̇ = --------------------- ⋅ ----------------
cos ( Φ T ) ρ P + h
where
VE = easterly component of velocity
VN = northerly component of velocity
h = altitude above ellipsoid
ΦΤ = latitude of aircraft
Coordinate Frames
ECEF (Earth - Centred Earth Fixed)
100 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

So-called because it rotates with the earth and it is a cartesian coordinate system
with origin at the earth’s centre
The x axis lies along the line joining the origin and the intersection of the prime
meridian (which, by definition, passes through Greenwich England, just east of
London) and the Equator. This intersection is located in the Gulf of Guinea, off the
west coast of Africa.
The z axis coincides with the earth’s spin axis
The y axis completes the right - handed orthogonal system and crosses the earth’s surface
in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of India
Geocentric Spherical
z1 - longitude, z2 - geocentric latitude, z3 - radius
Geodetic Spherical
z1 - longitude, z2 - geodetic latitude, z3 - height above reference ellipsoid
Generalized Spherical
Direction cosines of a locally level set of zi relative to yi
Transverse pole Spherical Coordinates
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 101

Variation of Geocentric Spherical Coordinates
Locally Level Coordinate System
Useful only within a short distance of the point of tangency
(Distance depends on altitude accuracy requirements)
Derivation of Generalized Spherical Coordinates
Transformation Matrices for Rotational Displacement
In two dimensions, coordinate transformation for rotation requires the follow-

ing equations:
1 = x 1 cos θ + x 2 sin
x 2' = – x 1 sin θ + x 2 cos θ
or, in matrix form:
X' = C X
where C = cos θ sin θ

– sin θ cos θ
Three dimensional rotational transformations are done by combinations of two

dimensional transformations. with each rotation being about one of the three
orthogonal axes as follows.
102 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

1 0 0
Rotation about x axis: 0 cos θ 1 sin θ 1
0 – sin θ 1 cos θ 1
cos θ 2 0 – sin θ 2
Rotation about y axis:
0 1 0
sin θ 2 0 cos θ 2
cos θ 3 sin θ 3 0
Rotation about z axis:
– sin θ 3 cos θ 3 0
0 0 1
Derivation of transform matrix from ECEF to generalized spherical coordinates
Note: the order and angles of rotation are not unique for a given location. One common
example is:
a. rotate about z axis by an angle of 90˚ + λ

b. rotate about x axis by an angle of 90˚ - Φ
c. rotate about z axis again by an angle α
In matrix form this is:
cos ( α ) sin ( α ) 0 1 0 0 cos ( 90 + λ ) sin ( 90 + λ ) 0

– sin ( α ) cos ( α ) 0 ⋅ 0 cos ( 90 – Φ ) sin ( 90 – Φ ) ⋅ – sin ( 90 + λ ) cos ( 90 + λ ) 0
0 0 1 0 – sin ( 90 – Φ ) cos ( 90 – Φ ) 0 0 1
With substitutions for the (90 - θ) and (90 + θ) this becomes:
( – cos ( α ) ⋅ sin ( λ ) – sin ( α ) ⋅ sin ( Φ ) ⋅ cos ( λ ) ) ( cos ( α ) ⋅ cos ( λ ) – sin ( α ) ⋅ sin ( Φ ) ⋅ sin ( λ ) ) ( sin ( α ) ⋅ cos ( Φ ) )
( sin ( α ) ⋅ sin ( λ ) – cos ( α ) ⋅ sin ( Φ ) ⋅ cos ( λ ) ) ( – sin ( α ) ⋅ cos ( λ ) – cos ( α ) ⋅ sin ( Φ ) ⋅ sin ( λ ) ) ( cos ( α ) ⋅ cos ( Φ ) )
( cos ( Φ ) ⋅ cos ( λ ) ) ( cos ( Φ ) ⋅ sin ( λ ) ) ( sin ( Φ ) )
The same Transform Matrix is used for Tangent Plane coordinates except latitude,
longitude and wander angle are fixed for the point of tangency.
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 103

