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Avionics

• Flight Control
• Communication/Navigation System
• Electrical System

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PITCH/ROLL Mechanical Control System

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PITCH/ROLL Electro-mechanical Control
System

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Course Content

• Needs of Avionics
• Different Components of Avionics
• System and Integration of Avionics

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Avionics
• ‘Avionics’ is a word derived from the combination of aviation and
electronics. It was first used in the USA in the early 1950s and has
since gained wide scale usage and acceptance.
• The term ‘avionic system’ or ‘avionic sub-system’ is used in this course
means any system in the aircraft which is dependent on electronics for
its operation, although the system may contain electro-mechanical
elements.
• These systems help pilots to provide information on the condition of the
aircraft ,engine, components, aircraft attitude in the sky, weather, cabin
environment , outside environment, navigation & communication.

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Concept of Advanced Avionics
• Advanced Avionic System can automatically perform many tasks that
pilot and navigators previously did by hand. For example, Flight
Management System (FMS) unit accepts a list of points that define a
flight route, and automatically performs most of the course, distance,
time, speed and fuel calculations.
• An autopilot is capable of automatically steering of the aircraft along the
flight route that has been entered in the FMS.

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Avionics
• For example, a Fly-by-Wire (FBW) flight control system depends on
electronic digital computers for its effective operation, but there are also
other equally essential elements in the system.
• These include solid state rate gyroscopes and accelerometers to
measure the angular and linear motion of the aircraft and air data
sensors to measure the height, airspeed and incidence.
• There are also the pilot’s control stick and rudder sensor assemblies
and electro-hydraulic servo actuators to control the angular positions of
the control surfaces.
• The avionics industry is a major multi-billion dollar industry world-wide
and the avionics equipment on a modern military or civil aircraft can
account for around 30% of the total cost of the aircraft.

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Avionics

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Avionics (Cockpit)

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Avionics
• This figure for the avionics content is more like 40% in the case of a maritime
patrol/anti-submarine aircraft (or helicopter) and can be over 75% of the total
cost in the case of an airborne early warning aircraft (AWACS) more AEW&C.
• Modern general aviation aircraft also have a significant avionics content. For
example, color head down displays, GPS satellite navigation systems, radio
communications equipment. Avionics can account for 10% of their total cost.
• The avionic systems are essential to enable the flight crew to carry out the
aircraft mission safely and efficiently, whether the mission is carrying
passengers to their destination in the case of a civil airliner, or, in the military
case, intercepting a hostile aircraft, attacking a ground target, reconnaissance
or maritime patrol.
• A major driver in the development and introduction of avionic systems has been
the need to meet the mission requirements with the minimum flight crew.

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Avionics (AEW&C)

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Avionics
• There are usually two parts in the Avionics System
• One part senses the situation
• Other part is display

• Direct Sensing very common in Analogue Instruments

• Remote Sensing is used both for Analogue and Digital Instruments.

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Different Components of Avionics
• Displays and Man-Machine Interaction
• Primary flight information
• Navigation information
• Engine data
• Airframe data
• Warning information
• Aerodynamic and Aircraft Control
• Fly-By-Wire Aircraft Control
• Inertial Sensors and Attitude Derivation
• Navigation System
• Air Data and Air Data Systems
• Autopilots and Flight Management Systems
• Avionics Systems Integrations

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Fly By Wire (FBW) Flight Control

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Core Avionics Systems

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Systems Which Interface Directly with
the Pilot (Man-Machine Interface)
• GPWS (Ground Proximity Warning System) provides warning by means
of a visual display and audio signal (‘Pull up, Pull up . . . ’) that the
aircraft is on a flight path that will result in flying into the terrain, and that
action must be taken to change the flight path.
• TCAS (Traffic Alert/Collision Avoidance System) provides an alerting
and warning display of other aircraft in the vicinity in terms of their
range, course and altitude together with advisory collision avoidance
commands.

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Systems Which Interface Directly with
the Pilot (Man-Machine Interface)
• These comprise displays, communications, data entry and control
and flight control.
• The Display Systems provide the visual interface between the pilot and
the aircraft systems and comprise head up displays (HUDs), helmet
mounted displays (HMDs) and head down displays (HDDs).
• Most combat aircraft are now equipped with a HUD. A small but growing
number of civil aircraft have HUDs installed.
• The prime advantages of the HUD and HMD are that they project the
display information into the pilot’s field of view so that the pilot can be
head up and can concentrate on the outside world.

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Systems Which Interface Directly
with the Pilot
Head Up Displays

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Systems Which Interface Directly
with the Pilot
Head Up Displays
• The HUD now provides the primary display for presenting the essential
flight information to the pilot and in military aircraft has transformed
weapon aiming accuracy. The HUD can also display a Forward
Looking Infrared (FLIR) video picture one to one with the outside world
from a fixed FLIR imaging sensor installed in the aircraft.
• The infrared picture merges naturally with the visual scene enabling
operations to be carried out at night or in conditions of poor visibility due
to haze or clouds.

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Systems Which Interface Directly
with the Pilot

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Systems Which Interface Directly
with the Pilot
Helmet Mounted Displays

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Systems Which Interface Directly
with the Pilot
Helmet Mounted Displays
• The HMD enables the pilot to be presented with information while
looking in any direction, as opposed to the limited forward field of view
of the HUD.
• An essential element in the overall HMD system is the Helmet Tracker
system to derive the direction of the pilot’s sight line relative to the
aircraft axes. This enables the pilot to designate a target to the aircraft’s
missiles.
• It also enables the pilot to be cued to look in the direction of a threat(s)
detected by the aircraft’s Defensive Aids system.

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Systems Which Interface Directly
with the Pilot
Head Down Displays

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Systems Which Interface Directly
with the Pilot
Head Down Displays
• Color head down displays have revolutionized the civil flight-deck with
multifunction displays eliminating the inflexible and cluttered
characteristics of 1970s generation flight-decks with their numerous dial
type instrument displays dedicated to displaying one specific quantity
only.
• The multi-function color displays provide the primary flight displays
(PFDs) of height, airspeed, Mach number, vertical speed, artificial
horizon, pitch angle, bank angle and heading, and velocity vector.
• They provide the navigation displays, or horizontal situation
indicator (HSI) displays, which show the aircraft position and track
relative to the destination or waypoints together with the navigational
information and distance and time to go.

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Systems Which Interface Directly
with the Pilot
Cockpit Displays

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Systems Which Interface Directly
with the Pilot
Communication Systems

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Radio Working

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Systems Which Interface Directly
with the Pilot
Communication Systems
• The Communications Systems play a vital role; the need for reliable two
way communication between the ground bases and the aircraft or
between aircraft is self evident and is essential for air traffic control.
• A radio transmitter and receiver equipment was in fact the first avionic
system to be installed in an aircraft and goes back as far as 1909
(Marconi Company).
• Long range communication is provided by high frequency (HF) radios
(2–30 MHz).
• Near to medium range communication is provided in civil aircraft by
very high frequency (VHF) radios (30–100 MHz).
• In military aircraft: ultra high frequency (UHF) radio (250–400 MHz).

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Systems Which Interface Directly
with the Pilot
Communication Systems
• Satellite communications (SATCOM) systems are also installed in many
modern aircraft and these are able to provide very reliable world wide
communication.

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Systems Which Interface Directly
with the Pilot
Communication Systems

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

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Systems Which Interface Directly
with the Pilot
Flight Control Systems
• The Flight Control Systems exploit electronic system technology in two
areas, namely auto-stabilization (or stability augmentation) systems and
FBW flight control systems.
• Most combat aircraft and many civil aircraft in fact require three axis
auto-stabilization systems to achieve acceptable control and handling
characteristics across the flight envelope.
• FBW flight control enables a lighter, higher performance aircraft to be
produced compared with an equivalent conventional design by allowing
the aircraft to be designed with a reduced or even negative natural
aerodynamic stability.
• A very high integrity, failure survival system is of course essential for
FBW flight control.

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Aircraft State Sensor Systems
• These comprise the air data systems and the inertial sensor systems.
Air Data Systems

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Probe Holes [Pressure Measurements]

Effect of orifice edge

form on static
pressure
measurement.
Variation in
percentage of
dynamic pressure.
(Source: From Rayle
[8])

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

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Aircraft State Sensor Systems
Inertial Sensor Systems

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

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Navigation Systems
• Navigation systems can be divided into dead reckoning (DR) systems
and position fixing systems; both types are required in the aircraft.
• The Dead Reckoning (DR) Navigation Systems derive the vehicle’s
present position by estimating the distance travelled from a known
position from a knowledge of the speed and direction of motion of the
vehicle.
• The Position Fixing Systems (PFS) used are now mainly radio
navigation systems based on satellite or ground based transmitters. A
suitable receiver in the aircraft with a supporting computer is then used
to derive the aircraft’s position from the signals received from the
transmitters.

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Drift is the angle between the heading of the airplane and the desired track. A is
the last known position (fix, usually shown with a circle). B is the air position
(usually shown with a plus sign). C is the DR position (usually shown with a
triangle).
TAS = True Air speed
GS = Ground Speed

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Navigation Systems
Dead Reckoning (DR) Navigation Systems
• They have the major advantages of being completely self contained
and independent of external systems.
• Inertial navigation systems are the most accurate and widely used DR
systems.
• A characteristic of all DR navigation systems is that the position error
builds up with time and it is, therefore, necessary to correct the DR
position error and update the system from position fixes derived from a
suitable position fixing system.
• Instrument Landing System (ILS)
• Microwave Landing System (MLS)

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Electrical Systems
• The satisfactory performance of any aircraft depends to a very great
degree on the continuing reliability of electrical systems and sub-
systems.
• Aircraft Batteries
• DC Generators and Controls
• AC Generators and Controls
• Aircraft Electrical Systems
• Various Circuits
• Electrical System Components
• Switches
• Solenoids
• Relays
• CB
• Fuses

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Aircraft Light Systems
• Aircraft lighting systems provide illumination for both exterior and
interior use. Certain special lights, such as indicator and warning lights,
indicate the operation status of equipment.
• Exterior Lights
• Position Lights
• Anti Collision Lights
• Landing and Taxi Lights
• Wing Inspection Lights
• Interior Lights
• Maintenance and Inspection Lights

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Aerodrome CNS
• VOR/DME
• ILS
• Radar

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Outside World Sensor Systems
• These systems, which comprise both radar and infrared sensor,
systems enable all weather and night time operation and transform the
operational capability of the aircraft.
• The Radar Systems installed in civil airliners and many general aviation
aircraft provide weather warning. These radars can also generally
operate in ground mapping and terrain avoidance modes.
• The Infrared Sensor Systems have the major advantage of being
entirely passive systems. Infrared (IR) sensor systems can be used to
provide a video picture of the thermal image scene of the outside world
either using a fixed FLIR sensor, or alternatively, a gimballed IR imaging
sensor.
• Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR)

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Task Automation Systems
• These comprise the systems which reduce the crew workload and
enable minimum crew operation by automating and managing as many
tasks as appropriate so that the crew role is a supervisory management
one.
• Navigation Management comprises the operation of all the radio
navigation aid systems and the combination of the data from all the
navigation sources, such as GPS and the INS systems, to provide the
best possible estimate of the aircraft position, ground speed and track.
• The system then derives the steering commands for the autopilot so
that the aircraft automatically follows the planned navigation route,
including any changes in heading as particular waypoints are reached
along the route to the destination.

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Task Automation Systems
• The above function, i.e. to provide the steering command for the
autopilot, is carried out by the Flight Management System (FMS) (if
installed).
• The Autopilots and Flight Management Systems have been grouped
together because of the very close degree of integration between these
systems on modern civil aircraft.
• However, the Autopilot is a ‘stand alone’ system and not all aircraft are
equipped with an FMS.
• The autopilot relieves the pilot of the need to fly the aircraft continually
with the consequent tedium and fatigue and so enables the pilot to
concentrate on other tasks associated with the mission.

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Task Automation Systems
Autopilot
• Apart from basic modes, such as height hold and heading hold, a
suitably designed high integrity autopilot system can also provide a very
precise control of the aircraft flight path for such applications as
automatic landing in poor or even zero visibility conditions.
• In military applications, the autopilot system in conjunction with a
suitable guidance system can provide automatic terrain following, or
terrain avoidance.
• This enables the aircraft to fly automatically at high speed at very low
altitudes (100 to 200 ft) so that the aircraft can take advantage of terrain
screening and stay below the radar horizon of enemy radars.

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Task Automation Systems
Flight Management Systems (FMS)
• The tasks carried out by the FMS include:
• Flight planning.
• Navigation management.
• Engine control to maintain the planned speed or Mach number.
• Control of the aircraft flight path to follow the optimized planned route.
• Control of the vertical flight profile.
• Ensuring the aircraft is at the planned 3D position at the planned time slot; often
referred to as 4D navigation. This is very important for air traffic control.
• Flight envelope monitoring.
• Minimizing fuel consumption.

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Task Automation Systems
• The Engine Control and Management Systems carry out the task of
control and the efficient management and monitoring of the engines.
• Many modern jet engines have a Full Authority Digital Engine Control
(FADEC) system.
• This automatically controls the flow of fuel to the engine combustion
chambers by the fuel control unit so as to provide a closed-loop control
of engine thrust in response to the throttle command.
• The control system ensures the engine limits in terms of temperatures,
engine speeds and accelerations are not exceeded and the engine
responds in an optimum manner to the throttle command.

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Task Automation Systems
Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC)
• The system has what is known as full authority in terms of the control it
can exercise on the engine and a high integrity failure survival control
system is essential.
• Otherwise a failure in the system could seriously damage the engine
and hazard the safety of the aircraft.
• Other very important engine avionic systems include engine health
monitoring systems which measure, process and record a very wide
range of parameters associated with the performance and health of the
engines.

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Engine Monitoring Units (EMUs)
• Additional sensor inputs, including pressure, temperature, strain,
rotation speed, position, displacement, fuel flow, oil debris, oil level
• Engine vibration monitoring/cockpit data and alerts
• Cold fan trim balancing computation
• Recording of related parameters in the case of pre-defined “events” or
“exceedances”
• Diagnostics and prognostics algorithms capability
• Harsh environment capability for engine-mounted versions
• Lowers the maintenance cost and enables condition-based
maintenance (CBM).

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Task Automation Systems
• House Keeping Management is the term used to cover the automation
of the background tasks which are essential for the aircraft’s safe and
efficient operation.
• Such tasks include:
• Fuel management. This embraces fuel flow and fuel quantity measurement and
control of fuel transfer from the appropriate fuel tanks to minimize changes in
the aircraft trim.
• Electrical power supply system management.
• Hydraulic power supply system management.
• Cabin/cockpit pressurization systems.
• Environmental control system.
• Warning systems.
• Maintenance and monitoring systems.

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Task Automation Systems
Maintenance and Monitoring Systems
• The maintenance and monitoring systems comprise monitoring and
recording systems which are integrated into an on-board maintenance
computer system.
• This provides the information to enable speedy diagnosis and
rectification of equipment and system failures by pin-pointing faulty
units and providing all the information, such as part numbers, etc., for
replacement units down to module level in some cases.
• Aircraft Engine Fault Monitoring and Diagnosis

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Task Automation Systems
• Avionic systems equipment is very different in many ways from ground
based equipment carrying out similar functions. The reasons for these
differences are briefly explained in view of their fundamental
importance.
• The importance of achieving minimum weight.
• The adverse operating environment particularly in military aircraft in terms of
operating temperature range, acceleration, shock, vibration, humidity range and
electro-magnetic interference.
• The importance of very high reliability, safety and integrity.
• Space constraints particularly in military aircraft requiring an emphasis on
miniaturization and high packaging densities.
• The effects on the design of avionic equipment to meet these
requirements can result in the equipment costing up to ten times as
much as equivalent ground based electronic equipment.

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Nautical Mile [NM]
• One knot is one nautical mile (NM) per hour and one nautical mile is
equal to the length of the arc on the Earth’s surface subtended by an
angle of one minute of arc measured from the Earth’s centre and can
be related directly to latitude and longitude.
• 1 NM = 6076.1155 ft (or 1852 m exactly).
• The conversion from knots to metres/second is given by 1 knot= 0.5144
m/s and conversely 1 m/s= 1.9438 knots.
• A useful approximate conversion is 1 knot ≈ 0.5 m/s, or 1 m/s ≈ 2 knots.

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1. Basic Aerodynamics
• Lift and Drag.
• Angle of Incidence/Angle of Attack
• Flight Path Angle
• Lift and Drag Coefficients
• Pitching Moment and Aerodynamic Centre

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Aircraft Stability & Control

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1. Basic Aerodynamics

Pressure distribution over an airfoil.

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1. Basic Aerodynamics

Angle of incidence (UK)/Angle of attack (USA)

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1. Basic Aerodynamics

Drag Coefficient

Lift Coefficient

Drag Equation

CL and CD versus α

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1. Basic Aerodynamics
• The centre of pressure is the point where the resultant lift and drag forces
act and is the point where the moment of all the forces summed over the
complete wing surface is zero.
• There will thus be a pitching moment exerted at any other point not at the
centre of pressure.
• The centre of pressure varies with angle of incidence and for these reasons
aerodynamic centre is used as the reference point for defining the pitching
moment acting on the wing.
• The aerodynamic centre of the wing is defined as the point about which the
pitching moment does not change with angle of attack (providing the velocity
is constant).
• All airfoils (except symmetrical ones) even at zero lift tend to pitch and
experience a pitching moment or couple.

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1. Basic Aerodynamics
• The aerodynamic centre is generally around the quarter chord
point of the wing (measured from the leading edge).
• At supersonic speeds it tends to move aft to the half chord
point.
• The tailplane (H. stabilizers) makes a major contribution to
longitudinal stability and provides the necessary downward lift
force to balance or trim the aircraft for straight and level flight.
• The moment about the CG due to the tailplane lift balances the
nose down pitching moment due to the wing lift and the inherent
wing pitching moment or couple.

