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DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) : Dme Components and Operations

DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) is an internationally standardized navigation system that allows aircraft to measure their distance from selected ground-based beacons up to 300 miles away with typical accuracy of 0.1 miles. It works using a transceiver on the aircraft that sends interrogating signals to the ground station and measures the time interval until the response to determine distance. Modern DME displays include the distance to the station and aircraft groundspeed on a digital readout.

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146 views

DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) : Dme Components and Operations

DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) is an internationally standardized navigation system that allows aircraft to measure their distance from selected ground-based beacons up to 300 miles away with typical accuracy of 0.1 miles. It works using a transceiver on the aircraft that sends interrogating signals to the ground station and measures the time interval until the response to determine distance. Modern DME displays include the distance to the station and aircraft groundspeed on a digital readout.

Uploaded by

muhammad hassan sheikh
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DME

(Distance measuring equipment)


An internationally standardized navigation system which allows an aircraft
to measure its distance from a selected ground-based beacon. Such beacons
are used throughout the world by all airliners, most of the military aircraft of
the West, and a large number of general-aviation aircraft. The range of
service is line-of-sight up to 300 mi (480 km) and system accuracy is usually
0.1 mi (0.16 km) but precision equipment, intended for use during landing,
has accuracy of 100 ft (30 m).

DME COMPONENTS AND OPERATIONS


The transceiver that sends out the interrogating signal to the ground station
contains an internal computer to measure the time interval that elapses until
the response. The antenna, used for both transmission and reception, is a
very small "sharks fin" normally mounted on the underside of the aircraft.
Modern DME controls incorporate digital readouts of frequency, DME and
groundspeed information.

DME ANTENNA
The DME displays information in the form of distance to the station and the
aircraft's groundspeed. Most DME radios exhibit this data on the face of the
radio. The distance to the station is a slant range, expressed in nautical
miles. For example, if an aircraft were directly over the DME station at
6,100 ft AGL, the distance indicator would read one mile (see Slant Range
Measurements figure, below).

The DME receiver can express groundspeed in knots. This value is accurate
only if the aircraft is flying directly to or from the station, because the DME
measures groundspeed by comparing the time lapse between a series of
pulses. When accurate, the groundspeed information allows the pilot to
make accurate estimates of time of arrival and accurate checks of aircraft
progress.

When the pilot turns the function control knob of the DME receiver to
"groundspeed", there is not an immediate readout because the DME must be
on the groundspeed function long enough to compare the time lapse between
several pulse signals.

DME operation will continue and possibly expand as a backup system for
space-based navigational systems such as GPS and Galileo.

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