If the above matrix is designated as [Cij] then, given the elements of the matrix
one can compute Latitude Longitude and wander angle as follows:
Φ = asin C 33
C 32
λ = atan ---------
C 31
C 13
α = atan ---------
C 23
Note for GPS HDOP and VDOP calculations:
Since the GDOP equation provides coefficients for the position errors in ECEF coordi-
nates it is necessary to transform them to a locally level coordinate system to relate
them to local horizontal and vertical errors. i.e.
Cx 0 0 0
T –1 0 Cy 0 0
[ A A] →
0 0 Cz 0
0 0 0 CT
where the Ci are the coefficients, in ECEF coordinates, of σ2
Cx, Cy and Cz must be converted to locally level coordinate system by way of the above
matrix.
104 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

Although this may seem formidable, in actual fact the wander angle is usually zero. i.e the
y axis is pointing north and the x axis is pointing east. This simplifies the calculations con-
siderably.
Conversion from Geodetic to ECEF Coordinates and Vice Versa
Geodetic to ECEF
x = ( N + h ) cos Φ cos λ
y = ( N + h ) cos Φ sin λ
2
z = [ N ( ( 1 – e ) + h ) ] sin Φ
where Φ, λ, h = geodetic latitude, longitude and height above the ellipsoid
x, y, z = ECEF cartesian coordinate
N ( Φ ) = a ⁄  1 – e ( sin ( Φ ) )  = the prime radius of curvature

2 2
 
a =semi-major earth axis
b =semi-minor earth axis
a–b
f = ------------ = flattening
a
2 2
e = 2 f – f = eccentricity squared
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 105

ECEF to Geodetic
 z + e' 2 b ( sin θ ) 3
= atan  -------------------------------------
 p – e 2 a ( cos θ ) 3
λ = atan  ---
y
 x
p
h = ------------- – N ( Φ )
cos Φ
where
2 2
x + y θ = atan  ------- e' = -----------------
2 2 za 2 a –b
p =
 pb 2
b
and the remainder of the variables are as defined above.
Dead Reckoning Computations
(Dead Reckoning is actually a short form of deduced reckoning_
Flat Earth form uses Groundspeed and True Track
106 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

Groundspeed and True track are derived as the vector sum of (Heading/True Air-
speed and (Wind speed/Wind direction)
Heading is the Best Available True Heading (BATH).
This will depend on the data available:
Magnetic Compass: Magnetic heading + east variation
Inertial: heading relative to platform + wander angle
in actual fact, if an inertial system is available it will provide Groundspeed

and True Track directly
NOTE: input of heading and true airspeed allows INS to determine wind
velocity
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 107

TRUE
NORTH Wind Vector
β=sideslip angle
True Track
(TT) VTAS=
airspeed
vector
Vg =
True Heading (ψT) groundspeed
vector
Drift Angle
(δ)
Figure 57:
Illustration of Factors
Involved in Horizontal Navigation
e
t c e n tre lin α Vw
f
Aircra Airspeeed
θ VE
Vg
Figure 58:
Illustration of Factors
Involved in Vertical Navigation
VE = earthspeed
Vg = groundspeed
θ = pitch angle
108 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

α = angle of attack (not wander angle in this case)
δ = drift angle (=TT-ψΤ)
NOTE: Sideslip angle β is usually negligible except under asymmetrical thrust conditions (engine failure)
General Equations for Velocity Components in a moving air mass.
t
Vnorth = Vgcos (ψΤ+δ) = Vg cos ΤT y – y 0 = ∫ V north dt
0
t
Veast = = Vgsin (ψΤ+δ) = Vg sin ΤT x – x0 = ∫ V east dt
0
Since the groundspeed vector is not generally observable and since the air mass in which
the aircraft is flying is usually in motion, more general equations are:
V north = V TAS cos ( θ – α ) cos ( ψ T + β ) + V wind – north
V east = V TAS cos ( θ – α ) sin ( ψ T + β ) + V wind – east
For an aircraft in level flight θ − α is zero (pitch angle equals angle of attack) so that in this
case
V north = V TAS cos ( ψ T + β ) + V wind – north
V east = V TAS sin ( ψ T + β ) + V wind – east
V TAS = True airspeed
Iterative Methods of Determining Position
General Procedure
1. Obtain sufficient radio observations to form a position fix
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 109