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1. Basic Aerodynamics

Tailplane contribution

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2. Aircraft Stability
• An aircraft is said to be stable if it tends to return to its original position after
being subjected to a disturbance without any control action by the pilot.
• For static longitudinal stability, the total pitching moment about the CG should
be zero at a trim angle of incidence.
http://slideplayer.com/slide/5252043/

CM versus α

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2. Aircraft Stability

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2. Aircraft Stability

Aerodynamically Unstable Aircraft

Aerodynamically unstable aircraft.

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2. Aircraft Stability

Aerodynamically Unstable Aircraft

Analogy of controlling an aerodynamically unstable aircraft.

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2. Aircraft Stability

Aerodynamically Unstable Aircraft

• The pilot’s speed of response to correct the tendency to divergence of an unstable
aircraft is much too slow and the tailplane must be controlled automatically.
• The time for the divergence to double its amplitude following a disturbance can be of
the order of 0.25 seconds or less on a modern high agility fighter which is
aerodynamically unstable.
• Higher performance and increased agility can be obtained with an
aerodynamically unstable aircraft and relying totally on an automatic stability
system.
• The technology to implement such an automatic stability system with a maneuver
command flight control system is now sufficiently mature to meet the very exacting
safety and integrity requirements and system availability.

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2. Aircraft Stability

Aerodynamically Unstable Aircraft

• The technology to implement such an automatic stability system
with a maneuver command flight control system is now
sufficiently mature to meet the very exacting safety and integrity
requirements and system availability.
• Such a system, known as a ‘Fly-by-Wire’ flight control system
because of its total dependence on electrical signal
transmission and electronic computing, is the topic of
discussion in the next chapter of our class.

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3. Stability Augmentation
• The possible need for improved damping and stability about all the three
aircraft axes can be achieved by an auto-stabilization system, or, as it is
sometimes referred to, a stability augmentation system.
• Yaw stability augmentation systems are required in most jet aircraft to
suppress the lightly damped short period yawing motion and the
accompanying oscillatory roll motion due to yaw/roll cross-coupling known as
Dutch roll motion which can occur over parts of the flight envelope.
• In the case of military aircraft, the yaw damper system may be essential to
give a steady weapon aiming platform as the pilot is generally unable to
control the short period yawing motion and can in fact get out of phase and
make the situation worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmjam1evDD4

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3. Stability Augmentation
• A yaw damper system is an essential system in most civil jet aircraft as the
undamped short period motion could cause considerable passenger
discomfort.

Example of a stability augmentation system. 72

73
Heat-seeking Missile

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Electromagnetic (EM) Wave

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 Chapter 2

Cockpit Displays and Human-Machine Interface

Aayush Bhattarai
Lecturer

Institute of Engineering (IoE)

Tribhuvan University
2021
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 MEMS
The closest distance between Mars and Earth is 78 million km
The distance is the largest: approximately: 378 million km
The time of travel between Earth and Mars is between 4.3 minutes and 21 minutes, depending
on the actual distance between the two planets.

During Curiosity EDL, this delay will be 13 minutes, 48 seconds, about mid-way between the
minimum delay of around 4 minutes and the maximum of around 24 minutes.

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 Role of Display Systems

• The cockpit display systems provide a visual presentation of the

information and data from the aircraft sensors and systems to the pilot
(and crew) to enable the pilot to fly the aircraft safely and carry out the
mission.
• They provide information related to:
– Primary flight information,
– Navigation information,
– Engine data,
– Airframe data,
– Warning information,
– Infrared imaging sensors,
– Radar,
– Tactical mission data,
– Weapon aiming,
– Threat warnings.
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Airframe Critical Data

4
 Role of Display Systems
• A number of developments have taken place to improve the
pilot–display interaction and this is a continuing activity as new
technology and components become available.
• Examples of these developments are:
– Head up displays,
– Helmet mounted displays,
– Multi-function color displays,
– Digitally generated color moving map displays,
– Synthetic pictorial imagery,
– Displays management using intelligent knowledge based
system (IKBS) technology,
– Improved understanding of human factors and involvement of
human factors specialists from the initial cockpit design
stage.
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Synthetic Pictorial Imagery

A modern synthetic vision system produced

by Honeywell

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 Man-Machine Interaction
• Equally important and complementary to the cockpit display systems in the
‘man machine interaction’ are the means provided for the pilot to control the
operation of the avionic systems and to enter data.
• Multi-function keyboards and multi-function touch panel displays.
• Speech recognition technology has enabled ‘direct voice input’ control in
the new generation of military aircraft.
• Audio warning systems are now well established in both military and civil
aircraft.
• Audio/tactile inputs
• Eye trackers

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1. Head Up Displays (HUD)

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 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)

• A head up display basically projects a collimated display in the pilot’s head

up forward line of sight so that he can view both the display information and
the outside world scene at the same time.
• The first production HUDs, in fact, went into service in 1962 in the
Buccaneer strike aircraft in the UK.
• There are no parallax errors and aiming symbols for either a flight path
director, or for weapon aiming in the case of a combat aircraft, remain
overlaid on a distant ‘target’ irrespective of the pilot’s head movement.
• There is a transition time of one second or more to re-focus the eyes from
viewing distant objects to viewing near objects a meter or less away.

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 Parallax

“…a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed

along two different lines of sight.” [Source: Wikipedia]
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 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)
Artificial Horizon

Flight Path
Vector

Pitch
Altitude

Speed

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 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)

CCIP: Constantly/Continuously Computed

Impact Point (mostly displayed in HUD)
Typical Weapon Aiming Display 12
 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)
• The very high accuracy which can be achieved by a HUD and
computerized weapon aiming system together with the ability to remain
head up in combat have made the HUD an essential system on all modern
combat aircraft.
• By using a Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) sensor, an electro-optical
image of the scene in front of the aircraft can be overlaid on the real world
scene with a raster mode HUD.
• The TV raster picture generated from the FLIR sensor video is projected on
to the HUD and scaled one to one with the outside world enabling the pilot
to fly at low level by night in fair weather.
• This provides a realistic night attack capability to relatively simple day
ground attack fighters.

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 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)

Electro-optical Image generated on HUD by

overlaying the FLIR image over the real world scene.
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 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)

Electro-optical Image generated on HUD by

overlaying the FLIR image over the real world scene. 15
 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)
• The head-up presentation of primary flight information including
depiction of the aircraft’s flight path vector, results in improved
situational awareness and increased safety in circumstances such as
wind shear or terrain/traffic avoidance maneuvers.
• Automatic landing guidance enables the pilot to land the aircraft
safely in conditions of very low visibility due to fog, as a back up and
monitor for the automatic landing system.
• Provides enhanced vision using a raster mode HUD to project a
FLIR video picture of the outside world from a FLIR sensor installed in
the aircraft, or, a synthetic picture of the outside world generated from a
forward looking radar sensor in the aircraft.

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 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)

Basic Principle

Schematic of HUD working principle.

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 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)
Basic Principle
• The pilot views the outside world through the HUD combiner glass (and
windscreen). The combiner glass is effectively a ‘see through’ mirror with a
high optical transmission efficiency so that there is little loss of visibility
looking through the combiner and windscreen.
• It is called a combiner as it optically combines the collimated display
symbology (generated from the aircraft sensors and systems such as the
INS and air data system) with the outside world scene viewed through it.
• A collimator is defined as an optical system of finite focal length with an
image source at the focal plane.

18
 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)
Basic Principle

The appearance of the

collimated display is thus
independent of the position
(or translation) of the eye
and is only dependent on
the angle of gaze.

Rays of light emanating from a particular point on the focal

plane exit from the collimating system as a parallel bunch of
rays, as if they came from a source at infinity.
19
 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)
Basic Principle
• Symbology generated from the aircraft sensors and systems is displayed
on the surface of a cathode ray tube (CRT).
• The display images are then relayed through a relay lens system which
magnifies the display and corrects for some of the optical errors which are
otherwise present in the system.
• The relayed display images are then reflected through an angle of near 90º
by the fold mirror and thence to the collimating lens which collimates the
display images which are then reflected from the combiner glass into the
pilot’s forward field of view. The virtual images of the display symbology
appear to the pilot to be at infinity and overlay the distant world scene, as
they are collimated.

20
 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)
Basic Principle
• A very important parameter with any HUD is the field of view (FOV), which
should be as large as possible within the severe space constraints
imposed by the cockpit geometry.
• A large horizontal FOV is particularly important to enable the pilot to ‘look
into turns’ when the HUD forms part of a night vision system and the only
visibility the pilot has of the outside world is the FLIR image displayed on
the HUD.
• Instantaneous Field Of View (IFOV): angular coverage of the imagery
which can be seen by the observer at any specific instant
• Total Field Of View (TFOV): total angular coverage of the CRT imagery
which can be seen by moving the observer’s eye position around.

21
 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)
Basic Principle
Typical IFOVs range from about 13º to 18º with a corresponding TFOV of about
20º to 25º.
Tailor made, or can
be standard?

HUD Installation 22
 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)
HUD Electronics
PSU- Power Supply Unit

XY Monitor

XY Monitor are the

Cathode Ray Tube
(CRT), the Deflection
Amplifiers, and the
High Voltage Supply.

HUD Electronics 23
 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)
HUD Electronics
• The data bus interface decodes the serial digital data from the aircraft data
bus to obtain the appropriate data from the aircraft sub-systems and inputs
this data to the display processor.
• The input data includes the primary flight data from the air data system and
the INS, such as height, airspeed, vertical speed, pitch and bank angles,
heading, etc.
• The display processor processes this input data to derive the appropriate
display formats, carrying out tasks such as axis conversion, parameter
conversion and format management.
• The symbol generator carries out the display waveform generation task
(digitally) to enable the appropriate display symbology

24
 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)
Civil Aircraft HUDs
• Increased safety by providing a better situational awareness for the pilot to
control the aircraft by the head up presentation of the primary flight
information symbology so that it is conformal with the outside world scene.
• The HUD can also provide a flight path director display which allows for the
effect of wind shear from a knowledge of the aircraft’s velocity vector,
airspeed, height and aerodynamic behavior.
• Ground Proximity Warning Systems (GPWS) are a very valuable aid in
avoiding terrain.
• Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems (TCAS) provide traffic conflict and
escape guidance.

25
 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)
Civil Aircraft HUDs
• Increased revenue earning ability by extending operations in lower
weather minima.
• Use of the HUD as part of an enhanced vision system to enable operations
in lower weather minima at airfields not equipped with automatic landing
aids (ILS/MLS).
• The use of the HUD for displaying ground taxiway guidance is being
actively investigated, and is considered a likely extension to the HUDs
roles.
• Active development of both radar and infrared enhanced vision sensor
systems is continuing and their introduction into civil operational service is
anticipated in the next decade.
• Overlaid primary flight information symbology.

26
 1. Head Up Displays (HUD)
Civil Aircraft HUDs

HUD optical configuration in

civil aircraft.

A combination of the HUD and a fail-passive autopilot provides a cost-

effective solution for extending the poor visibility operation of many Air
Transport Category Aircraft.
27
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
Introduction
A HMD is an information viewing device which displays necessary information
regarding aircraft vitals into the user eyes and can be made reactive to head and body
movements.
This unique capability lends itself to application such as VR for creating artificial
environments , to military vehicles for viewing sensory imagery, to airborne workstation
applications reducing size, weight and power over conventional displays.

28
 2. Helmet Mounted Display (HMD)
Introduction
• In some applications such as with medical and soldiers display, the HMD is
used as hands-off information source such as for viewing video, text, maps
or graphics.
• But to truly reap the benefits of HMD as part of the aircrafts avionics, it
must be part of Visually Coupled System (VCS) that includes the HMD, and
a head position and orientation tracker.
• In addition it has been shown that HMD can reduce pilot work load by
converting cockpit data to useful information, focus pilot attention, stimulate
both ambient and focal mode of vision
• Research has shown/demonstrated that the clear advantage for a pilot
equipped with an HMD when targeting missiles over a pilot using a HUD.
( Simulation Studies- Vista Sabre and Vista Sabre-II)

29
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
What is HMD?
 In its simplest incarnation, an HMD
consists of one or more image
sources, collimating optics and a
means to mount the assembly on the
pilot’s head.
 The monocular optics create and
relay a virtual image of the image
source (a Cathode Ray Tube, or
CRT), reflecting the imagery off the
see-through combiner to the pilot’s
eye. This display module attaches to
the right side of the aviator’s
protective helmet with adjustments
that let the pilot position the display
to see the entire image.
30
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD part of VCS-I
 HMD is a part of VCS, consisting of HMD, a head tracker and mission computer.
 As the pilot turns his head, the new orientation is communicated to the mission
computer that updates the imagery as required.
 While the HUD provides information about only the relatively small forward-
looking area of the aircraft, with a head tracker the HMD can provide information
over the pilot’s entire field of regard, all around the aircraft with eyes- and head-
out viewing.
 This ability to link the displayed information with the pilot’s line of sight increases
the area of regard over which the critical aircraft information is available. This
new capability can:
 Cue the pilot’s attention by providing a pointing reticle to where a sensor has located an object
of interest.
 Allow the pilot to slew sensors such as a FLIR for flying at night or in adverse conditions.
 Allow the pilot to aim weapons at targets that are off-boresight from the line of sight of the
aircraft.
 And in general provided, increased situational awareness to the pilotl.
31
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD part of VCS-II
 One excellent example is the US Army’s AH-64 Apache helicopter equipped
with Honeywell’s Integrated Helmet and Display Sighting System (IHADSS)
HMD and head tracker.
 As the pilot moves his head in azimuth or elevation, the tracker communicates
the head orientation to the servo system controlling the Pilot Night Vision
System (PNVS) FLIR.
 The sensor follows his head movements, providing the pilot with a viewpoint as
though his head was located on the nose of the aircraft.

32
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-I
Good HMD design relies on a sub-optimization of requirements, trading off various
performance parameters and requirements.
• Ocularity
• Field of View (FOV)
• Optical Design
• See through Combiner Consideration
• Luminance and Contrast
• Head mounting, comfort, bio dynamics and safety

33
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-II
Ocularity : 3 Optical Configurations for HMD
• Monocular
• Biocular
• Binocular

Monocular: Single Image Source viewed by single eye. This is the lightest, least
expensive and simplest of all three approaches. For e.g. IHADSS. Some of the
drawbacks include
• Lateral Asymmetric CG
• Focus Issue
• Binocular Rivalry
• Ocular Motor Instability

34
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-III
Ocularity-I
Biocular: A single image source viewed by both eyes. The biocular approach is
more complex than the monocular design, though it does stimulate both eyes,
eliminating the potential for ocular-motor instability associated with monocular
displays. Viewing imagery with two eyes has been shown to yield improvements in
detection over one-eye viewing as well as providing a more comfortable viewing
experience. However, two-eyed viewing is subject to much more stringent set of
alignment, focus and adjustment requirements.
The primary disadvantage of the biocular design is that the image source is
usually located in the forehead region, making it more difficult to package. In
addition, since the luminance from the single image source is split to both eyes,
the brightness is cut in half.

35
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-IV
Ocularity-II
Binocular: Each eye views an independent image source. This is the most
complex, most expensive and heaviest of all three options, but one which has all
the advantages of a two-eyed system with the added benefit of providing partial
binocular overlap (to enlarge the horizontal field of view as discussed later in this
chapter), stereoscopic imagery and more packaging design freedom.

36
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-V
Advantages and Disadvantages of 3 Ocularity

37
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-VI
FOV-I
When asked for their initial HMD requirements, users will typically ask for more of
both field of view (FOV) and resolution. This is not surprising since the human
visual system has a total FOV of 200° horizontal by 130° vertical.
However, for daytime air-to-air applications in a fixed wing aircraft, a large FOV is
probably not necessary to display the symbology.
This is because research has shown that normal eye movements are limited to no
more than 15°. Constant movement outside of this range has the potential to
cause eye strain, because the natural tendency is for an individual to keep their
eyes in a “forward facing” orientation, so anything outside of the 15° range will
elicit a head motion.
A larger FOV is advantageous, because it provides peripheral cues that contribute
to the pilot’s sense of self stabilization, and it lowers pilot workload by reducing the
range of head movements needed to fill in the mental map.
38
2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)

Comparison of HUD and HMD field of view.

39
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-VII
FOV-II
• In its most sophisticated form the HMD can provide, in effect, a HUD on the
helmet.
• This can display all the information to the pilot which is normally shown on
a HUD but with the pilot able to look in any direction (attitude information is
referenced to his line of sight (LOS)).
• The HMD can also have a wider FOV ranging from 35º to 40º for a fighter
aircraft application to over 50º for a helicopter application.
• It should be appreciated that the FOV moves with the head, unlike the
HUD, and a larger FOV reduces scanning head movement in an HM
display.

40
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-VIII
FOV-III
• The HMD also enables a very effective night/poor visibility viewing system
to be achieved by displaying the TV picture from a gimbaled infrared
sensor unit which is slaved to follow the pilot’s line of sight.
• The pilot’s LOS with respect to the airframe is measured by a head position
sensing system.

41
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-IX
Optical Design-I
The purpose of the optics in an HMD is threefold:
• Collimate the image source - creating a virtual image, which appears to be
farther away than just a few inches from the face.
• Magnify the image source - making the imagery appear larger than the
actual size of the image source.
• Relay the image source – creating the virtual image away from the image
source, away from the front of the face.