2. Estimate position (lat/long)
3. Calculate predicted radio observations for the estimated position.
4. Form difference between predicted and actual radio observations
5. From known relationship between rates of change of position and observations
and position, calculate estimated error in position
6. Compute new position (Original +correction)
7. Go to 3 and repeat until difference between predicted and actual observations are
less than a specified value.
LORAN C
1. Get Time Differences for master and slave (∆ΤΟΑ and ∆ΤΟΒ )
2. Estimate position and calculate predicted time difference from
ν υL
∆T T =  --- ( ρ S – ρ M ) + ( ε S – ε M ) +  ------- + D S
 c  c 
where
ρS and ρT are the estimated and ranges to the slave and master stations
L is the baseline distance between the master and slave
D is the coding delay
ν is the index of refraction over local terrain
ε is the secondary phase factor correction (an a priori estimate)
3. Calculate difference between predicted and actual time difference
δT A = ∆T TA – ∆T OA
δT B = ∆T TB – ∆T OB
ΨS – Ψ M
∇ = --- ⋅ sin  ----------------------
2
c  2 
4. Compute new coordinates from
1
Φ NEW = Φ OLD + ------- ( δT A ⋅ γ B – ( δT B ⋅ γ A ) )
aD
1
λ NEW = λ OLD + ------- ( δT B ⋅ α A – ( δT A ⋅ α B ) )
aD
where
α i = – ∇ sin ( Ψ SMi )
and
γ i = ∇ cos ( Ψ SMi )
5. Repeat from 1 until difference in 3. is less than required value
GPS
The estimated corrections are computed from the range equations:
110 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

α1m ∆x + α1m ∆y + α1m ∆z = ∆Rm
and then are used to improve the position estimate and the process is repeated
Error Sources in LORAN C Fix
1. Geodetic Error
Errors in the surveyed positions of the LORAN transmitters
Errors in the surveyed positions of departure point and destination
Note: these errors will probably decrease as better surveys become avail-
able as a result of GPS (especially those errors resulting from changes in
reference ellipsoid.)
2. Receiver/transmitter Error
Rx - typically 0.1µs (rms)

Tx - typically 0.03 to 0.3 µs
3. Geometric Error
Analogous to GDOP in GPS
Note: most accurate fix occurs when hyperbolas intersect at 90 degrees

(on the base line between two slaves)
Variance:
2
˜ 2 σt 2 2 2 2
( ∆N ) = ------2- ( ∇ 1 cos ( Ψ smA ) + ∇ 2 cos ( Ψ smB ) )
D
2
˜ 2 σt 2 2 2 2
( ∆E ) = ------2- ( ∇ 1 sin ( Ψ smA ) + ∇ 2 sin ( Ψ smB ) )
D
and Cross Covariance:

2
σt 2 2
( ∆N )˜( ∆E ) = ------2- ( ∇ 1 cos ( Ψ smA ) sin ( Ψ smA ) + ∇ 2 cos ( Ψ smB ) sin ( Ψ smB ) )
D
The covariance matrix of position errors due to time delay noise is:
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 111

˜ 2
[C ] = ( ∆N ) ( ∆N )˜( ∆E )
˜ 2
( ∆N )˜( ∆E ) ( ∆E )
Method of Steepest Descent (for non linear cases e.g. GPS pseudorange equations)
1. Set up a function of the sum of the squares of the errors resulting from the initial
position estimate
2. Find the partial derivatives of this function with respect to the position variables e.g.
x and y.
3. Change the original position estimate amounts proportional to the partial derivatives.
i.e. choose a step size and multiply it by the partial derivatives to get the next incre-
ments. Note, the step size can be changed from iteration to iteration depending on the
strategy being used.
4. Generate a new sum of squares and compare it to the previous one. If it has
decreased, compute new position estimate and go to 2. If it has increased, decrease the
step size and try again from
step 3.
5. Continue until criteria are met.
Example
Multi-DME fix (3 stations)
Get measured ranges from the 3 DMEs R1,R2 and R3. (Rmi).
Estimate position xn, yn
112 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