42
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-X
Optical Design-II
Two of the most common optical design approaches common in HMDs are
non-pupil forming and pupil forming.
The first is the non-pupil forming design, similar to a simple magnifying lens -
hence the term simple magnifier. It is the easiest to design, the least
expensive to fabricate, the lightest and the smallest, though it does suffer
from a short throw distance between the image source and the virtual image,
putting whole assembly on the front of the head, close to the eyes. This
approach is typically used for simple viewing applications such as the medical
HMD

43
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-XI
Optical Design-III
The second optical approach is a bit more complex, the pupil-forming
design. This is more like the compound microscope, or a submarine
periscope in which a first set of lenses creates an intermediate image of the
image source, which is relayed by another set of lenses to where it creates
a pupil.

44
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-XII
Optical Design-IV
Advantages and Disadvantages of Simple Magnifier and Relayed Lens Design

45
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-XIII
Combiner Consideration-I
A see-through design is desired for aviation applications for flight reasons, but
also to allow the superposition of imagery over the outside world, allowing the
particularly advantageous display of geo- or earth reference information. A see-
through design is more difficult because the combiner must be large enough to
provide sufficient FOV, exit pupil, and eye relief without excess weight or
adversely impacting pilot safety.
Most aviation HMDs (currently) use only monochrome green (555 nanometers)
imagery, because this is the peak daylight (photopic) visual sensitivity.
Another consideration is see-through distortion. Pilots typically prefer to not have
any optical combiners in front of their eyes for:
1) ejection/crash safety and,
2) To eliminate distortions and other viewing artifacts.
Both of these concerns have driven fixed wing HMD design to use the pilot’s
protective visor as the final optical collimating element. 46
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-XIV
Luminisance and Contrast-I
In the high ambient luminance environment of an aircraft cockpit, daylight
readability of displays is a critical issue. The combining element in an HMD -
similar to the combiner of a HUD - reflects the projected imagery into the pilot’s
eyes. The pilot looks through the combining glass and sees the imagery
superimposed on the outside world, so it cannot be 100% reflective - pilots
always prefer to have as much see-through as possible.
To view the HMD imagery against a bright background such as sun-lit clouds or
snow, this less-than-perfect reflection efficiency means that the image source
must be that much brighter. The challenge is to provide a combiner with good
see-through transmission and still provide a high luminance image

47
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-XV
Luminisance and Contrast-II
There are limitations, though, because all image sources have a luminance
maximum governed by the physics of the device as well as size, weight and
power of any ancillary illumination. In addition, other factors such as the
transmission of the aircraft canopy and pilot’s visor must be considered when
determining the required image source luminance as shown in Figure

48
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade
off-XVI
Headmounting, Bio-dynamics and
Safety-I
It is difficult to put a precise metric on the fit
or comfort of an HMD, though it is always
immediately evident to the wearer. Even if
image quality is excellent, the user will
reject the HMD it if it doesn’t fit well. Fitting
and sizing is especially critical in the case
of an HMD where in addition to being
comfortable, it must provide a precision fit
for the display relative to the pilot’s eyes.

49
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
HMD System Considerations and Trade off-XVI
Headmounting, Bio-dynamics and Safety-II
Issues for achieving a Good fit
• The user must be able to adjust the display (or have it properly fitted) to see the
imagery throughout the mission.
• The HMD must be comfortable for a long duration of wear without causing “hot
spots”.
• The HMD must not slip with sweating or under g-loading, vibration, or buffeting.
• The HMD must be retained during crash or ejection.
• The weight of the head-borne equipment must be minimized.
• The mass-moment-of-inertia must be minimized.
• The mass of the head-borne components should be distributed to keep the
center of gravity close to that of the head alone.

50
51
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
Basic Functions and Helmet Design Factors
• To protect the pilot’s head and eyes from injury when ejecting at high
airspeeds.
• To interface with the oxygen mask attached to the helmet. Combat aircraft
use a special pressurized breathing system for high g maneuvering.
• To provide the pilot with an aural and speech interface with the
communications radio equipment.
• In addition to the clear protective visor, the helmet must also incorporate a
dark visor to attenuate the glare from bright sunlight.
• The helmet must also be compatible with NBC (nuclear–biological–
chemical) protective clothing and enable an NBC mask to be worn.

52
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
Basic Functions and Helmet Design Factors
• Integrating an HMD system into the helmet must thus consider the
communications and breathing equipment requirement, the protection,
comfort and cooling aspects as well as the visual performance of the
display.
• The helmet CG should be in line with the pivoting point of the head on the
spine so that there are minimal out of balance moments exerted on the
neck muscles.
• The moment of inertia of the integrated helmet system about the yaw and
pitch axes of the head should be as low as possible.
• There should be at least 25 mm (1 in) clearance, or ‘eye relief’, between
the nearest optical surface and the eye.

53
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)

Boresight:
The direction in which the aircraft fore
and aft axis is pointing.
Helmet mounted sights and off-boresight missile launch.
54
2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)

IIT (Image Intensifying Tube)

Optical Mixing of IIT and CRT Imagery
55
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
Head Tracking Systems
• Angular coverage of the magnetic type of head tracker is typically
around±135° in azimuth and ±85° in elevation.
• All the systems- optical, magnetic and acoustic – have their individual
limitations although the magnetic systems are currently the most widely
used.
• Higher accuracy at larger off-boresight angles is attainable, however, with
the latest optical systems.
• The sight line measurement accuracy can hence be greatly improved by
the use of an eye tracker system which measures the direction of gaze of
the eye with respect to the helmet.
• An eye tracker can also be used very effectively as a means of data entry-
a possible development in future cockpits.

56
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
Virtual Cockpit
• The concept of a ‘virtual cockpit’ where information is presented visually to
the pilot by means of computer generated 3D imagery is being very actively
researched in a number of establishments both in the USA and the UK.
• The increasing use of Remote Piloted Vehicles (RPVs) and their control
from a ‘parent’ aircraft, or ground station, is another future application for
HMDs and virtual cockpit technology.
• A correctly designed Binocular HMD (BHMD) is a key component in such
systems because it is able to present both a display of information at
infinity and also stereo images to each eye so that the pilot sees a 3D
image.

57
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
Virtual Cockpit

Binocular HMD and Virtual Cockpit.

58
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
Virtual Cockpit
• When head up, the pilot views the outside world directly, or indirectly by
means of a TV display on the HMD from a head steered gimballed
electro-optical sensor unit (e.g. infrared imaging sensor, low light TV
camera or CCD camera).
• When looking down at the instrument panel, the virtual cockpit
computer system recognizes the pilot’s head down sight line from the
head tracker output and supplies this information to the display
generation system.
• The display generation system then generates a stereo pair of images
of the appropriate instrument display on the panel which corresponds
to the pilot’s sight line, e.g., a 3D image of that instrument display
appearing in the position it normally occupies – i.e. a virtual instrument
panel display.
59
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)

Virtual Cockpit
• Novel ways of presenting information to the pilot by means of the
BHMD include displaying a 3D ‘pathway in the sky’ as a flight director
display, which can be overlaid on the normal outside scene (directly or
indirectly viewed) or on a computer generated outside world scene
created from a terrain data base.
• A ‘God’s eye view’ can also be presented; for example, what the pilot
would see if he was outside the aircraft and looking down from a height
of say 2000 ft above and slightly behind his aircraft.
• There has been disquiet regarding the physiological and psychological
effects of prolonged viewing of commercial ‘virtual reality’ systems and
the ability of the user to switch back to the real world without delay.

60
 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
Virtual Cockpit
Piloted
Helicopter

God’s eye view display concept 61

 2. Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD)
Virtual Cockpit
• Anticipation also lie on what are referred to as Virtual Retinal
Displays (VRDs) for future virtual cockpits.
• In such systems, images are not presented on a display
surface but instead are projected directly on to the retina of
the pilot’s eye by a raster scanned laser light beam.
• The current technology of implementing a virtual retinal
display involves lasers, optical fibers and miniature vibrating
mirrors for raster scanning the retina of the eye, together with
coupling optics.

62
 3. Computer Aided Optical Design
• Modern optical design software enables very sophisticated
optical designs to be optimized and the performance
determined.
• An automatic optimization program can be carried out
iteratively whereby the curvature of all the individual elements,
their spacing, tilt, refractive index can be varied to seek an
optimal solution.
• These programs take several hours to run even on the most
modern main frame computers.
• None of the modern HUDs and HMDs, in fact, would have
been feasible without the use of Computer Aided Optical
Design methods.
63
4. Head Down Displays (HDD)

Primary Flight Display 64

 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
• By the early 1980s, it became viable to effect a revolution in civil flight-
decks and military cockpits by replacing the majority of the traditional dial
type instruments with multi-function color CRT displays
• Traditional dial instruments which are still used are the electromechanical
standby instruments such as the altimeter, airspeed indicator, artificial
horizon and heading indicator.
• These electro-mechanical standby instruments, however, are now being
replaced by all solid state equivalents with a color LCD display
presentation, in the new generation of aircraft entering service, or in avionic
update programs.
• The color CRT is still a major display technology in terms of the number of
aircraft equipped with color multi-function CRT displays.
• The situation, however, has changed rapidly over the last decade with the
development of high resolution, Active Matrix Color LCDs (AMLCDs).
65
 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
• Typically, a HDD comprises the display together with the drive
electronics and power regulation.
• As with the HUD, there is frequently a simple processor and
housekeeping software to control the brightness, self test and mode
changes.
• Some units now contain a full processor and symbol generator and
data bus interface, but it is more usual for the HDDs to be driven by a
central display processor(s).

66
 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
Civil Cockpit HDDs
• The displays are duplicated for the Captain and Second Pilot and being
multifunction it is possible to reconfigure the displayed information in
the event of the failure of a particular display surface.
• The electronic Primary Flight Display (PFD) replaces six electro-
mechanical instruments: altimeter, vertical speed indicator, artificial
horizon/attitude director indicator, heading/compass indicator and
Mach meter.

67
 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
Civil Cockpit HDDs

Navigation (or horizontal situation) display. 68

 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
Civil Cockpit HDDs

Engine/Warning Display 69
 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
Military Cockpit HDDs
• Video head down displays now include FLIR and maps.
• All the HUD functions may be repeated overlaid on the video pictures. Fuel
and engine data, navigation waypoints and a host of ‘housekeeping’
functions (e.g. hydraulics, pressurisation) may be displayed.
• A stores management display is also required showing the weapons
carried and their status.
• Typical advanced military cockpits are configured with four head down
displays.
• There are two large colour displays; a Horizontal Situation Display (HSD)
providing a 6 × 8 inch map display in ‘portrait’ format with symbol overlay of
routeing and threat data and a Vertical Situation Display (VSD) providing
an 8×6 inch Irvideo display showing targeting video at various
magnifications.
70
 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
Military Cockpit HDDs
• The other two displays are smaller 5×5 inch monochrome displays
comprising a Systems Status Display (SSD) displaying systems
status data and a Systems Control Display (SCD) displaying systems
control data.
• Both these displays have tactile data entry overlay.
• The advanced cockpits for the new generation of fighter/strike aircraft
have just two large color displays as the primary head down displays.

71
 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
Military Cockpit HDDs

Two large flat panel

color display
surfaces.

Lockheed Martin ‘Lightening 2’ Joint Strike Fighter cockpit.

72
 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
Display Symbology Generation
• Symbology such as lines, circles, curves, dials, scales, alpha-numeric
characters, tabular information, map display features is drawn as a set
of straight line segment approximation, or vectors (like a ‘join the dots’
children’s pictures).

73
 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
Display Symbology Generation

Symbology generation
and display.

74
 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
Display Symbology Generation

Digitally generated
moving color maps.

Digitized map with information overlay. 75

 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
Display Symbology Generation

Digitally generated
moving color maps.

3D terrain map display. 76

 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
Display Symbology Generation

Digitally generated
moving color maps.

Scrolling the map display window. 77

 4. Head Down Displays (HDD)
Display Symbology Generation

Digitally generated
moving color maps.

Rotating the map display window. 78

 5. Data Fusion
• Data fusion is the name given to the process of combining the data
from a number of different sources to provide information which is not
present in the individual sources.
• For example, a synthetic 3D picture can be derived of the terrain in
front of the aircraft from an accurate terrain data base and accurate
information on the aircraft’s position and attitude.
• The aircraft’s position and attitude information are provided by a GPS
and an INS.
• The synthetic picture of the terrain can be overlaid one to one with the
outside scene derived from a FLIR sensor and displayed on a HUD or
a head down display.
• This system enables the pilot to continue visual flight in conditions of
marginal visibility where normally it would be necessary to pull up and
fly at a higher altitude.
79
 5. Data Fusion

Enhanced vision
HUD display while display.
carrying out an
erroneous decent in
mountainous
scenario.

Synthetic vision
display.

80
 5. Data Fusion

‘Pathway in the sky’ pictorial display. 81

 5. Data Fusion
• These displays provide a pictorial presentation of the aircraft’s spatial
situation and flight path using synthetically generated ground imagery,
and exploit data fusion.
• All pilots learn to fly using this primary flight information format and its
retention in color head down displays has enabled their acceptance to
be achieved in a smooth and straightforward manner with very little
learning curve required.
• The display of information, however, in any application involves a
process of abstraction, and a ‘mental translation’ is required to build up
a situational awareness and mental picture of what is happening.
• The objective of these new pictorial displays is to provide the pilot with
a more intuitive and natural appreciation of the situation in terms of the
aircraft’s state, its actual flight path, and the desired flight path with
respect to the outside world.
82
 5. Data Fusion
• With systems exploiting the data fusion technologies, a more easily
assimilated pictorial type display presentation can be produced
compared with the present symbolic presentations of flight and
navigational information.
• To generate these pictorial displays is not a problem with the
technology now available.
• There is, however, a big difference between demonstrating an
experimental system and the development of a production system
approved by the airworthiness authorities.
• The costs involved in achieving certification by the civil airworthiness
authorities is a significant sum (as with any airborne system); the
software is safety critical and the flight trials to prove the system do not
come cheaply.

83
 6. Intelligent Display Management
• The exploitation of intelligent knowledge based systems (IKBS)
technology, frequently referred to as ‘expert systems’, to assist the pilot in
carrying out the mission is the subject of a number of very active research
programs.
• A subset of all the proposed expert systems on an aircraft is an intelligent
displays management system to manage the information which is visually
presented to the pilot in high work load situations.
• It is the unexpected or uncontrollable that leads to an excessive work
load, examples being:
– The ‘bounce’ – interception by a counter attacking aircraft with very little warning.
– Evasion of ground threat – SAM (surface–air missile).
– Bird strike when flying at low altitude.
– Engine failure.
– Weather abort or weather diversion emergency.

84
6. Intelligent Display Management

Intelligent display management.

85
 7. Display Technology
Replacing the HUD CRT
• The vast majority of HUDs currently in service worldwide use a CRT as the
display source, and CRT based HUDs will remain in service for many years
to come.
• The CRT is basically a very simple and technically elegant device which
has truly been one of the greatest enabling inventions of the twentieth
century.
• The continuing development, however, of projected display systems has
now enabled a competitive, higher reliability replacement of the HUD
display source to be produced. New HUD systems exploiting these
developments are now entering service and the CRT based HUD will be
eventually superseded.

86
 7. Display Technology
Replacing the HUD CRT
• The CRT, however, has major advantages which have been hard to
match such as sharp, crisp cursive display symbology and the very
wide viewing angle inherent with an emissive display, and extremely
high display integrity; the probability of the CRT itself displaying
misleading information is less than 1 part in a billion per hour.
• The current solution to replacing the CRT is to use a projected type
display with a very high luminance light source to illuminate a light
modulator, such as a flat panel high resolution display device.
• Although losses in the light modulation process constrain the display
efficiency, the HUD requirements can be met and the reliability greatly
increased.

87
 7. Display Technology
Replacing the HUD CRT

Projection Display Unit for a HUD

88
 7. Display Technology

Replacing the HUD CRT

• However, high luminance LEDs which meet the HUD luminance
requirements have also become available fairly recently.
• The reflection efficiency of reflective type LCDs, however, is only about
15% and requires a high luminance light source to meet the required
display brightness levels. (Transmissive type LCDs are unsuitable as their
transmission efficiency is too low.)

89
 7. Display Technology
HMD/HUD Optical System Technology
 Recent developments in holographic waveguide technology, however,
will have a profound impact on future HMD and HUD design.
Exploitation of this technology offers a major improvement in terms of
mass, cost, volume, simplicity and optical performance.
 The advantages the new technology offers can best be seen by
reviewing the optical requirements for any HMD/HUD system and the
limitations imposed by using current optical technology.
 Internal Reflection: to be minimized and solar imaging well controlled.
 Compactness
 Contrast: to be visible under all ambient light conditions.
 Field of View
 Weight
 Reliability
90
 8. Control and Data Entry
 Tactile Control Panel
 Direct Voice Input (DVI): control is a system which enables the pilot to enter data
and control the operation of the aircraft’s avionic systems by means of speech.
 Speech Output System: Audio warning systems using speech synthesizers to
provide voiced warning messages to the pilot/crew of system malfunctions and
dangers/threats. They are also complementary to a DVI system to provide the
essential feedback that a spoken command/data input has been correctly
recognized.
 Display Integration with Audio/Tactile Inputs: enables a very significant
reduction in the pilot’s workload to be achieved in the new generation of single seat
fighter/strike aircraft.
 Eye Trackers: These are being fairly widely used and evaluated in ground
simulators for such future applications as improved target designation accuracy by
enabling a more accurate measurement of the pilot’s gaze angle to be made in
conjunction with a head tracker system.

91
8. Control and Data Entry

Audio-Tactile Management System.

92
 Chapter 3

Navigation Systems & RW Propagation

Aayush Bhattarai
Lecturer
Institute of Engineering (IoE)
Tribhuvan University
2020

Navigation Systems 1
 1. Introduction
• The dictionary definition of navigation is a good one.
– Navigation - The act, science or art of directing the movement of a
ship or aircraft.
• Navigation thus involves both control of the aircraft’s flight path and the
guidance for its mission.
– Measurement of the aircraft’s attitude with respect to the horizontal
plane in terms of the pitch and bank angles and its heading
– Autopilot system (e.g., Attitude and Heading Hold modes, Autoland,
etc.) navigation system and the weapon aiming system.
– Accurate knowledge of the aircraft’s position in terms of its
latitude/longitude coordinates, ground speed and track angle, height
and vertical velocity.
• High accuracy navigation systems are thus essential and form a key part of
the flight management system.
Navigation Systems 2
 1. Introduction
• For civil aircrafts, a ‘four’ dimensional accuracy is required to follow the
ATC’s ‘tube in the sky’ within the aircrafts own time slot.
• For military operations, very accurate navigation systems are essential to
enable the aircraft to fly low and take advantage of terrain screening from
enemy radars, to avoid known defenses and in particular to enable the
target to be acquired in time.
• There are two basic methods of navigation namely dead reckoning (DR)
navigation and position fixing navigation systems. Both systems are
used to achieve the necessary integrity.
• DR navigation is the process of continually computing a vehicle’s position
as the journey proceeds from a knowledge of the starting point position and
the vehicle’s speed and direction of motion and the time elapsed.

Navigation Systems 3
 1. Introduction
• DR navigation is the process of continually computing a vehicle’s position
as the journey proceeds from a knowledge of the starting point position and
the vehicle’s speed and direction of motion and the time elapsed. It is
essentially an incremental process of continually estimating the changes
that have occurred and updating the present position estimate accordingly.
• The main types of airborne DR navigation systems are categorized below
on the basis of the means used to derive the velocity components of the
aircraft (in order of increasing accuracy).
– Air data based DR navigation – heading, wind speed & true speed.
– Doppler/heading reference systems- ground speed & drift angle.
– Inertial navigation systems- integrated horizontal component of aircraft
acceleration wrt time, measured using acclr & gyros.
– Doppler inertial navigation systems- combination of Doppler and INS
outputs.
Navigation Systems 4
 1. Introduction
• Navigation Terminology
– Fix : A fixed reference point on the ground, “ Landmark”
– Leg: The route between two fixes

Navigation Systems 5
 1. Introduction
• Navigation Terminology
– How many Fixes and Legs?

Navigation Systems 6
 1. Introduction
• Navigation Terminology
– Fix : A fixed reference point on the ground, “ Landmark”
– Leg: The route between two fixes
– Course and Track: Direction of the leg
– IAS: Aircraft Speed Displayed in Cockpit
– TAS: Takes account of temperature and altitude of air.
– GS: Speed of the aircraft relate to ground

Navigation Systems 7
 1. Introduction
• Step by Step: Dead Reckoning
– Plan the Leg, note down Course and Distance
– Set IAS and Altitude, Calculate TAS
– Find Wind Speed and Direction
– Calculate Heading and GS by using E6B
– Calculate the time required to complete the journey.

Navigation Systems 8
 1. Introduction
• The primary DR navigation system which is also the primary source of very
accurate attitude and heading information is the Inertial Navigation System
(INS).
• The term Inertial Reference System (IRS), is also used in civil aircraft. The
IRS can have a lower inertial navigation accuracy of up to 4 NM/hour error
compared with 1 to 2 NM/hour for a typical INS.
• The attitude and heading accuracy, however, is still very high. The
terminology INS/IRS is used to show that they are essentially the same.
• The INS/IRS also derives the aircraft’s velocity vector in conjunction with
the Air Data System which provides barometric height information. This is
of great assistance to the pilot when displayed on the HUD.
• The INS/IRS is thus a key aircraft state sensor for both military and civil
aircraft. Large civil airliners operating on long haul, over water routes, have
triple IRS installations to ensure availability and the ability to detect failures
or degradation of performance by cross-comparison.
Navigation Systems 9
 1. Introduction
• A fundamental characteristic of DR navigation systems is that their
accuracy is time dependent. For example, a good quality INS has an
accuracy of 1 NM/hour so that the aircraft position uncertainty after five
hours would be 5 NM.
• A position fixing system is thus required to constrain the error growth of a
DR navigation system and correct the DR position errors.
• A position ‘fix’ can be obtained by recognizing a prominent landmark or set
of terrain features either visually, possibly using an infrared imaging sensor,
or from a radar-generated map display. Alternatively, a suitable position
fixing navigation system can be used.
• Position fixing navigation systems depend on external references to
derive the aircraft’s position. For example, radio/radar transmitters on the
ground, or in satellites whose orbital positions are precisely known. Unlike
DR navigation systems, their errors are not time dependent. The errors are
also independent of the aircraft’s position in most position fixing systems.
Navigation Systems 10
 1. Introduction
• The main position fixing navigation systems in current use are briefly
summarized below.
• Range and Bearing (‘R/θ’) Radio Navigation Aids- DME (distance
measuring equipment) is co-located with VOR (VOR [VHF omni-
directional range]) and provides the distance from an aircraft to the
DME transmitter.
• Satellite Navigation Systems, GPS (Global Position System)- most
important and accurate position fixing system developed to date.
• Terrain Reference Navigation (TRN) Systems- correlating the terrain
measurements made by a sensor in the vehicle with the known terrain
feature data in the vicinity of the DR estimated position . The terrain
feature data is obtained from a stored digital map database.

Navigation Systems 11
 1. Introduction

Navigation system information flow to user systems.

Navigation Systems 12
2. Inertial Navigation

Basic Principle of IN

Navigation Systems 13
 2. Inertial Navigation
• High accuracy.
• Self-contained.
• Autonomous – does not depend on other systems.
• Passive – does not radiate.
• Un-jamable.
• Does not require reference to the ground or outside world.
• Accurate velocity vector information together with an accurate vertical reference
are essential for accurate weapon aiming and this has led to the INS being installed
in military strike aircraft from the early 1960s onwards as a key element of the
navigation/weapon aiming system.
• The self-contained characteristics of an inertial navigation system plus the ability to
provide a very accurate attitude and heading reference led to the installation of IN
systems in long range civil transport aircraft from the late 1960s.
• They are now very widely used in all types of civil aircraft.

Navigation Systems 14
 3. Attitude Heading Reference Systems
• Modern Attitude Heading Reference Systems are strap-down systems
exploiting solid state gyros and accelerometers and are basically
similar to modern strap-down IN systems.
• The major differences are in the accuracy of the inertial sensors and
their consequent cost. There is no significant difference in reliability
between the two systems as both exploit solid state implementation.
• In the case of a Doppler velocity sensor, the Doppler and inertially
derived velocities are compared along local NED (north east down)
axes, as the Doppler is a key part of the navigation system.
• In the case of lower accuracy AHRS systems, the comparison of the air
data and inertial velocity components is generally made along the
aircraft body axes.

Navigation Systems 15
 3. Attitude Heading Reference Systems
• The mechanization of an air data/inertial velocity mixing system to
monitor the vertical reference of a strap-down AHRS is described below
to show:
• The use of air data derived velocity as opposed to Doppler.
• The use of aircraft body axes as a reference frame of axes.
• The application to a lower accuracy AHRS with lower cost gyros in the
few degrees/hour bias uncertainty performance bracket.

Navigation Systems 16
 Propagation Theory-Electromagnetic
Waves
This is a important chapter as we need to understand why different radio frequencies
are used for different purposes.
Lets start with Radio Wave in Contest with different other waves

Navigation Systems 17
 Propagation Theory-Electromagnetic
Waves
When electric charge is moved they give rise to a magnetic field perpendicular to the
flow of the current.

In the case of direct current the electrons move continuously in the same direction and
the magnetic field also moves in that direction.

Navigation Systems 18
 Propagation Theory-Electromagnetic
Waves
However if the motion of the current is changing as an AC current then the magnetic
field oscillates and in turn it produces an electric field perpendicular to the magnetic
field this electric field also oscillates.

Navigation Systems 19
 Propagation Theory-Electromagnetic
Waves
Where both magnetic Field H and an electric field E exist the two fields are collectively
known as Electromagnetic Radiation and frequency of these electromagnetic waves
is the same as that of the electric charge which created them.

Navigation Systems 20
 Propagation Theory-Electromagnetic
Waves
If an AC current at low frequency is passed through any wire such as an aerial
(Antenna), the magnetic field will move one way in a wave and then reverse and
collapse with the currents.

Navigation Systems 21
 Propagation Theory-Electromagnetic
Waves
But as frequency increases the magnetic field will not have collapsed completely before
the reverse field starts to establish itself and energy will start to travel outwards from
the aerial in the form of electromagnetic waves.

Navigation Systems 22
 Propagation Theory-Electromagnetic
Waves
The direction in which electromagnetic waves travel out from the aerial depends upon
the orientation of the aerial, if the aerial is vertical then the electric field E also travels in
a vertical wave form this is called vertical polarization.

Navigation Systems 23
 Propagation Theory-Electromagnetic
Waves
If the aerial is horizontal then the electric field E also travels in a horizontal wave form
this is called horizontal polarization.

Navigation Systems 24
 Propagation Theory-Electromagnetic
Waves
To receive maximum signal strength from a incoming radio wave it is essential in the
same plane as polarization of the wave so vertically polarized radio wave would require
a vertical aerial

Navigation Systems 25
 Propagation Theory-Electromagnetic
Waves
The magnetic field H which is also created by the AC travels at the right angles to the
electrical wave but, but we do not consider Magnetic field as it is only the electrical field
that carries the radio message.

Navigation Systems 26
 Propagation Theory-Electromagnetic
Waves
Circular Polarization is produced by winding a wire in a helix shaped around an
insulator this is called a helical antenna

Navigation Systems 27
 Propagation Theory-Electromagnetic
Waves
The helical antenna has the advantage of transmitting in both vertical and horizontal
planes and in all planes in between

Navigation Systems 28
 Propagation Theory-Electromagnetic
Waves
So circular polarization is useful where a transmission in a single plane. But range is
less as it consumes more power due to which it is mostly used in rainy weather and
linear polarization in good weather in Radar.

Navigation Systems 29
 Propagation Theory-Radio Waves
Sinusoidal Wave, Each complete pattern is cycle, the time it takes to complete each
cycle in period (𝜏) and is measured in microsecond (µs) i.e. 106. The number of cycles
per second is frequency and is measured in Hertz. The device used to display
frequency is Oscilloscope

Navigation Systems 30
 Propagation Theory-Radio Waves
Kilo-Hertz ( kHz)- 1000 Hz- 103 Hz
Mega-Hertz (MHz)- 1,000,000 Hz- 106 Hz
Giga-Hertz ( GHz)- 1,000,000,000 Hz- 109 Hz

So instead of saying 8,000,000 cycles per second = 8 MHz

Wavelength: It is the distance between the start and end of the cycles. Generally,
distance between two peaks of the two identical waves and denoted by the symbol λ.
λ

Navigation Systems 31
 Propagation Theory-Radio Waves
Relation between Frequency and Wavelength. Wavelength and frequency is inversely
proportional to each other.

Navigation Systems 32
Propagation Theory-Radio Waves
Frequency Band Frequenc Wavelength Civil Aeronautical
y Usage
Very Low Frequency ( VLF) 3-30 kHz 100-10 km Nil
Low Frequency (LF) 30-300 kHz 10-1 km NDB/ADF, LORAN C
Medium Frequency ( MF) 300-3000 kHz 1000-100 m NDB/ADF, long range
communication
High Frequency ( HF) 3-30 MHz 100-10 m High Range Communication

Very High Frequency ( VHF) 30-300 MHz 10-1 m Short Range Communication,
VDF, VOR, ILS, Localizer,
Marker Beacon
Ultra High Frequency (UHF) 300-3000 100-10 cm ILS glide path DME, SSR,
MHz SATCOM, GNSS, Long
Range Radars
Super High Frequency (SHF) 3-30 GHz 10-1 cm RADALT, AWR, MLS, Short
Range Radar

Extremely High Frequency 30-300 GHz 10-1 mm Nil

(EHF)

Navigation Systems 33
 Propagation Theory-Radio Waves
When considering sinusoidal wave such as Radio Waves or AC it is convenient be able
to denote a particular point or phase on the sinusoidal waveform. It is also necessary to
know that the amount by which the wave moves away from its zero or start position is
called amplitude.

Navigation Systems 34
 Propagation Theory-Radio Waves
Sinusoidal waves are constructed by tracing the progress of a given point on the
circumference of the circle for a 360 degree of a circle are used to represent an
equivalent position on the sinusoidal wave.

Navigation Systems 35
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
The factors that affect the propagation of radio waves. These factors fall into 2
categories
Attenuation: Weakening of the wave
Refraction: Bending of the wave.

Navigation Systems 36
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Attenuations occurs in several ways as the wave travels further away from the
transmitter it simply becomes weaker like the waves in a pond emanating from where a
stone is thrown. As range increases the field strength of the wave decreases.

Navigation Systems 37
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Attenuation is proportional to the inverse square of the range. This means if the range
is to be doubled then the power required should be quadrupled.

Navigation Systems 38
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Surface Attenuation occurs when a wave
travels over the earth surface. Its strength
would be attenuated by contact with the
earths surface because the wave induces a
voltage in the earth which takes energy
away from the wave as it moves away from
the transmitter.

To reduce this attenuation vertical polarized fields are used which merely dip into and
out of the earths surface whereas horizontally polarized field is in constant contact with
the surface of the earth and the wave is completely attenuated within a short distance.
The nature of the surface of the earth over which the wave travels is also a factor in
attenuation. Radio waves attenuate more over land than over the sea. Mountains
forests and desert cause the greatest attenuation of radio waves. Surface attenuation
increases as the frequency of the signal increases and so frequencies above 2 MHz
are of little use for long distance transmissions.

Navigation Systems 39
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Ionospheric Attenuation occurs
when radio waves penetrate the
ionosphere which is diffused with free
electrons as radio signals propagate
through the layers of the ionosphere
they begin to transfer energy to these
electrons setting them in motion. This
results in electron vibrating which can
cause them to collide with other
molecules, ions and electrons.

Each collision dissipated a small amount of radio signal strength as energy is

transferred from wave to particle and the radio wave returning to earth will have lost
some of its strength. The frequency and hence the wavelength of the radio waves is
important, the longer the wavelength the greater the ionospheric attenuation. Note: this
is the reverse of ground or surface attenuation.

Navigation Systems 40
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Atmospheric Attenuation (SCATTER) occurs because atmosphere contains solid
particles such as water pollutants and ice, these will reflect and scatter radio waves of a
sufficiently high frequency those above 5 GHz. In this frequency band, the wavelength
is around 1-10 cm, and the water droplets in the atmosphere are of these sizes due to
which energy carried by the wave dissipates here.

Navigation Systems 41
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Reflections also attenuates signals such as Buildings, so aerials should be positioned
sufficiently high to avoid this. Static interference ( Rain, Thunderstorm etc.) also
attenuates radio signals.

Navigation Systems 42
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Refraction this can happen in several in hindrance or it may be a help to radio wave
propagation in radio waves or lights through one medium and then through another
because of change of velocity.

Navigation Systems 43
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Refraction occurs in the same way for the radio waves as for the light waves in water.
The ionosphere is densely ionized that is negatively charged. This ionosphere reaction
is very useful as it bends back the wave into earth. Refractions decreases as
frequency of the radio signal increases.

Navigation Systems 44
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Equally useful is atmospheric diffraction in the low and medium frequency bands radio
waves tend to refract or bend to such an extent that they remain in contact with the
earths surface which increases range possibly to thousands of kilometers.

Navigation Systems 45
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
The Refractions or bending also occurs in the VHF band during some meterological
condition which results in a radio wave hugging the earth and increasing range and this
effect is known as Super Refractions. The necessary condition are :
• Decrease in relative humidity with height
• Temperature falling more slowly than standard
• High Pressure System
• Warm Air flowing over cooler surface.
Sub Refractions occurs in conditions of
• Increases relative humidity
• Lower than ISA temperature
• Low Pressure
• Cold Air flows over a hot surface
Which results in reduced range.

Navigation Systems 46
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
However not all refraction is beneficial, coastal refraction occurs because a radio wave
travels faster over the sea than it does over the land. As a result, any wave that crosses
a coast line at other than 90 degrees will bend slightly towards the medium in which it
travels slower namely the Landmass. Again, the degree of refraction decreases if
the frequency of the signal is increased.

Navigation Systems 47
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Propagation

Non-Ionospheric Ionospheric

Surface Wave (20kHz – 50 Skywave (20kHz – 50MHz)

MHz) Used 20kHz – 2MHz Used 2 – 30MHz

Space Wave > 50 MHz Satellite: UHF, SHF

Ducting < 20kHz

Navigation Systems 48
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Starting with Surface Wave, these exist at frequencies from about 20 KHz to 50 MHz,
which is from the upper end a very low frequency through long wave, medium wave
and high frequency to the lower end of very high frequency. They travel across the
earth by the process of diffraction. The range achievable is dependent upon several
factors as the radio wave frequency increases surface attenuation increases. Surface
waves are effectively non-existent above high frequency that is above 30 MHz. Surface
waves are therefore used in the low frequency for NDB transmission. In the medium
frequency for NDB and long range communication and in the high frequency for long
range communications.

Navigation Systems 49
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Second type of Non-Ionospheric wave is Space Wave, which is made up two parts a
ground reflected wave and direct wave..

Navigation Systems 50
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
At frequencies of VHF and above , radio waves start to behave more like visible light
and in the same way the light has a visible horizon, radio waves also have a horizon, so
only propagation at these frequencies is Line of Sight (LOS). There is some
atmospheric refractions which causes the radio waves to bend towards the earth and
this does increase the range slightly beyond the geometric horizon but as radio
frequency increases refraction reduces

Navigation Systems 51
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Range formula in Nm

Navigation Systems 52
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Moving on to Ionospheric Propagation, first lets have a look at what earths atmosphere
is made of. Progressively Fewers atoms of gases with height above the earth from

Navigation Systems 53
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Ionosphere Layers- D, E and F layers.