Compute estimated ranges
2 2 2
R ni = ( x n – x i ) + ( y n – y i )
Form error function
∑ ( Rni – Rmi )
2
F ( x, y ) =
compute partial derivatives
∂F ∂F
and
∂x ∂y
compute estimated changes in x and y
∂F ∂F
∆x = ⋅ ∆s and ∆y = ⋅ ∆s
∂x ∂y
where ∆ s is the current step size
then
xn (new) = xn (old) + ∆ x
and
yn (new) = yn (old) + ∆ y
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 113

BEST ESTIMATE OF POSITION
PROBLEM:
In multi-sensor navigation systems there can be many different estimates of the

aircraft position. (see “cocked hat”) Since the idea is to use as much informa-
tion as possible some means of combining data form various sources is required
SOLUTION: (See also Forssell Appendix 5 for a full description of least squares meth-
ods and optimum weighting)
The solution is to use a weighted sum of the position estimates using a priori
knowledge of their accuracies
In 1 dimension:
)
x = w1 x1 + w2 x2 + w3 x3
where the wi s are the weighting functions as follows:
2 2 2 2 2 2
σ2 ⋅ σ3 σ1 ⋅ σ3 σ1 ⋅ σ2
w 1 = ---------------------- w 2 = ---------------------- w 3 = ----------------------
D D D
and
2 2 2 2 2 2
D = σ1 ⋅ σ2 + σ1 ⋅ σ3 + σ2 ⋅ σ3
114 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

where σι2 is the variance of the measurement xi
Example from assignment:
Consider three independent position sensors. The first two have zero mean error
with standard deviations of 1 and 4 NM respectively. The third has a 2NM bias
(reads higher than true position) and a 6 NM standard deviation.
What is the form of the equation for the best estimate of position in terms of the
three measurements? Show the weighting functions numerically
A.
x̂ = w 1 x 1 + w 2 x 2 + w 3 ( x 3 – 2 )
s12 = 1 s22 = 16 s32 = 36
D = (1)(16) + (16)(36) + (36)(1) = 628
2 2
σ2 ⋅ σ3 ( 16 ) ⋅ ( 36 ) 576
w 1 = ---------------------- = -------------------------- = ---------
D 628 628
2 2
σ1 ⋅ σ3 ( 1 ) ⋅ ( 36 ) 36
w 2 = ---------------------- = ----------------------- = ---------
D 628 628
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 115

16
w1 + w2 + w3 = 1 therefore w3 = 1 - (w1 + w2) = ---------
628
therefore
576 36 16
x̂ = --------- ⋅ x 1 + --------- ⋅ x 2 + --------- ⋅ ( x 3 – 2 )
628 628 628
DETERMINISTICALLY BIASED SENSORS
These sensors have errors whose form but not magnitudes are known
e.g. Position Error of an Inertial Navigation System
x = x 0 + ẋ 0 ⋅ t + aε ⋅  t –  ------- ⋅ sin ( ω S ⋅ t ) 
1
 ω 
S
where the errors x 0, ˙x 0 and aε are initially unknown but are constant during
flight
Assume all fixed sensor errors have the form:
x i = x T + ∆x iD + ∆x iR
where
xT = true position
∆xiD = deterministic error
∆xiR = random error
116 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

and the random errors are stationary, that is, their statistics do not change with time
Then the optimum position estimate is:
x̂ = x 1 – x 1D + w 2 ⋅ ( x 2 – x 1 – ∆x 2D + ∆x 2D ) + w 3 ⋅ ( x 3 – x 1 – ∆x 3D + ∆x 3D )
Notes:
Inertial sensor errors can be measured using other position fixing sensors
Thus the accuracy of the inertial dead reckoning data is improved
The amount of data required to get a good estimate depends on the correla-
tion
time of the noise.
If the correlation time is long then a longer time is required to get a good
measurement.
Course Computation
Although the best estimate of position is very useful information, it is quite diffi-
cult
for the pilot to use in its raw form (Lat/Long or x,y)
The pilot wants to know such information as:
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 117