Navigation Systems 54
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Ionosphere Layers- D, E and F layers.
F Layers (aka Appleton layer) Contains F1 and F2 ( During the day they are different,
but combine at night) average height of 200 Km
Layer D is found at average height of 75 Km in the atmosphere, Ionization is low
Layer E ( aka Kennely Heaviside Layer) found at an average height of 125 Km.

Navigation Systems 55
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
When a radio wave is transmitted into ionized layer and it returns it is called a sky
wave. The bending occurs because there is an abrupt change in the velocity of the
radio wave.

Navigation Systems 56
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Critical Frequency: Maximum frequency in which wave can be refracted. Thus the
range achieved at that time is desired range.

Navigation Systems 57
Propagation Theory-Propagation Paths
Fading is caused by variations in signal strength because of distance, low transmission
power, weather, terrain, and signal to aerial polarization matching. Multipath fading
occurs when sky waves contaminated the surface waves in the low frequency and MF
bands. Space diversity is the process of positioning two antennae's in the aircraft to
avoid Multipath Fading in which at least one antennae will receive a good signal. It also
can be overcomed by using 2 Tx and 2 Rx each pair tuned to different frequencies
which is called frequency diversity.

Navigation Systems 58
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
Lets look how information called intelligence is superimposed onto the radio wave,
when this is done the radio wave is termed as carrier wave. The intelligence is said to
be in modulated into it

Navigation Systems 59
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
If a radio wave is unmodulated it would simply be a radio wave to constant amplitude
and frequency. This type of signal is ideal for Direction Finding Equipment such as the
ADF ( Automatic Direction Finder), its wave form would like the given figure. If the
carrier wave were transmitted at the frequency in the audible range one would a hear
continuous tone ( long beep)

Navigation Systems 60
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
Radio signals are designated according to their characteristics, the unmodulated carrier
wave is designated n0n ( n ‘zero’ n)

Navigation Systems 61
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
Radio Emission Characteristics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_radio_emissions

EQUIPMENT Code
ADF N0N A1A or N0N A2A
VHF RTF A3E
HF RTF J3E
VOR A9W
ILS A8W
Marker Beacon A2A
DME P0N
ILS N0XG1D

Navigation Systems 62
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
The simplest form of modulation is to switch the electric current on and off, this is called
keying, Moarse message can be sent this way.

Navigation Systems 63
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
Keyed carrier waves are designated A1A and they are used mostly for long distance
NDBs as all of the transmitted power is in the carrier wave.

Navigation Systems 64
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
More sophisticated intelligence can be superimposed upon a carrier wave by
modulating either the amplitude of the carrier wave (A.M) or modulating its frequency (
F.M)

Navigation Systems 65
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
AM and FM are familiar, AM means Amplitude Modulated Radio and refers to the
medium wave broadcast band 300 to 3000 KHz.
If an electromagnetic wave in the radio wave frequency bands is mixed with the lower
frequency wave such as an audio frequency, the amplitude of the audio wave will
modify the amplitude of the radio frequency, it does this by varying the strength of the
transmitted radio current according to the pitch and loudness of the speech wave

Navigation Systems 66
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
The process of superimposing one sine wave upon another such as an audio
frequency on a radio frequency is known as heterodyne ( Hetrodyning). The process
combines the two frequencies, leaving the radio frequency unchanged for producing
new frequencies of the sum and difference of the two frequencies.

Navigation Systems 67
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
For example; an audio frequency of 3 kilohertz and a low power of 50W is used to
amplitude modulate a radio frequency of 2,182 KHz which has a high power of 100W.
The radio frequency remains unchanged but the audio frequency is split into two side
bands

Navigation Systems 68
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
One side band extends upwards from 2182.001 KHz to 2185 KHz (Upper Side Band).
The other side band ( Lower Side Band) extends downward from 2181.99 KHz to 2179
KHz. The spread gives Bandwidth of 6 KHz which is double the audio frequency used.

Navigation Systems 69
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
Where the modulating waveform is constant in amplitude and frequency

Navigation Systems 70
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
Human voice however varies both in amplitude at its volume and frequency which is
pitch , so the modulating waveform is complex and its effect on the carrier wave is
shown here.

Navigation Systems 71
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
The extent of modulation is given by

Navigation Systems 72
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
If we look again at the way power of the audio wave from the power of the radio wave
are distributed when they are mixed, we can see that the 50 watts of audio power is
divided equally between the upper and lower side band. The power of the radio wave
remains at 100 W

Navigation Systems 73
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
The intelligence were laid on the modulating wave is the same in upper side band as it
is in the lower side band therefore there is unwanted duplication.

Navigation Systems 74
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
It would be more energy efficient if one of these two sidebands could be deleted so that
the energy were completely saved or applied to obtaining a greater range, it is usually
the lower side band that is surpressed

Navigation Systems 75
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
Similarly, the radio wave having served the purpose to get the audio information into
radio frequency is now redundant and should wither reduced or surpressed completely.

Navigation Systems 76
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
In addition to the power saving, it is desirable to reduce the overall width of the
transmission, because sky waves are liable to distortion in the ionosphere. The
narrower the width, the lesser the distortion and the better the signal to noise ratio.

Navigation Systems 77
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
When Pure FM techniques are employed the amplitude of the carrier wave remains
constant.

This sine wave represents the information which is to be carried in other words the
information to be modulated.

Navigation Systems 78
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
This is achieved by making the frequency of the carrier wave vary in sympathy with the
modulating waveform, so the peak of the modulating waveform is represented by an
increased frequency of the carrier wave. The lower peak of the modulating waveform is
represented by a low frequency of the carrier wave

Navigation Systems 79
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
Advantages of FM
• FM Transmitters are simpler than AM
• The necessary modulating power is less than AM
• FM reception is practically Static Free
Disadvantages of FM
• FM receivers are more complex
• A much wider bandwidth is required.

Navigation Systems 80
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
Phase Modulation ( Mainly used in MLS and GPS)

Navigation Systems 81
 Propagation Theory-Modulation
Pulse Modulation ( Radar and Data Link System)

Navigation Systems 82
Propagation Theory- Antenna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaXm6wau-jc

Navigation Systems 83
 Propagation Theory-Antennae
AC passed through a conductor produces EMW.

Navigation Systems 84
 Propagation Theory-Antennae
Antenna Characteristics
• Size
• Shape
• Material

Navigation Systems 85
 Propagation Theory-Antennae
Antenna Characteristics
• Size
• Shape
• Material

Navigation Systems 86
 Propagation Theory-Antennae
Half Wave Dipole ( Ribbon Antenna)

Navigation Systems 87
 Propagation Theory-Antennae
Half Wave Dipole Emission
• Greatest at right angles to center of the antenna and zero at the ends of the
antenna
• The pattern or polar diagram is called toroidal

Navigation Systems 88
 Propagation Theory-Antennae
Folded Half Wave Dipole Emission

Navigation Systems 89
 Propagation Theory-Antennae
Marconi Antennae ( Quarter Wave)

Navigation Systems 90
 Propagation Theory-Antennae
Reflector and Director ( Mainly Used on ILS)

Navigation Systems 91
 Propagation Theory-Antennae
Loop Antenna

Navigation Systems 92
 Propagation Theory-Doppler
Self Read

Navigation Systems 93
 Chapter 3

Fly-by-Wire Flight Control

Aayush Bhattarai
Lecturer

Institute of Engineering (IoE)

Tribhuvan University
2020
1
 1. Introduction
• Aircraft with FBW flight control systems first came into service in the late
1970s using analog implementation. Digital FBW systems have been in
service since the late 1980s.
• The concepts are not new; in fact, all guided missiles use this type of
control.
• What has taken the time has been the development of the failure survival
technologies to enable a high-integrity system to be implemented
economically with the required safety levels, reliability and availability.
• The introduction of fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control systems has been a
watershed development in aircraft evolution as it has enabled technical
advances to be made which were not possible before.

2
 1. Introduction
• One of the unique benefits of a FBW system is the ability to exploit aircraft
configurations which provide increased aerodynamic efficiency, like more
lift and lower drag, but at a cost of reduced natural stability.
• This can include negative stability.
• The FBW system provides high-integrity automatic stabilization of the
aircraft to compensate for the loss of natural stability and thus enables a
lighter aircraft with a better overall performance to be produced compared
with a conventional design.
• It also provides the pilot with very good control and handling characteristics
which are more or less constant over the whole flight envelope and under
all loading conditions.

3
 1. Introduction
• Other benefits a FBW system can provide are maneuver command control,
‘carefree maneuvering’ and also the elimination of the bulk and mechanical
complexity of the control rods and linkages connecting the pilot’s stick to
the control surface PCUs (Power Control Units) and consequent weight
saving.
• All new fighter designs exploit FBW control.
• In general, the stealth features reduce the aircraft’s natural stability and
damping, and FBW control is essential to achieve good handling and
control characteristics.
• The current generation of civil airliners exploit FBW control.
• Examples are the Airbus A319, A320, A330, A340, A380, and the Boeing
777 and 787.

4
 1. Introduction

Basic elements of the FBW control system.

5
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
• The total elimination of all the complex mechanical control runs and
linkages- all commands and signals are transmitted electrically along
wires, hence the name fly-by-wire.
• The interposition of a computer between the pilot’s commands and the
control surface actuators.
• The aircraft motion sensors which feedback the components of the
aircraft’s angular and linear motion to the computer.
• The air data sensors which supply height and airspeed information to the
computer.
• The pilot thus controls the aircraft through the flight control computer,
which determines the control surface movement to respond in the best
way to the pilot’s commands and achieve a fast, well damped response
throughout the flight envelope.

6
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Electrical Data Transmission

Flight control system bus configuration.

7
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and Advantages
Electrical Data Transmission
• Electrical transmission of signals and commands is a key element in a
FBW system.
• Modern systems use a serial digital data transmission system with time
division multiplexing.
• The signals can then be transmitted along a network or ‘highway’
comprising two wires only, as only one set of data is being transmitted at
any particular time.
• Military FBW generally use the well established Mil Std 1553 databus
system. It has a data rate of 1 Mbps and can receive or transmit up to
50,000 data words a second.
• The Boeing 777 uses the ARINC 629 data bus system- an autonomous
system operating at 2 Mbps.

8
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
FBW Control Surface Actuation
• The actuation systems which control the movements of the control
surfaces are vital elements in a FBW system.
• They must be able to survive any two failures and carry on operating
satisfactorily in order to meet the aircraft safety and integrity requirements.
• The servo actuation systems driving the control surfaces comprise a two
stage servo system with the FBW servo actuators driving the duplex
control valves of the main power control actuators.
• Both electrohydraulic and electrical first stage actuation systems are used,
although the trend is now towards direct drive electric motors.

9
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
FBW Control Surface Actuation
• There is no mechanical feedback from the PCU sometimes FPCU actuator
to the servo control valve as there is in a conventional non-FBW system (
Exceptions). Instead, the position of the control surface is fed back
electrically to the input of the actuator control electronics.
• Three (Triplex) to four (Quadruplex) independent position sensors are
used to maintain the required integrity.
• The failure survival philosophy of a quadruplex actuation system is that
if one actuator fails the three good ones can override it. The failed actuator
is identified by comparing its control signals with the other three on the
assumption that the probability of more than one failing at precisely the
same instant is extremely remote.

10
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
FBW Control Surface Actuation
• In the case of a triplex architecture, some form of in-lane fault detection is
required to survive a second failure, for example, comparison with a
computer model of the actuator.

Quadruplex actuation system.

11
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Motion Sensor Feedback
• A FBW system has to have motion sensor feedback by definition- without
these sensors the system is classified as a ‘direct electric link’ system. The
motion sensors comprise:
– Rate gyros which measure the angular rates of rotation of the aircraft
about its pitch, roll and yaw axes.
– Linear accelerometers which measure the components of the aircraft’s
acceleration along these axes.
• Any change in the motion of the aircraft resulting from a disturbance of any
sort (e.g., gust) is immediately sensed by the motion sensors and causes
the computer to move the appropriate control surfaces so as to apply
forces and moments to the aircraft to correct and suppress the deviation
from the commanded flight path.

12
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Motion Sensor Feedback

Schematic representation of FBW control system.

13
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Motion Sensor Feedback
• An automatic ‘hands-off’ stability is achieved with the aircraft rock steady if
the pilot lets go of the control stick.
• The motion sensors also enable a maneuver command control to be
exercised by the pilot, as will be explained later.
• Because of their vital role and the need to be able to survive failures, they
are typically at a quadruplex level of redundancy.

14
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Air Data
• The need for air data information on the airspeed and height is to
compensate for the very wide variation in the control surface effectiveness
over the aircraft’s flight envelope of height and speed combinations.
• For example, at 15 km it may require 20◦ of tailplane deflection to produce
a normal acceleration of 1g. At very high subsonic speeds of around 600
knots at very low altitude, however, it may only need 0.5◦ deflection, and
20◦ would produce sufficient g to break up the aircraft.
• It is thus necessary to adjust or scale the control surface deflection
according to the aircraft’s airpseed and height as it is not possible to
achieve a stable closed-loop control system with such a wide variation in
the open-loop gain.

15
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Air Data
• The FBW system is thus supplied with airspeed, height and Mach number
in order to adjust or scale the control surface deflections accordingly.
• Totally independent, redundant sources of air data information are required
in order to meet the safety and integrity requirements.
• Generally, quadruplex sources are used.
• The incidence angle in the pitch plane (angle of attack) is used as a control
term in the pitch FBW system.
• The incidence angle in the yaw plane is known as the angle of sideslip,
and is used as a control term in the FBW rudder control system.

16
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Air Data

An Integrated Air Data Transducer System

17
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Air Data
• The integrated air data sensor unit combines the incidence vane and the
Pitot-static probe; the vane aligns itself with the airstream in the same
manner as a weather vane.
• The unit contains the total pressure and static pressure sensors together
with the associated electronics including a microprocessor to carry out the
air data computations.
• It provides height, calibrated airspeed, Mach number and local flow angle
information to the FBW system.
• Four of these air data transducer systems are installed on the Eurofighter
Typhoon to meet the failure survival and integrity requirements.

18
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
High Integrity, Failure Survival Computing System
• The flight control computing system must be of very high integrity and
have the failure survival capability to meet the flight safety requirements.
• The tasks carried out by the computing system comprise:
– Failure detection.
– Fault isolation and system reconfiguration in the event of a failure.
– Computation of the required control surface angles.
– Monitoring.
– Built in test.

19
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Very High Overall System Integrity
• The overall system integrity must be as high as the mechanical control
system it replaces.
• The probability of a catastrophic failure must not exceed 10−9/hour for a
civil aircraft and 10−7/hour for a military aircraft.

20
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Advantages of FBW Control
• Increased Performance
– FBW enables a smaller tailplane, fin and rudder to be used, thereby reducing
both aircraft weight and drag, active control of the tailplane and rudder making
up for the reduction in natural stability.
– For a civil airliner, reducing the stability margins and compensating for the
reduction with a FBW system thus results in a lighter aircraft with a better
performance and better operating economics and flexibility than a
conventional design, for example, the ability to carry additional freight.
• Reduced Weight
– Electrically signaled controls are lighter than mechanically signaled controls.
FBW eliminates the bulk and mechanical complexity of mechanically signaled
controls with their disadvantages of friction, backlash (mechanical lost
motion), structure flexure problems, periodic rigging and adjustment.The
control gearings are also implemented through software which gives greater
flexibility.
21
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Advantages of FBW Control
• FBW Control Sticks/Passive FBW Inceptors
– FBW flight control enables a small, compact pilot’s control stick to be used
allowing more flexibility in the cockpit layout. The displays are un-obscured by
large control columns; the cockpit flight deck is very valuable ‘real estate’.
– The FBW control stick is often referred to as a FBW ‘inceptor’, defined as a
device which translates the pilot’s control inputs into electrical signals. They
can be divided into two basic types – passive and active.
– The passive type of FBW inceptor provides a fixed stick force–stick
displacement relationship by means of a mechanical spring-box arrangement.
– The active type of inceptor, in contrast, can provide a wide range of stick
force– stick displacement characteristics by computer control of force motors
which back drive the control stick.

22
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Advantages of FBW Control

Passive FBW Interceptors 23

 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Advantages of FBW Control
• Automatic Stabilization

• Carefree Maneuvering
– The FBW computer continually monitors the aircraft’s state to assess
how close it is to its maneuver boundaries. It automatically limits the
pilot’s command inputs to ensure that the aircraft does not enter an
unacceptable attitude or approach too near its limiting incidence angle
(approaching the stall) or carry out maneuvers which would exceed
the structural limits of the aircraft.
– Some FBW systems (e.g., Boeing 777) allow the pilots to retain
ultimate control authority of the aircraft and break through or over-ride
the bank angle and stall limits if they are concerned about the
aircraft’s behavior in extreme conditions.
24
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Advantages of FBW Control
• Ability to Integrate Additional Controls
– These controls need to be integrated automatically to avoid an excessive pilot
workload- too many things to do at once:
– Leading and trailing edge flaps for maneuvering and not just for take-off and
landing.
– Variable wing sweep.
– Thrust vectoring.
• Ease of Integration of the Autopilot
– The electrical interface and the maneuver command control of the FBW
system greatly ease the autopilot integration task.
– The autopilot provides steering commands as pitch rate or roll rate commands
to the FBW system. The relatively high bandwidth maneuver command ‘inner
loop’ FBW system ensures that response to the outer loop autopilot
commands is fast and well damped, ensuring good control of the aircraft flight
path in the autopilot modes. 25
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Advantages of FBW Control
• Closed-Loop Maneuver Command Control
– A closed-loop maneuver command control is achieved by increasing the gain
of the motion sensor feedback loops.
– The control surface actuators are thus controlled by the difference, or error,
between the pilot’s command signals and the measured aircraft motion from
the appropriate sensors, for example, pitch rate in the case of a pitch rate
command system and roll rate in the case of a roll rate command system.
– The achievement of such a response requires extensive design and testing
and a well integrated combination of aircraft and FBW control system.
– Steady-state output to input relationship.
– Reduced phase lag.
– Fast & (yet) a well damped response.