What is the direction to my destination?
What is the distance to my destination?
How far off track am I and in what direction?
When will I reach the destination (or next way point)?
Answering these questions is the responsibility of the course computer
Range and Bearing Calculations (unsubscripted variables refer to the aircraft position,
variables with subscript T refer to the destination or target)
Flat Earth Approximation

1
---
2 2 2
Range R = [ ( x – x T ) + ( y – y T ) ]
 y – yT 
B
Bearing (True) T = atan  ---------------
 x – xT 
Bearing (Relative)B R = B T – Ψ T where Ψ T is the aircraft heading
NOTE: If ∆Φ and ∆λ are less than 1/3 radian, the plane triangle solution
2
x y tan Φ
exceeds the spherical triangle solution by a range ∆R = ---------------------- where x
6880R
and y are in nautical miles.
118 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

For More Accurate Requirements (at Longer Distances)
Use Spherical Trigonometry
Range
cos  ------- = sin ( Φ ) ⋅ sin ( Φ T ) + cos ( Φ ) ⋅ cos ( Φ T ) ⋅ cos ( λ – λ T )

R
ρ 
G
Bearing
cos ( Φ T ) ⋅ sin ( λ – λ T )
sin ( B T ) = -------------------------------------------------------
sin  -------
R
ρ 
G
Note that Gaussian radius of curvature is used for range calculation
For the Applications Requiring the Most Accuracy (e.g. iterative computations of LORAN
C position)
af
R = aθ – ------ ⋅ ( mu + nv )
4
where
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 119

C 2 ⋅ cos ( Ψ ) + C 1 ⋅ sin ( Ψ )
tan ( θ ) = -----------------------------------------------------------------
C3
C 1 = cos ( β i ) ⋅ sin ( λ – λ T )
C 2 = cos ( β ) ⋅ sin ( β i ) – sin ( β ) ⋅ cos ( β i ) ⋅ cos ( λ – λ T )
C 3 = sin ( β ) ⋅ sin ( β i ) – cos ( β ) ⋅ cos ( β i ) ⋅ cos ( λ – λ T )
tan ( β ) = ( 1 – f ) ⋅ tan ( Φ )
tan ( β i ) = ( 1 – f ) ⋅ tan ( Φ i )
2
m = ( sin ( β ) + sin ( β i ) )
sin ( β ) + sin ( β i ) 2
n =  ----------------------------------------
 sin ( θ ) 
1 – cos ( θ ) θ – sin ( θ )
u =  ------------------------- ⋅  -------------------------
 sin ( θ )   sin ( θ ) 
v = ( 1 + cos ( θ ) ) ⋅ ( θ + sin ( θ ) )
This is accurate to 10m on any reference ellipsoid.
Note: the subscripts i denote the variables associated with the transmitter (in
LORAN C) or the target (destination)
120 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

Course Computation
There are two main modes of steering: Direct and Airway. In the direct mode the
aircraft is steered directly towards the destination from its present position. In air-
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 121

way steering the aircraft is flown along a predetermined track over the ground.
Figure 59:
Definitions for Course Computation
Direct Steering
The course computer calculates the ground speed V1 along the direction to the
destination and V2 normal to the great circle track to the destination. The objec-
tive is to maintain V2 as close to zero as possible.
The lateral steering command in an aircraft is the bank angle which determines
the rate of change of heading through the formula: Ψ̇ =  ------- tan φ
g
V 
a
where Ψ̇ is the rate of change of heading V a is the airspeed and φ is the bank
angle.
The bank command to the autopilot for direct steering is φ c = K 1 V 2 + K 2 V˙ 2
Note:
The second term is included to allow some anticipation when the aircraft
approaches the correct course.
122 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

The bank angle is also limited to about 15˚ to avoid violent maneuvers when V2 is
large
V2 is computed as the dot product of the aircraft velocity and the unit vector nor-
mal to the great circle route connecting the aircraft position to the destination. The
latter is:
R2 × R3
û = ----------------------
R2 × R3
Airway Steering
In airway steering, the navigation system attempts to drive the cross track error (L
in the above diagram) to zero using a version of the following equation:
φ c = K 1 L + K 2 L̇ + K 3 ∫ L dt
The angle to go to Waypoint 2 is computed in angular form as
R3 × R1
asin ----------------------
R3 R1
The distance and time to go are computed as above
The across track deviation in angular form is
 R3 R1 × R2 
asin  --------- ⋅ ----------------------
 R3 R1 × R2 
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 123

APPENDIXAPPENDIX I
LEAST SQUARES SOLUTION

- GPS POSITION CALCULATIONS FOR MORE THAN 4 SATELLITES
Original Range Equations
–1
∆x = A ∆r
Residuals are the difference between the calculated range and the measured range
2 T T T T 2
R ( ∆x ) = ( A∆x – ∆p ) = ( ∆x ) A A ( ∆x ) – 2 ( ∆x ) A ∆p + ∆p
Differentiaing and setting to zero
T T
∇R = 2 A A∆x – 2 A ∆p = 0
Solve for delta x:
T –1 T
∆x = ( A A ) A ∆p
Which works for any number of satellites
124 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

APPENDIXAPPENDIX II
DOPPLER SHIFT
If a transmitter of a periodic wave of frequency f 0 (whose speed in the medium is c ) is

moving with respect to the receiver of the wave, and the relative speed between them is v
then the frequency of the signal as observed by the receiver is the original frequency
v
shifted by approximately ∆f = f 0 ⋅ -- This is shown by the following development:
c
Position of
radiator at Receiving Antenna
t0+T
Position of
radiator at
t0
λD = λ0 - vT
λ0 = c/f0
c 1
λ 0 = ------ and T = ------
f0 f0
λ D = λ 0 – vT from figure above
=  ------ – ------
c v
f 
0 f0
inverting
1 1
------- = f 0 ⋅ -----------
λD c–v
therefore
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 125

v 2 v n
----------- = 1 + -- +  -- + … +  -- + …
c c 1 1 v
------- = f 0 ⋅ ----------- = f 0 ⋅ ----------- expanding,
λD c–v v v c c c
1 – -- 1 – --
c c
v
but since -- « 1 (usually)
c
------- ≅ f 0  1 + -- but ------- = f D where f D is the observed Doppler frequency.

c v c
λD  c λD
The Doppler shift is the observed change in frequency f D – f 0 = ∆f
v v
and ∆f = f 0 ⋅ -- (for -- « 1 )
c c
126 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

APPENDIX III
PHASE LOCKED LOOPS (PLL)
The phase locked loop is a very useful circuit in modern communications systems and can
be used as FM and PM demodulaters, tracking filters and as the integral part of frequency
synthesizers.
The PLL consists of three main parts: a voltage controlled osecillator (VCO), a phase
detector (PD) and a loop filter (LF).
The VCO is simply an oscillator whose frequency can be varied by an external voltage.
The ouput of the phase detector is a function of the phase difference between two input
signals. Two examples are the diode mixer and the Gilbert multipier
The Lop Filter is a low pass filter whose characteristics almost completely determine the
performance of the PLL.
These are connected as shown below:
PD
RF IN u1
LF
u2
VCO
Thus if there is a phase difference between the RF input and the VCO output, the error sig-
nal produced by the PD will change the frequency of the VCO such that the phase differ-
ence is reduced. In the steady state case, the frequency of the VCO is exactly the same as
that of the input signal although there may be a small phase offset voltage.
If RF input is phase modulated, and the LF has a low frequency cutoff, the VCO output
will be at a constant frequency and the output of the PD will be proportional to the modu-
lating signal. Because of the low pass filter u2 will be almost DC.
Thus the PLL is a PM demodulator
If the RF input is frequency modulated and the loop filter has a cutoff frequency above the
modulating frequency, the error signal will pass throug the filter and the VCO will track
navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06 127