26
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Advantages of FBW Control

Roll rate command system

27
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Advantages of FBW Control

Roll rate response

28
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Advantages of FBW Control

Pitch rate command FBW loop

29
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Advantages of FBW Control
• Aerodynamics Versus Stealth
– The concept of reducing the radar cross-section of an aircraft so that it is
virtually undetectable (except at very close range) has been given the name
‘stealth’ in the USA.
– Radar reflection returns are minimized by faceted surfaces which reflect radar
energy away from the direction of the source, engine intake design and the
extensive use of radar energy absorbing materials in the structure.
– Stealth considerations and requirements can conflict with aerodynamics
requirements and FBW flight control is essential to give acceptable, safe
handling across the flight envelope

Actually FBW made aircraft like F117 flyable.

30
 2. FBW Flight Control Features and
Advantages
Advantages of FBW Control

With the ‘flying wing’ configuration and

in the absence of vertical surfaces, yaw
control is achieved by the operation of
split ailerons.

Northrop B2 ‘Spirit’ Strategic Bomber

31
 3. Redundancy and Failure Survival
Safety and Integrity
• The safety levels required are specified in terms of the probability of a
catastrophic failure occurring in the system from any cause
whatsoever which could result in loss of control of the aircraft.
• It is generally specified that the probability of a catastrophic failure in
the flight control system must not exceed 1×10−7/hour for a military
aircraft or 1×10−9/hour for a civil aircraft.
• A failure probability figure of 1×10−9/hour means that a fleet of 3,000
aircraft flying an average of 3,000 hours per annum would experience
one catastrophic failure of the FBW system in 100 years!
• Military aircraft utilization per annum is much lower than civil transport
aircraft so that a figure of 1×10−7/hour for the FBW system is
acceptable.
32
 3. Redundancy and Failure Survival
Safety and Integrity
• It should be noted that the statistical level of safety currently being
achieved with civil aircraft transport corresponds to a figure of around 1
× 10−6/hour.
• This figure is derived from the total number of civil aircraft crashes
occurring in a year from all causes divided by the total number of
aircraft flying and their annual operating hours.
• The mean time between failures, or MTBF, of a single channel FBW
system is in the region of 3,000 hours.
• The FBW system must thus possess redundancy with multiple parallel
channels so that it is able to survive at least two failures, if these
very low failure probability figures are to be met.

33
 3. Redundancy and Failure Survival
Redundant Configurations
• A well established redundant configuration comprises four totally
independent channels of sensors and computers in a parallel
arrangement to give the required failure survival capability- such a
configuration is referred to as a quadruplex system.
• The four independent channels are then configured to drive a failure
survival actuation system with sufficient redundancy such that the
overall FBW system of interconnected sensors, computers and
actuators can survive any two failures from whatever cause.
• The integrity of the electrical power supplies and the hydraulic power
supplies is absolutely vital and adequate redundancy must be provided
so that the system can survive failures in both the electrical and
hydraulic power supplies.

34
 3. Redundancy and Failure Survival
Safety and Integrity

Quadruplex system configuration (excluding position feedback)

35
 3. Redundancy and Failure Survival
Safety and Integrity

Quadruplex: to survive a second failure it is Monitored triplex configuration: comprises three

necessary to disconnect the first failed totally independent parallel channels with each
channel; therefore voting is done on the ‘odd- channel monitored by a dissimilar system to detect
man-out’ principle. a failure.
Redundancy configurations. 36
 3. Redundancy and Failure Survival
Common Mode Failure
• The type of failure which can affect all systems at the same time is termed
a Common Mode Failure.
• Examples of common mode failures are:
– Lightning strike.
– Electro-magnetic interference.
– Fire/explosion/battle damage.
– Incorrect maintenance.
– Common design errors – e.g., software.
• Example preventive measures:
– Enclosure of all electronic components in EM (Electromagnetic) shielded boxes.
– Segregated, ‘brick wall’ separation of individual channels, for hazards from fire,
explosions or battle damage.
– Very stringent control, inspection and maintenance disciplines.

37
 3. Redundancy and Failure Survival
Dissimilar Redundancy
• Use of two or more different types of microprocessors with dissimilar
software.
• Use of a back-up analogue system in addition to the main digital
system which is at quadruplex or triplex level of redundancy.
• Use of a back-up system using different sensors, computing and
control means e.g., separate control surfaces.
• For e.g., modern airliner design practice is to split the basic control
surfaces into two or three sections with each section controlled
independently by its own actuators. The moments exerted by each
section of the control surface are thus summed aerodynamically and a
failure of an individual section can be tolerated.
• This gives increased failure survivability to the flight control system.
38
 3. Redundancy and Failure Survival
Dissimilar Redundancy

Generalized dissimilar redundant flight control system architecture.

39
 3. Redundancy and Failure Survival
Dissimilar Redundancy

A380 Flight control surfaces.

40
 4. Digital Implementation
Advantages of Digital Implementation
• Modern FBW flight control systems are implemented using digital
technology, signals being transmitted as serial digital data using time
division multiplexed data bus networks.
• The signal data are subsequently processed by digital microprocessors in
the flight control computers which carry out the following tasks:
– Voting, monitoring and consolidation
– Control law implementation
– Reconfiguration in the event of a failure
– Built in test and monitoring.
• Primary FBW flight control systems using analogue computing technology
are still in service but nowadays analogue technology is mainly used to
provide a dissimilarly redundant backup system for protection from
common mode failures.
41
 Chapter 05

Communication & Navigation

Aayush Bhattarai
Lecturer

Institute of Engineering (IoE)

Tribhuvan University
2020

Communication and Navigation 1

1. Fundamentals of
• Radio Wave Propagation
• Antennas and Transmission Lines
• Communication
• Receiver and Transmitter
“ For these please refer to previous chapter 3,
Navigation System”

Communication and Navigation 2

Aircraft Communication
• Today’s global airliners use a wide array of communication types to ensure
safe and efficient use of controlled airspace for flight operations. These
communications technologies range from human/voice radio transmissions to
transponders, GPS, ADS-B, ACARS, SATCOM, and 4G LTE

Communication and Navigation 3

Aircraft Communication- Human Voice
Transmission
• Radio communications are the backbone of air traffic control and have
served us well over the past century. Most commercial aircraft have multiple
radios to enable efficient operations and control through dense air traffic
zones.

• Pilot and Ground Controller

• Flight Crews
The VHF civil aircraft radio spectrum, airband, uses the frequencies between
108 and 137 MHz

Communication and Navigation 4

Aircraft Communication-Transponders
• All commercial aircraft must include a transponder for machine to-machine
communications.
• The transponder transmits (squawks) identification codes and flight
information such as altitude to ground-based radar stations that integrate
that data with bearing and range position information.
• A transponder (short for transmitter-responder) is an electronic device that
produces a response when it receives a radio-frequency interrogation.
• All modern transponders in controlled air space use either Mode C or Mode
S transponders that report pressure altitude.
• Transponders are not always sending; they send (squawk) identification
information when interrogated by radars.
• Transponders receive on a single frequency, 1030 MHz, and transmit on
another, 1090 MHz

Communication and Navigation 5

Aircraft Communication-Transponders
• A ground based primary surveillance radar (PSR) will transmit radar energy
and will be able to detect an aircraft by means of the reflected radar energy –
termed the aircraft return.
• This will enable the aircraft return to be displayed on an ATC console at a
range and bearing commensurate with the aircraft position.
• Coincident with the primary radar operation, a secondary surveillance radar
(SSR) will transmit a series of interrogation pulses that are received by the on-
board aircraft transponder.
• The transponder aircraft replies with a different series of pulses which give
information relating to the aircraft, normally aircraft identifier and altitude.
• If the PSR and SSR are synchronized, usually by being coboresighted, then
both the presented radar returns and the aircraft transponder information may
be presented together on the ATC console

Communication and Navigation 6

Aircraft Communication-Transponders

Communication and Navigation 7

Aircraft Communication-Transponders
Types (Modes)
• Civil aircraft may be equipped with transponders capable of operating in
different modes.
• Mode A equipment transmits an identifying code only.
• Mode C equipment enables the ATCO to see the aircraft altitude or flight
level automatically.
– While the primary function of secondary surveillance radar (SSR) is to detect and identify
aircraft, the radar response from the aircraft may also be encoded to indicate the aircraft
altitude. This capability is known as Mode C and will indicate the aircraft pressure altitude
at intervals of the closest 100ft.
• Mode S equipment has altitude capability and also permits data exchange.
– Mode S is a Secondary Surveillance Radar process that allows selective interrogation of
aircraft according to the unique 24-bit address assigned to each aircraft. Recent
developments have enhanced the value of Mode S by introducing Mode S EHS
(Enhanced Surveillance).

Communication and Navigation 8

Aircraft Communication- Transponders
Integration with Airborne Collision Avoidance System
(ACAS) or Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS)
• ACAS interrogates the Mode C and Mode S transponders of nearby aircraft
(‘intruders’) and from the replies tracks their altitude and range and issues
alerts to the pilots, as appropriate. ACAS will not detect non-transponder-
equipped aircraft and will not issue any resolution advice for traffic without
altitude reporting transponder.
• ACAS works independently of the aircraft navigation, flight management
systems, and Air Traffic Control (ATC) ground systems.
• Currently, the only commercially available implementations of ICAO
standard for ACAS II (Airborne Collision Avoidance System) is TCAS
II version 7.1 (Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System)

Communication and Navigation 9

Aircraft Communication- Transponders
Integration with Airborne Collision Avoidance System
(ACAS) or Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS)
• ACAS interrogates the Mode C and Mode S transponders of nearby aircraft
(‘intruders’) and from the replies tracks their altitude and range and issues
alerts to the pilots, as appropriate. ACAS will not detect non-transponder-
equipped aircraft and will not issue any resolution advice for traffic without
altitude reporting transponder.
• ACAS works independently of the aircraft navigation, flight management
systems, and Air Traffic Control (ATC) ground systems.
• Currently, the only commercially available implementations of ICAO
standard for ACAS II (Airborne Collision Avoidance System) is TCAS
II version 7.1 (Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System)

Communication and Navigation 10

Aircraft Communication- Transponders
(ACAS)- Advisories
• Two types of alert can be issued by ACAS - TA (Traffic Advisory)
and RA (Resolution Advisory).

Communication and Navigation 11

Aircraft Communication- Transponders
(ACAS)-Types
• ACAS I Gives Traffic Advisories (TAs)
but does not recommend any
maneuvers. The only implementation of
the ACAS I concept is TCAS I :
• ACAS II Gives Traffic Advisories (TAs)
and Resolution Advisories (RAs) in the
vertical sense (direction).
• ACAS III Gives TAs and RAs in vertical
and/or horizontal directions. Also
referred to as TCAS III and TCAS IV.
So far, ACAS III has not materialized
due to limitations the conventional
surveillance systems have with
horizontal tracking and, consequently,
issuing horizontal avoidance
maneuvers
Communication and Navigation 12
Aircraft Communication-Automatic dependent
surveillance broadcast- ADS-B
• Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) is a cooperative
surveillance technology for tracking aircraft.
• ADS-B is a Surveillance technique that relies on aircraft or airport vehicles
broadcasting their identity, position and other information derived from on
board systems (basically GNSS).
• ADS-B is automatic because no external stimulus is required; it
is dependent because it relies on on-board systems to
provide surveillance information to other parties.
• Finally, the data is broadcast, the originating source has no knowledge of
who receives the data and there is no interrogation or two-way contract.

Communication and Navigation 13

Aircraft Communication-Automatic dependent
surveillance broadcast- ADS-B Data
• The ADS-B data transmitted are defined in the relevant standards and
certification documents (e.g. EASA AMC 20-24 for ADS-B in Non-Radar
Airspace.
• Aircraft horizontal position (latitude/longitude)
• Aircraft barometric altitude (will be the same as for the SSR)
• Quality indicators
• Aircraft identification:
– Unique 24-bit aircraft address
– Aircraft identification
– Mode A code (in the case of CS ACNS for “ADS-B Out”)
• Emergency status
• SPI (special position indicator) when selected

Communication and Navigation 14

Aircraft Communication- Addressing and
Reporting System (ACARS)
• The Aircraft Communications Addressing and
Reporting System (ACARS) is a digital
datalink system for transmission of short
messages between aircraft and ground
stations via airband radio or satellite.
• ACARS interfaces with interactive display
units in the cockpit, which flight crews can
use to send and receive technical messages
and reports to or from ground stations, such
as a request for weather information,
clearances, or the status of connecting flight.
• ACARS messages using VHF data links use
the band 117.975–137 MHz. Where VHF is
absent, an HF network or satellite
communication may be used if available.
Communication and Navigation 15
Aircraft Navigation- Non Directional Beacon
(NDB)
• A non-directional beacon (NDB) is a radio
beacon operating in the MF or LF band-
widths. NDBs transmit a signal of equal
strength in all directions
• NDB signals follow the curvature of the
Earth, so they can be received at much
greater distances at lower altitudes, a major
advantage over VOR.
• Operated on a frequency between
190 kHz and 1750 kHz, although normally all
NDBs in North America operate between
190 kHz and 535 kHz.

Communication and Navigation 16

Aircraft Navigation- Non Directional Beacon
(NDB) ADF
• Automatic direction finding (ADF) is an
electronic aid to navigation that identifies the
relative bearing of an aircraft from a radio
beacon transmitting in the MF or LF
bandwidth, such as an Non-Directional
Beacon or commercial radio broadcast
station.
• Essentially, ADF consists of a loop antennae
which is rotated electronically and detects the
direction of minimum reception from the
beacon relative to the aircraft direction. In
todays modern aircraft that is done via sense
antennae.

Communication and Navigation 17

Aircraft Navigation- VOR
• VHF Omnidirectional Radio Range (VOR), is
an aircraft navigation system operating in the
VHF band
• A VOR system is made up of a ground
component and an aircraft receiver
component.
– Ground Based Antennae
– CDI
• VORs have AM voice broadcast ability, and
each VOR has its own Morse code identifier
that it broadcasts to pilots.

Communication and Navigation 18

Aircraft Navigation- VOR
• It provides 360 radials spaced at 10 spacing which are aligned to magnetic
north at the VOR.
• In other words, VOR system only informs us of the A/C location, however, we
have no knowledge whatsoever on the HDG of the Aircraft.
• Operating Frequency is 108~118 MHz
– For Approach Nav: 108~112 MHz
– For Short Range Nav: 112~118 MHz
– Number of Channels: 100
• Generally Paired with Distance Measuring Equipment

Communication and Navigation 19

 Aircraft Navigation- VOR
Principle of Operations
• The radial of the aircraft is obtained by taking the phase difference between 2
signals.
• A 30 Hz FM Omnidirectional with constant phase is K/A Reference Signal (R).
• A 30 Hz AM directional with variable phase is transmitted which is created by
rotating transmitting patterns K/A as Variable Signal (V).
• Two signals synchronize at Magnetic North.
• Any other position the phase difference read the magnetic bearing to and from the
VOR (P).

Communication and Navigation 20

Aircraft Navigation- VOR
Principle of Operations

Communication and Navigation 21

 Aircraft Navigation- VOR
Emission
• 3 Letter identifier and is emitted as A9W.
– A: Main carrier AM double sided band
– 9: Composition System
– W: Combination of Telemetry, Telephony and Telegraphy

Communication and Navigation 22

 Aircraft Navigation- VOR
Types
• BVOR- Broadcast VOR
– Used to give weather and airfield information
• DVOR- Doppler VOR
– Overcomes Site Error
• TVOR- Terminal VOR
– Low Power VOR, used at major airfields.
• VOT- Test VOR
– Omnidirectional VOR used to test VOR equipment before IFR flight.

Communication and Navigation 23

 Aircraft Navigation- VOR
In the Aircraft
• Receiver: VOR Receiver System
• Frequency: VHF
• The phase difference P between R and V is calculated.
• Aircraft Course Deviation Indicator (CDI) Shows the VOR Radial Reading. If
CDI becomes inoperative Red Flag will appear.

Communication and Navigation 24

Aircraft Navigation- VOR
CDI

Communication and Navigation 25

 Aircraft Navigation- VOR
Cone of Confusion
• As the VOR is approached the VOR needle becomes more sensitive.
• Near the overhead of the VOR there is loss of signal due to the fact that
there is no planned radiation in that zone.
• This zone is called cone of ambiguity or confusion.
• ICAO requires VOR installations to provide stable signals upto a minimum
elevation angle of 40o.

Communication and Navigation 26

 Aircraft Navigation- VOR
Disadvantages
• Limited LOS
• Attenuated by
– Building
– Mountains
– Fences
– Power Lines
– Etc.
• At high Altitude interference may occur between 2
ground stations operated at same frequency.
• VOR does not provide Aircraft Heading, it only points
towards VOR GND STATION.

Communication and Navigation 27

 Aircraft Navigation- DME
• DME is a abbreviation for Distance Measuring Equipment
• Provides distance between Aircraft and Ground Station.
• Ideally we expect a separation between aircraft and ground station
measured over Ground (D), but in reality DME usually outputs slants
distance (S).