the input signal with some phase delay. Thus the input to the VCO u2 will be propor-
tional to the modulation frequency.
This PLL is a FM discriminator
The overall loop bandwidth is usually much less than the bandwidth of the LF and thus
it is possible to make loops with very long time constants. In this case the PLL ca be
made to track intermittent signals such as LORAN C pulses or signals with low signal
to noise ratios.
Another application is in frequency synthesizers. These are circuits which can produce
signals at accurate frequencies over a very wide range.
nMHz
VCO ÷n
Accurate
Reference 1 MHz
Signal
e.g. 1MHz
As shown, the VCO frequency is divided by n and compared to the reference signal
which, in this case is 1 MHz. The loop will lock when the VCO output frequency is n
MHz.
Thus this circuit can synthesize signals with frequencies of multiples of 1 MHz with
accuracy comparable to that of the reference.
Note:
The above descriptions are very simplified. For more detailed information consult ref-
erencees such as:
A.Blanchard, Phase Locked Loops. New York: Wiley, c1976
D. Wolaver, Phase Locked Loop Circuit Design. Englewood Cliffs NJ, 1991
128 navnotes_2006.mif 1/31/06

ELEC4600 Navigation Engineering Notes

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

ELEC4600 Navigation Engineering Notes

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

ELEC4600

a. the basic requirements for an air navigation system

b. the principles underlying the operation the navigation systems presented.

d. the sources, magnitude and effects of errors in the systems presented

e. the means of reducing the effects of errors

f. the limitations, usage and current status of the systems

g. how the systems are used in practice

h. the coordinate systems used in navigation

i. how to compute position using LORAN C and GPS

1.1 ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization)

– an organization of the United Nations

• rules of the air

• aircraft nationality and registration marks

• aeronautical telecommunications including navigation aids (equipment and pro-

• air trafﬁc control services

• search and rescue

• aeronautical information services

• transport of dangerous goods

does not apply to (for example)

– INS (not a ground-based system)

– or TACAN (not a civil system)

1.2 National Governments

• install and maintain ground-based navigation aids

• design the airway and air route structure

• approve aircraft navigation equipment installations (airworthiness)

• provide air trafﬁc control services

1.3 ARINC (Aeronautical Radio Inc)

– organized by a group of airlines originally to provide a communications network

(There is one for marine as well)

– An organization of manufacturers, users, and government agencies (US and foreign)

– Its main function is to develop performance speciﬁcations for aircraft electronic

• e.g. DOC 160 - Environmental Testing Requirements for electronic equipment

Figure 1: Definitions of Navigational Terms

3.1 Lines of Position

Lines of Position for Lines of Position for

Lines of Position for

Figure 2: Lines of Position

Figure 3: Illustration of Geometry

Figure 4: Effects of Good and Bad Geometry

e. g. for oceanic ﬂight an error of 10 NM might be acceptable but in a busy terminal

Once again the required availability depends on the phase of ﬂight.

Figure 5: Airway System Between Ottawa and Toronto

Examples of relative navigations systems are: NDB (Non-Directional Beacon), VOR

Frequency: 200-500kHz (immediately below the AM broadcast band)

Power: 20 Watts to several kilowatts

Loop Antenna Pattern

Sense Antenna Pattern

Figure 6: ADF Antennas and Pattern

Crossed Loop/Sense Antenna

Ksin(θ)cos(ωct) L/R Ksin(θ){sin(ωct-ωmt)+sin(ωct+ωmt)}/2

One form of the pilot’s display is shown in Figure 10.

System accuracy is about 4.5 degrees

NDBs are simple and rugged and provide an availability of 99.9%

5.2 VOR (VHF Omnirange)

and 112 - 118 MHz, 0.1 MHz spacing

General Theory of Bearing Measurement Systems:

r = a + b ⋅ cos ( θ ) where b < a as shown in Figure 7.

This pattern is rotated at a rate of 30 Hz in a clockwise direction.

i.e. bearing = phaseREF - phaseVAR

In addition to these modulations, a 1020Hz AM Morse code identiﬁer (3 char-

9960 +/- 480Hz 9960+/-480Hz

Complete VOR Array

Figure 14: VOR Ground System Block Diagram