Communication and Navigation 28

 Aircraft Navigation- DME
Ground Rx and Tx
• Rx and Tx : DME or NDB DME or VOR-DME or TACAN or VORTAC System
• Frequency : UHF: 960-1215 Mhz
• 100 Channels

Communication and Navigation 29

 Aircraft Navigation- DME
Ground Rx and Tx
• DME system is different from ADF and VOR Technologies, in the sense that
the GND system is not only Tx but also a Rx

Communication and Navigation 30

 Aircraft Navigation- DME
Aircraft Rx and Tx
• DME system also known as
interrogator.
• Frequency : UHF
• Range of Operations: 240-320 Km
• A/C DME Display
– Distance in nm
– GS in Kts
– Remaining time to get to ground station:
in minutes

Communication and Navigation 31

 Aircraft Navigation- DME
Functionality
• Aircraft DME Interrogator transmits from one of the channel with frequency
F1.
• Ground Station receives the signal
• Add a delay of 50 Microsecond to the signal
• Signal is then transmitted to the aircraft at frequency : F1 plus minus 63
MHz.
• Aircraft DME Interrogator receives the signal
• Measures the actual time signal Travelled : Time = Delta T – 50 Micro
Second
• Calculates the distance using the following correspondence 1 nm = 12
Microseconds

Communication and Navigation 32

Aircraft Navigation- DME
Error

Communication and Navigation 33

Aircraft Navigation- DME
Error

Communication and Navigation 34

 Aircraft Navigation- DME
Error ( Greatest DME Slant Error)

Communication and Navigation 35

 Cockpit Voice Recorder
• Device used to record voice of the cockpit and aircraft.
• The CVR records and stores the audio signals of the microphones and
earphones of the pilots’ headsets and of an area microphone installed in the
cockpit

Communication and Navigation 36

 Cockpit Voice Recorder
ICAO Requirement
• According to the provisions in ICAO Annex 6 “Operation of Aircraft”, Vol I:
– Fixed-wing aeroplane and helicopters shall be equipped with a cockpit voice recorder with
a recording duration of at least 30 minutes of its operation.
– Fixed-wing aeroplanes with a maximum take-off mass of more than 5 700 kg and for which
the certificate of airworthiness is first issued after 1 January 2003 shall be equipped with a
CVR with a recording duration of two hours; and
– Helicopters for which the certificate of airworthiness is first issued after 1 January 2003
shall be equipped with a CVR with a recording duration of two hours.

Communication and Navigation 37

 Emergency Locator Transmitter
• ICAO defines an Emergency locator transmitter (ELT) as equipment which
broadcasts distinctive signals on designated frequencies and, depending on
application, may be automatically activated by impact or be manually
activated.
• In the event of an emergency, the transmitter is activated and begins
transmitting a continuous radio AM signal, which is used by search-and-
rescue teams to quickly locate the emergency and render aid.
• The signal is detected by satellites (GEOSAR and LEOSAR) operated by an
international consortium of rescue services, COSPAS-SARSAT, which can
detect emergency beacons anywhere on Earth transmitting on the COSPAS
distress frequency of 406 MHz at 5 watts for at least 24 hours.
• The consortium calculates the position of the beacon and quickly passes the
information to the appropriate local first responder organization, which
performs the search and rescue

Communication and Navigation 38

 Emergency Locator Transmitter- General
Capabilities
• The first 24 hours after
activation on both 121.5 MHz
and 406 MHz the COSPAS
SARSAT "Search and Rescue"
system.
• Can operate upto -20o C to
+55oC.
• The built-in G-force sensor is
aligned with the longitudinal
axis of the aircraft which
activates it.

Communication and Navigation 39

 Emergency Locator Transmitter- General
Capabilities
• They are equipped with
multidirectional activation
devices.
• ELTs with automatic G-force
activation mounted in aircraft
are easily removable.
• They often contain a portable
antenna so that crash victims
may leave the site and carry the
operating ELT with them.

Communication and Navigation 40

Basics of Approach Landing

Communication and Navigation 41

Basics of Approach Landing- MDA or DH
Decision Tree

Communication and Navigation 42

 Basics of Approach Landing- Visual A/L
Aids
• Approach Lighting System (ALS)

Communication and Navigation 43

 Basics of Approach Landing- Visual A/L
Aids
• Visual Approach Slope Indicator System (VASIS) or PAPI

Communication and Navigation 44

 Basics of Approach Landing- Visual A/L
Aids
• Visual Approach Slope Indicator System (VASIS) or PAPI

Communication and Navigation 45

 Basics of Approach Landing- Visual A/L
Aids
• Visual Approach Slope Indicator System (VASIS) or PAPI

Communication and Navigation 46

 Instrument Landing System (ILS)
• It provides A/C guidance for straight path line landing. It’s a part of
precision approach usually from Final Approach Final (FAF) to Touch Down
Point (TDP).
• As for insuring an ideal landing, the system is based on the intersection of
centerline (Runway), Localizer (LOC) beam, and Glide Slope beam.

Communication and Navigation 47

Instrument Landing System (ILS)- Ground
Station

Communication and Navigation 48

 Instrument Landing System (ILS)- Ground
Station- LOC-Tx
• Localizer Transmitter (LOC-
Tx)
– Function: Provides Alignment
with Runway Centerlines
– Navigation: Horizontal
Guidance
– Quantity per Runway: 1
– Location: At the end of
Runway
– Frequency: VHF 108-112 MHz
• Number of Channels: 20
– Horizontal Range of
Operation: 40 Km
– Deviation from Centerline: ±2o

Communication and Navigation 49

 Instrument Landing System (ILS)- Ground
Station- GSo-Tx
• Glide Slope Transmitter (GSo-Tx)
– Function: Provides fix for descent rate
– Navigation: Vertical Guidance
– Quantity per Runway: 1
– Location: On the side of Runway
– Frequency: UHF 329-335 MHz
• Number of Channels: 20
– Vertical Range of Operation: 1 Km
– Deviation from GSo: ±0.7o

Communication and Navigation 50

 Instrument Landing System (ILS)- Ground
Station- MB-Tx
• Marker Beacon Transmitter (MB-Tx)
– NDB and MB differ in the sense that NDB transmits signals in all direction, whereas MB emits in
the upward direction line.
– Function: Provides indication to crew that the A/C is in specific location.
– Navigation: Horizontal Guidance
– Quantity per Runway: 2 or 3. All runway CATS have 3 MB except for CAT I contains only 2 MB
(OM and MM)
– Location: Prior to runway aligned with centerline.
– Frequency: VHF 75 MHz

Communication and Navigation 51

 Instrument Landing System (ILS)- Ground
Station- Transmissometer
• Transmissiometer
– Function: System used to measure the
transmission of light through the
atmosphere in order to determine
visibility, hence RVR
– Quantity per Runway: 2.
– Location: On the side of the Runway.
– Range of Operations : 10 Km
– The system is able to identify 7 different
types of precipitation
• Drizzle
• Freezing Drizzle
• Mixed Rain and Snow
• Snow

Communication and Navigation 52

 Instrument Landing System (ILS)- Aircraft
Rx – HSI System
• LOC/Gso-Rx or Horizontal Situation Indicator (HIS) System
– Frequency : VHF: LOC and UHF: Gso
– Rx compares the strength of 90 and 150 Hz modulated signals for both LOC and GSo , and
outputs the actual Aircraft Position with respect to ideal centered path.

Communication and Navigation 53

 Instrument Landing System (ILS)- Aircraft
Rx – MB Rx
• MB Rx
– Frequency : VHF
– Rx detects the signal sent by Ground MB Tx and alerts the A/C crew audibly and visually.

Communication and Navigation 54

 Instrument Landing System (ILS)-
Advantage and Disadvantages
• Advantages and Disadvantages
– Advantages: ILS is a powerful system for landing guidance
– Disadvantages:
• 1) LOC and Gso signals suffer from bending due to site and terrain effect.
• 2) Glide Slope Signals are sensitive thus affected by Snow, APT GND Moisture
• 3) The Path of ILS is always straight and cannot be flexible
• 4) Only 20 Channels are available
• 5) High Cost for Installation and Maintenance

Communication and Navigation 55

 Random or Area Navigation: RNAV
• Principle
– Provides Aircraft bearing and distance w.r.t 3D artificial reference known as Waypoint
(WPT). In fact, the main motivation to navigate using computerized WPT is to obtain
optimized air routes from departure to arrival.
– Waypoint can also be thought as a 3D point where we want A/C to be after some time has
elapsed.

Communication and Navigation 56

 Random or Area Navigation: RNAV
• Position Fix
– To obtain WPT, we need to have the present A/C 3D position fix. There are generally three
ways to do it. Here 3D represents Latitude (LAT), Longitude (LON) and Altitude of the A/C.
– Ground Stations and A/C Radar
• GND Stations: VOR-DME to obtain bearing and distance, which could be eventually transformed
to A/C LAT and LON
• A/C Radar: Radio Altimeter to obtain Aircraft Altitude
– Aircraft Self Contained System : INS or DNS
– Orbital Sat System : GPS
• In the Aircraft : Airborne RNAV systems performs 2 important task.
– Identifies WPT needed: RNAV calculates WPTs or uses already loaded WPT from a
Navigation Database based on the present A/C position and the flight plan required to reach
destination.
– Outputs Relative A/C Position : Once the WPT is identified in 3D, then the A/C bearing and
distance obtained w.r.t it. Now, the A/C simply needs to fly toward the WPT.

Communication and Navigation 57

 Random or Area Navigation: RNAV
• Secondary Outputs: Some RNAV System also outputs
– ETA: Estimated time of Arrival
– Necessary IAS required to reach ETA
– Estimated Fuel remaining to destination.

Communication and Navigation 58

 Random or Area Navigation: RNA: ANP
and RNP
• Actual Navigation Performance
– The actual navigation performance (ANP) of the aircraft navigation system is
represented by a circle that defines the accuracy of the aircraft navigation system
for 95% of the time.
– The value of the ANP is derived by taking the value of all the navigation sensors
and statistically weighing them against the other sensors.
– The 95% probability circle is that which is compared with RNP to decide whether
the navigation system performance is good enough for the route segment being
flown.
– The ANP and RNP values are displayed on the FMS CDU such that the flight
crew can readily check on the navigation system status.
– Should the ANP exceed the RNP value for a given route sector for any reason –
for example owing to a critical navigation sensor failing – the crew are alerted to
the fact that the system is not maintaining the accuracy necessary.

Communication and Navigation 59

 Random or Area Navigation: RNA: ANP
and RNP
• Required Navigation Performance (RNP)
– The RNP defines the lateral track limits within which the ANP circle should be
constrained for various phases of flight.
– The general requirement are as follows.

Operations RNP Term

For oceanic ± 12 nm RNP-12
crossing
En route navigation ± 2 nm RNP-2
Terminal Operation ± 1 nm RNP-1
Approach ± 0.3 nm RNP-0.3
Operation

Communication and Navigation 60

Random or Area Navigation: RNA: ANP
and RNP

Communication and Navigation 61

 Random or Area Navigation: RNAV-
Advantages and Disadvantages
• Advantages
– More direct, efficient, and flexible routes are generated
– Arrive faster at destination (i.e. time effective)
– Requires less fuel to reach destination (i.e. cost effective)
– More disperse NAV (i.e. full use of airspace)
– More Traffic is possible at random locations; hence less traffic is obtained in a specific
geographical area.
• Disadvantages
– Some errors are those of VOR, DME.
– A possible way to obtain fictious WPT is through corresponding Ground Stations; however
they are limited by operation range.
– The airway obtained using RNAV is tighter than V or J-airway.
• RNAV air way width: 15 Km or 8 nm
• V or J-airway: 16 Km

Communication and Navigation 62

 Radio Altimeter
• Also known as Radar Altimeter (RA)
• Instrument that indicates height of the aircraft in relation to the ground below
it, which is the Above Ground Level (AGL)

Communication and Navigation 63

 Radio Altimeter- Components
• One Rx and Tx Located on the bottom of the Fuselage.
• Central Processing Unit
• Indicator

Communication and Navigation 64

 Radio Altimeter- Working Principle
• The Tx emits a radio wave downward from the aircraft.
• The wave bounces back and is received by Rx,
• The processing unit measures the time it took for the wave to travel there and
back

Communication and Navigation 65

Radio Altimeter- Working Principle- FMCW
• Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW).
– The signal emitted by the Tx changes frequency continuously . SHF 4200-4400 MHz
– With this system elapsed time is not measured directly but the difference in the frequency of
the wave i.e. phase shift.

Communication and Navigation 66

 Radio Altimeter- Considerations
• Residual Height
– The height shown on the instrument does not correspond to the distance between the
antenna and ground.
– The instrument is calibrated to show the height between the landing gear and ground.

Communication and Navigation 67

 Radio Altimeter- Callouts
– 2500
– 1000
– 500
– 400
– 300
– 200
– 100
– 50,40,30,20
– Minimums on DA

Communication and Navigation 68

 Chapter 06

Communication & Navigation-II

Aayush Bhattarai
Lecturer

Institute of Engineering (IoE)

Tribhuvan University
2020

Communication and Navigation-II 1

LONG RANGE NAV AIDS- LONG RANGE
NAVIGATION-Revision C (LORAN-C)
• Provides A/C 2D information i.e. Longitude and Latitude.
• Known as Hyperbolic System since it determines NAV fix using hyperboles
and parabolic lines (black) generated from intersection of signals ( blue and
red) which is radiated by ground stations.
• At the figure please notice straight line (Green)

Communication and Navigation-II 2

LORAN-C, Position Fix
• To obtain A/C position fix at least 2 hyperbolic grids are required.
• This means that at least 2 Line of Positions (LOP) have to be generated from
a single master station and at least 2 slave ground stations.

Communication and Navigation-II 3

LORAN-C, A/C Receiver
• Receiver: LORAN-C Rx System
• Frequency: LF
• Highly Sensitive Rx in order avoid interference from other signals.
• When the 9 pulses from the master station reaches the aircraft, the Rx will start
counting the time (∆t) it takes for the slave 8-pulse signals to reach the airborne Rx
• To calculate Aircraft Position Fix, we need to know the position of the master and
slave stations, the station separation distance, and ∆t
• There exists a Rx with dual LORAN-C and GPS Usage. The processor within the Rx
will calculate and output
– A/C 2D position
– GS
– Wind Drift, GS, WPT etc.

Communication and Navigation-II 4

Optimized Methods for Estimated
Guidance Accuracy-OMEGA
• Same Principle as LORAN-C
• But operates on VLF 10.2-13.6 KHz.
• Propagates Signals via Sky Wave
• Each Ground Station could possibly transmit 4 time shared signals ( 10.2,
13.6,11.33 or 11.05) KHz.
• Unique Signals are transmitted from each station.
• Transition time from one signal frequency to another: 0.2 Second
• The signal transmission scheme repeats every 10 seconds.
• Ground based atomic clocks are used to synchronize stations among each
other.

Communication and Navigation-II 5

OMEGA

Communication and Navigation-II 6

Inertial Navigation System- INS or IRS
• Provides Aircraft velocity (3D) and Aircraft Position (3D). In fact, INS is based
on DR i.e. we first need obtain the Aircraft vectorial accerlation , then
integrate once to obtain the velocity, and finally integrate a second time to
get a position. Also, what makes this technology quite amazing is that it is a
self contained system, hence no Ground Stations are required.

Communication and Navigation-II 7

Inertial Reference System: INS or IRS
• In aircraft there are two types of INS
– Stable Platform INS or Gimbaled INS
– Strap Down INS

Communication and Navigation-II 8

Inertial Reference System: INS,Stable
Platform

Communication and Navigation-II 9

Inertial Reference System: INS,Stable
Platform

Communication and Navigation-II 10

Inertial Reference System: Strap Down

Communication and Navigation-II 11

Inertial Reference System: Strap Down

Communication and Navigation-II 12

Doppler Navigation System-DNS
Provides Aircraft Velocity ( 3D) and Position Fix (3D).
First Aircraft velocity is obtained using primary Radar,
then the information provided acts as input in the
Navigation Computer so that Position Fix can be
calculated. Similar to INS. Frequency : SHF, 8.8 – 13.4
GHz

Communication and Navigation-II 13

Doppler Navigation System-DNS

Communication and Navigation-II 14

Global Positioning System- GPS
• Previously Discussed amongst your peers and
in class, please refer to that particular slides.

Communication and Navigation-II 15

Flight Management System-FMS
• A typical FMS will embrace dual computers and dual Multifunction control
and display units (MCDUs).
• FMS functionality has increased rapidly over the last decade.

Communication and Navigation-II 16

FMS

Communication and Navigation-II 17

FMS-CDU
• The FMS CDU is the key flight crew interface with the navigation system,
allowing the flight crew to enter data as well as having vital navigation
information displayed.

Communication and Navigation-II 18

FMS-CDU, Typical Display

Communication and Navigation-II 19

FMS Function

Communication and Navigation-II 20

FMS Capabilities

Communication and Navigation-II 21

Basic Radar System
• The original concept of radar was demonstrated by laboratory experiments
carried out by Heinrich Hertz in the 1880s.
• The term RADAR stands for Radio Aid to Detection And Ranging.
• He also showed that the radio waves could be reflected from a metal object
and could be refracted by a dielectric prism mimicking the behaviour of
light.

Communication and Navigation-II 22

Aircraft Weather Radar
• There are three common types of weather
aids used in an aircraft flight deck that are
often referred to as weather radar:
• Actual on-board radar for detecting and
displaying weather activity;
• Lightning detectors; and
• Satellite or other source weather radar
information that is uploaded to the aircraft
from an outside source.

Communication and Navigation-II 23

Aircraft Weather Radar
• Radio waves used in weather radar systems
are in the SHF range such as 5.44 GHz or
9.375 GHz.
• They are transmitted forward of the aircraft from
a directional antenna usually located behind a
non-metallic nose cone.
• Pulses of approximately 1 micro-second in
length are transmitted. A duplexer in the radar
transceiver switches the antenna to receive for
about 2500 micro seconds after a pulse is
transmitted to receive and process any returns.
• This cycle repeats and the receiver circuitry
builds a two dimensional image of precipitation
for display. Gain adjustments control the range
of the radar. A control panel facilitates this and
other adjustments.

Communication and Navigation-II 24

ARINC-Communicating and Reporting
• Major avionic systems generally comprise a number of smaller sub-systems
which are combined to form an overall system.
• The combination, interconnection and control of the individual sub-systems
so that the overall system can carry out its tasks effectively is referred to as
‘systems integration’.
• The first major step towards integrating avionic systems was taken in the
mid-1950s with the establishment of the ‘weapon system’ concept. These
concepts were incorporated in the 1960s generation of aircraft, some of
which are still in service.
• The concept requires a total system approach to the task of carrying out the
mission effectively with a high probability of success. The aircraft, weapons
and the avionic systems required by the crew to carry out the mission
effectively must thus be considered as an integrated combination.

Communication and Navigation-II 25

ARINC
• A major step towards facilitating the integration of avionic sub-systems in civil
aircraft was taken in the early 1950s with the adoption of ARINC
(Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated) specifications for avionic systems and
equipment.
• Equipment made to an ARINC specification by one manufacturer should thus
be completely interchangeable with equipment made by another
manufacturer to the same ARINC specification.
• The use of avionic equipment qualified to ARINC specifications thus ensures
a competitive situation enabling procurement to be made from manufacturers
on a worldwide basis.

Communication and Navigation-II 26

ARINC
• ARINC is a non-profit-making organization in the USA which is run by the
civil airlines with industry and establishment representation, which defines
systems and equipment specifications in terms of functional requirements,
performance and accuracy, input and output interfaces, environmental
requirements and physical dimensions and electrical interfaces.
• For example, air data computers, attitude heading reference systems, INS,
communication radio equipment, data bus systems, etc.

Communication and Navigation-II 27

Summary-Full Course

Communication and Navigation-II 28

Summary-Full Course

Communication and Navigation-II 29

Summary-Full Course

Communication and Navigation-II 30

Summary-Full Course-A/C Rx & Tx

Communication and Navigation-II 31

Summary-Full Course

Communication and Navigation-II 32

Summary-Full Course

Communication and Navigation-II 33

 Chapter Nil

Air Data and Air Data Systems

Aayush Bhattarai
Lecturer

Institute of Engineering (IoE)

Tribhuvan University
2020
Air Data and Systems 1
 1. Introduction
• Air data systems provide accurate information on quantities such as pressure
altitude, vertical speed, calibrated airspeed, true airspeed, Mach number, static
air temperature and air density ratio.
• This information is essential for the pilot to fly the aircraft safely and is also
required by a number of key avionic sub-systems which enable the pilot to carry
out the mission.
• The air data quantities pressure altitude, vertical speed, calibrated airspeed,
true airspeed, Mach number, etc., are derived from three basic measurements
by sensors connected to probes which measure:
– Total (or Pitot) pressure
– Static pressure
– Total (or indicated) air temperature

Air Data and Systems 2

Pitot Static System

Air Data and Systems 3

 Pitot Static System
• Static Pressure is the ambient air pressure experienced by an aircraft
because it is in earths atmosphere.
• Dynamic Pressure is the force the air exerts when brought to rest against a
moving body.
• Pitot pressure is the combined pressure of Static and Dynamic Pressure
exerted on the head of pitot pressure.
• Static Pressure instruments are the altimeter and VSI
• Dynamic Pressure instruments are ASI and Machmeter
• Pressure Heads have heating elements.

Air Data and Systems 4

 Pitot Static System-Errors and Corrective
Measures
• This segment will look at the errors which pitot static air pressure sensing
systems are subject to and the corrective measures taken to balance out or
reduce these errors.

Air Data and Systems 5

 Pitot Static System-Errors and Corrective
Measures
Position Error: Ideal airflow is shown below

Air Data and Systems 6

 Pitot Static System-Errors and Corrective
Measures
At high AOA, the static vent also senses dynamic pressure, error might be great at high
AOA

Air Data and Systems 7

 Pitot Static System-Errors and Corrective
Measures
Position Error effect can be substantially reduced/eliminated by replacing static
pressure head by Static Vent. Usually mounted on side of the fuselage where nearly
true static pressure is sensed.

Air Data and Systems 8

 Pitot Static System-Errors and Corrective
Measures
Vent is simply a metal plate, with holes in the center of the plate, the vent is fitted flush
with the fuselage and is connected to the pressure lines which feed the pressure
instruments. The pressure line is angled upwards from the vent ( no heating required).
About 90% of the error can be eliminated by the use of a separate static vent.

Air Data and Systems 9

Pitot Static System-Errors and Corrective
Measures

Air Data and Systems 10

 Pitot Static System-Errors and Corrective
Measures
Maneuver Induced Error: Temporary fluctuation of air pressure at the static vents
caused in particular by change in the aircrafts AOA. It is most significant in pitch
changes especially during Start of Climb, Levelling off and Descend.

Air Data and Systems 11

 Pitot Static System-Errors and Corrective
Measures
Maneuver Induced Error normally causes a lag in pressure instrument readings. The
error is best illustrated in VSI. Not accurate reading for Instantaneous Rate of Change

Air Data and Systems 12

 Air Speed Indicator (ASI)- Principle of
Operation
ASI is pressure sensing instrument.

Air Data and Systems 13

 Air Speed Indicator (ASI)- Principle of
Operation
The speed ( airspeed) shown in the indicator is Indicate Air Speed ( IAS). The ASI can
be thought of as an air tight box in which static pressure is fed as shown here. Usually,
IAS is calibrated in ISA condition and does not account for density changes so the True
Air Speed (TAS) is not indicated in ASI.

Air Data and Systems 14

 Air Speed Indicator (ASI)- Error
Instrument Error: Manufacture Error
Position Error: Also known as Pressure Error ( Suction of turbulent airflow in the vicinity
of Pitot Static Heads).
Density Error: It can cause the ASI to under read the TAS ( True Air Speed)
If both errors (listed above) are rectified then its Calibrated Air Speed ( CAS)

Air Data and Systems 15

 Air Speed Indicator (ASI)- Marking
White- Vso-Vfe- Flap Operating Speed to Maximum Flap Operating Speed
Green- Vs1-Vno- Starting of Normal Speed- Maximum Normal Speed
Yellow- VNO-VNE- Cautionary Speed to Never Exceed Speed
Blue- VYSE- Best ROC ( Rate of Climb ) Single Engine, in case of twin engine.

Air Data and Systems 16

 Air Speed Indicator (ASI)- Leaks and
Blockages
Blockages and Leakage are major concerns in Pitot Static system, ice formation on
pitot tube is common, insects and sand deposit are major contributors in blockages of
pitot tube, presence of heating element inside the pitot system somewhat tends to
resolve the issue, however, considering the flight safety the effect of blockage and
leakage should be known.

Air Data and Systems 17

 Air Speed Indicator (ASI)- Leaks and
Blockages
Static line Blocked: It means that static pressure inside the ASI instrument is trapped
and is constant. As long as there is no change in Altitude the ASI will give correct
reading. NO CHANGE IN ALTITUDE, NO CHANGE IN IAS.
However, in descent, since the static pressure inside the instrument is trapped inside
the instrument at low pressure, this will allow the metal capsule, which is being fed by
pitot pressure to expand by an excessive amount, there for in descent the ASI will over
read. Conversely, the ASI will under read if static is blocked.

Air Data and Systems 18

 Air Speed Indicator (ASI)- Leaks and
Blockages
Pitot line Blocked: It means that pressure in the metal capsule is constant. If altitude is
constant no any changes in the ASI reading.
However, in descent, the static pressure in the instrument will increase, the pressure in
the metal capsule is constant, this means that as altitude is lost, the capsule will
compress by an excessive amount and the ASI will under read. Conversely, it will over
read in climb. Leaks in Pitot Line makes ASI to under read.

Air Data and Systems 19

 Pressure Altimeter-Operations
It can be thought of pressure gage, which senses change is static pressure and by
means of calibration, expresses the change of static pressure as change in altitude.

Air Data and Systems 20

 Pressure Altimeter-Operations
Static Line is Fed inside the pressure altimeter, Aneroid Capsule expands and contracts
and leaf spring controls the expansion and contraction. As altitude increases, the static
pressure decreases inside the box, which allow the capsule to expand in controlled
manner indicating increase in height. Conversely, it will show decrease in height.

Air Data and Systems 21

 Sensitive Altimeter-Operations
Faster response rate in change of altitude.

Air Data and Systems 22

 Servo Assisted Altimeter-Operations
• Improved Accuracy specially at high altitudes
• Frictions and Manufacturing Imperfections in conventional mechanical linkages are
reduced.
• Digital Readouts and altitude warnings are easily incorporated.

Air Data and Systems 23

 Vertical Speed Indicator ( VSI)
ROC ( Rate of Climb)

Air Data and Systems 24

2. Air Data Management and Its Use

Basic Air Data Management

Air Data and Systems 25
 2. Air Data Management and Its Use
Air Data Measurement
• The total pressure is measured by means of an absolute pressure sensor
(or transducer) connected to a Pitot tube facing the moving airstream.
• The static pressure of the free airstream is measured by an absolute
pressure transducer connected to a suitable orifice located where the
surface pressure is nearly the same as the pressure of the surrounding
atmosphere.
• High performance military aircraft generally have a combined Pitot/static
probe which extends out in front of the aircraft so as to be as far away as
practicable from aerodynamic interference effects and shock waves
generated by the aircraft structure.

Air Data and Systems 26

 2. Air Data Management and Its Use
Air Data Measurement
• Some civil transport aircraft have Pitot probes with separate static pressure
orifices located in the fuselage generally somewhere between the nose
and the wing.
• The exact location of the static pressure orifices (and the Pitot tubes) is
determined by experience and experimentation.
• From the measurements of static pressure, PS , and total pressure it is
possible to derive the following quantities:
– Pressure altitude- derived from the static pressure measurement by
assuming a ‘standard atmosphere’.
– Vertical speed- basically derived by differentiating the static pressure.
– Calibrated airspeed - derived directly from the dynamics pressure.

Air Data and Systems 27

 2. Air Data Management and Its Use
Air Data Measurement
• Mach number, M- the ratio of the true airspeed to the local speed of sound
and is derived directly from the ratio of the total pressure to the static
pressure. (True airspeed is defined as the speed of the aircraft relative to
the air.)
• The third measurement, namely that of the measured (or indicated) air
temperature is made by means of a temperature sensor installed in a probe
in the airstream.
• The temperature assuming the air is brought totally to rest (i.e., recovery
ratio = 1) is known as the total air temperature.

Air Data and Systems 28

 2. Air Data Management and Its Use
Air Data Quantities and Their Importance
• The pilot is presented with displays of the above air data quantities, all of
which are very important at various phases of the flight or mission.
• However, the two basic quantities which are fundamental for the piloting of
any aircraft from a light aircraft to a supersonic fighter are the pressure
altitude, and the calibrated airspeed.
• Pressure altitude is the height of the aircraft above sea level derived from
the measurement of the static pressure assuming a standard atmosphere.
• Calibrated airspeed is the speed which, under standard sea level
conditions, would give the same impact pressure as that measured on the
aircraft.

Air Data and Systems 29

 2. Air Data Management and Its Use
Air Data Quantities and Their Importance
• The critical speeds which affect the aircraft’s behavior, controllability or safety are
specified in terms of calibrated airspeed as this is independent of the air density
variation with altitude or temperature.
• Such critical speeds include the rotation speed for take off, the stalling speed
and the ‘not to exceed’ speed in a dive when the aerodynamic forces and
moments exerted during the pull out would approach the structural limits of the
airframe or the controllability limits would be reached.
• The Air Traffic Control (ATC) authorities also require very accurate measurement of
the pressure altitude for air traffic control to ensure safe vertical separation in busy
airways. Pressure altitude is therefore automatically reported to the ATC Ground
Control by the ATC transponder.
• True airspeed information is displayed to the pilot for navigation purposes.

Air Data and Systems 30

 2. Air Data Management and Its Use
Air Data Quantities and Their Importance
• The performance and controllability of the aircraft is dependent on the
aircraft’s Mach number in high speed regimen. Accurate information on the
aircraft’s Mach number is thus an essential display for the pilot.
• Rate of descent is particularly important during a ground controlled
approach (GCA) where the pilot will set up a given rate of descent (and
speed) in the approach to the airfield.
• The vertical speed indicator (VSI) display is also used during a turn to
detect any tendency to lose height, the pilot applying appropriate corrective
movements to the control column or ‘stick’ to hold a constant height turn.
• Airflow sensors to measure the angle of attack are thus frequently installed
so that the pilot can monitor the situation and ensure the critical value is not
reached.

Air Data and Systems 31

 2. Air Data Management and Its Use
Air Data Quantities and Their Importance
• Pressure altitude is supplied to the air traffic control (ATC) transponder for
automatic reporting to the air traffic ground control system.
• The ATC authorities specify the flight levels which aircraft must maintain in
‘controlled airspace’ in terms of pressure altitude and these are set so that there is
a minimum of 1,000 ft vertical separation between aircraft flying in the vicinity of
each other.
• Calibrated airspeed and pressure altitude information is also required by the flight
control system (FCS).
• A number of autopilot control modes require air data information, e.g., ‘height
acquire/hold’, ‘Mach number acquire/hold’ and ‘airspeed acquire/hold’ (auto-throttle
system).
• Pressure altitude is required for navigation in the vertical plane. It can be combined
(or mixed) with the inertially derived information from the INS to provide vertical
velocity and altitude information which is superior to either source on its own.
Air Data and Systems 32
2. Air Data Management and Its Use

Flow of Air Data to Key Avionic Sub-Systems (redundancy omitted)

Air Data and Systems 33

 2. Air Data Management and Its Use
Air Data Quantities and Their Importance
• The flight management system (FMS) requires information on all the air
data quantities: pressure altitude, vertical speed, Mach number, static
air temperature, true airspeed and calibrated airspeed.
• Height and calibrated airspeed information is required by the engine
control systems.

Air Data and Systems 34

 2. Air Data Sensors and Computing
• The key air data sensors, as already mentioned, comprise two pressure
sensors and a temperature sensor.
• The temperature sensor generally comprises a simple resistance bridge
with one arm of the bridge consisting of a resistive element exposed to the
airstream, the resistance of this element being a function of temperature.
The siting of the probe and establishing the recovery factor, r, are the key
factors of the sensor.
• The pressure sensors, however, have very high accuracy requirements
and thus influence on the overall system accuracy, long term stability,
reliability and overall cost.

Air Data and Systems 35

 2. Air Data Sensors and Computing
• Pressure sensors require an extremely high accuracy (which will be
explained shortly) and involve a long expensive development to establish
and qualify a producible, competitive device.
• Like most sensors, they not only sense the quantity being measured but
they can also be affected by:
– Temperature changes
– Vibration
– Shock
– Acceleration
– Humidity, etc.
• The art of sensor design is to minimize and if possible eliminate these
effects on the sensor.

Air Data and Systems 36

 2. Air Data Sensors and Computing
Pressure Sensor Technology
• Two basic types of pressure sensor have now become well established in
modern digital air data systems:
• Vibrating pressure sensors
– The basic concept of this family of sensors is to sense the input
pressure by the change it produces in the natural resonant frequency
of a vibrating mechanical system.
– The output of the sensor is thus a frequency which is directly related to
the pressure being measured. This confers a significant advantage as
it enables a very simple and very accurate interface to be achieved
with a micro-processor for the subsequent air data computation.
MEMS Manufacturing Technology:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EALXTht-stg

Air Data and Systems 37

 2. Air Data Sensors and Computing
Pressure Sensor Technology
•The pressure sensing element consists of a
thin walled cylinder with the input pressure
acting on the inside of the cylinder and with
the outside at zero vacuum reference
pressure.

•The cylinder is maintained in a hoop mode of

vibration by making it part of a feedback
oscillator by sensing the cylinder wall
displacement, processing and amplifying the
signal and feeding it back to a suitable force
producing device.

Vibrating pressure sensor schematic.

Air Data and Systems 38

 2. Air Data Sensors and Computing
Pressure Sensor Technology

Vibrating pressure sensor.

Air Data and Systems 39

 2. Air Data Sensors and Computing
Pressure Sensor Technology
• Solid state capsule pressure sensors
– This type of pressure sensor consists essentially of a capsule with a relatively
thin diaphragm which deflects under the input pressure. They are fabricated
from materials such as silicon, quartz, fused silica, or special ceramics.

Air Data and Systems 40

 2. Air Data Sensors and Computing
Pressure Sensor Technology
• The deflection of the diaphragm is linear with input pressure but is also very small
and a number of techniques are used to measure this deflection.
• Semi-conductor technology is used in the fabrication of these sensors and this
together with the absence of moving parts has led to the description ‘solid state’.
• The technology also enables very small sensors to be fabricated with excellent
repeatability
• because of the semi-conductor processes used.

Air Data and Systems 41

 2. Air Data Sensors and Computing
Pressure Sensor Technology
• Semi-conductor technology is used in the fabrication of these sensors and
this together with the absence of moving parts has led to the description
‘solid state’.
• The technology also enables very small sensors to be fabricated with
excellent repeatability because of the semi-conductor processes used.

Air Data and Systems 42

 2. Air Data Sensors and Computing
Angle of Incidence Sensor
• A typical incidence sensor comprises a small pivoted vane suitably located
on the aircraft fuselage near the nose of the aircraft. The vane is supported
in low friction bearings so that it can align itself with the incident airflow
under the action of the aerodynamic forces acting on it, like a weather
vane.
• It is also possible to locate the Pitot probe on the vane together with the
static pressure orifices to form an integrated unit which together with the
appropriate sensors measures angle of incidence, total pressure and static
pressure.
• This type of integrated Pitot probe/incidence vane is being adopted on
several new high performance aircraft as it minimizes incidence
contamination effects on the pressure measurements at high angles of
incidence as well as providing a compact integrated solution.
Air Data and Systems 43
2. Air Data Sensors and Computing

Air Data Computational Flow Diagram.

Air Data and Systems 44