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Chapter 11
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POLITECNICO DI MILANO - DIPARTIMENTO DI INGEGNERIA AEROSPAZIALE
AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS – LECTURE NOTES, VERSION 2004
Chapter 11 – Flight instruments and navigation systems
11.1 Introduction
An aircraft has a number of navigation instruments depending on its category,
ranging from the few basic elements of a glider to the sophisticated and complex
systems of modern airliners and combat aircraft. The number of instruments and
avionic systems has also increased in the decades: the first experimental airplanes
had no instruments at all; the first instrument to be introduced was the magnetic
compass, when flight became something more than an experiment; then fuel level
and few engine indications were introduced, followed by altimeter, airspeed
indicators and, later on, systems aimed to assist pilot in long flights, low visibility
operations, position evaluation etc.
Almost all the instruments are collected in cabin panels, clearly visible by the crew
and rationally grouped. A complete differentiation between flight instruments and
avionic systems is becoming hard, since nowadays they are often linked together.
Following the traditional definitions, the flight instruments described in this chapter
are as follows:
• magnetic compass;
• altimeter;
• airspeed indicator;
• vertical speed indicator;
• attitude gyro;
• turn rate gyro;
• directional gyro;
• gyrocompass;
compass made of a needle and rose suspended on its centre of gravity would follow
completely the flux line and become unreadable at high latitudes. This error is called
dip and can be easily compensated by suspending the needle equipment above its
centre of gravity, as schematically shown in fig. 11.2
and as was actually drawn in fig. 11.1.
NOT CORRECTED
This compensation generates another error: every
time the aircraft is in manoeuvre, the inertia forces
bring the compass equipment to swing. This error
FLUX LINES
CORRECTED cannot be erased, but limited if the equipment is
immersed in a liquid, that usually is an oil-alcohol
mixture.
Modern systems are based on magnetic compass and gyroscope, and will be
described after the gyroscope sections.
11.3 Altimeter
The classic measure of altitude is derived from the measure of external static
pressure. Pressure is a function of altitude as indicated by the plot in fig. 11.3; the
curve can easily be obtained by the following
40000 considerations. Let’s consider an air particle of
35000
density ρ and height dz, subject to the gravity g
30000
and pressure p and p+dp respectively on the lower
and upper surface; if one writes the equation of
25000
ALTITUDE [ft]
10000
dp = − ρ ⋅ g ⋅ dz .
5000
00
00
0
0
20
40
60
80
10
12
PRESSURE [mb]
where R is the thermodynamic constant of ideal gases of 287 m2/s2·K and T the
temperature.
The temperature of steady air is experimentally found to decrease with altitude
according to a gradient a of 6.5 °C/km:
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Chapter 11 – Flight instruments and navigation systems
dT = − a ⋅ dz .
By combining the three laws, one can quickly obtain a differential equation that links
pressure and altitude and, integrated from ground level to a generic altitude z, is as
follows:
g
p a⋅z R ⋅a
= 1 − ,
p 0 T0
where p0 and T0 are, of course, the ground values of pressure and temperature
respectively. This law shows that altitude can be evaluated from a measure of
pressure, provided that reference values of ground pressure and temperature are
set.
The altimeter is then an instrument that measure pressure, then converting it to an
altitude indication. In its basic construction,
it is schematically shown in fig. 11.4. The
static pressure, coming from a pitot-static
probe, is brought inside a chamber where
an aneroid (vacuum) capsule is fixed, made
of two corrugated plates sealed together.
STATIC PRESS Depending on the pressure, the capsule will
expand or shrink. This movement is picked
Fig. 11.4 - Altimeter
up at the centre of the non-constrained
capsule plate, where it is more intense; then it is amplified and converted into an
altitude reading by means of mechanical links. Modern altimeters have an electric
pick-up and conversion to altitude signal. Normally more capsules are linked in
series, to get a larger deformation.
The reference pressure p0 is set with a knob near the display. The temperature T0 is
set by the manufacturer at the standard value of 288 K. This means that the altimeter
will be practically always in error. The reason why this systematic error is not
dangerous is in the way the reference pressure is set. Three settings are used, called
QNE and QNH and QFE.
The QNE requires a 1013 mb pressure set and is used at cruising stage or anyway at
high altitude, with good clearance from any ground obstacle; if all the airplanes have
the same pressure setting and are assigned to different flight levels, they simply
cannot conflict.
The QNH is used during take-off, landing and any low altitude operation; in this case
the equivalent local sea level pressure is set, in such a way that the altimeter, when
the aircraft is at ground, will indicate the local real altitude from sea level.
In the QFE mode, the altimeter is set to the ground pressure and then will indicate
null altitude when at ground.
In other words the indicated altitude for QFE and QNH is correct at ground only;
nevertheless for low flight operation the pilot can request the QNH altitudes of
relevant surrounding obstacles (mountains, towers, antennas), being then able to
perform a safe flight.
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AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS – LECTURE NOTES, VERSION 2004
Chapter 11 – Flight instruments and navigation systems
1 2
pT = p + ρv ,
2
meaning that one can measure the velocity of the flow by knowing total and static
pressure. An airspeed indicator can be based on this principle, taking pressure
signals from a pitot tube and being mechanically sensitive to the differential pressure,
as schematically indicated in fig. 11.5.
In compressible conditions the law is more
complex but still shows the possibility of
getting the airspeed from the static and total
pressures. Moreover at high speeds the
Mach number becomes important for the
TOTAL PRESS critic aerodynamic loads of the airplane.
STATIC PRESS Mach number is given by airspeed and
Fig. 11.5 – Airspeed indicator speed of sound, the latter being function of
pressure and density, and these ones being
functions of altitude. As a matter of fact a mach meter is an instruments that reads
airspeed and altitude with two separated capsules, then combining the signals.
A more complete speed instrument is finally the mach/airspeed indicator, which
combines all information on one single display.
The actual airspeed of the vehicle is called true airspeed (TAS) and is not of
immediate measurement because it depends strictly on air density, i.e. pressure and
temperature.
The airspeed directly given by the differential pressure is called indicated airspeed
(IAS). This indication is subject to positioning errors of the pitot and static probes,
airplane attitude and instrument systematic defects.
The airspeed corrected by these errors is called calibrated airspeed (CAS).
Depending on altitude, the critic airspeeds for manoeuvre, flap operation etc change
because the aerodynamic forces are function of air density. An equivalent airspeed
VE (EAS) is defined as follows:
ρ
VE = V ,
ρ0
where:
V = true airspeed;
ρ = density;
ρ0 = ground density.
Then EAS indicator performs the important role of showing an airspeed whose critic
values are independent from altitude.
H = I z ⋅ω z
Precession is the fact that, when a torque is applied along a direction perpendicular
to the spin axis, the gyroscope will not tilt in the same direction of the torque, but in a
direction perpendicular to it and the spin axis; to be more precise, the gyroscope,
when subject to the torque, will tilt in such a way to tend to align its spin axis with the
torque.
Both the properties are represented by the solutions of the final differential equations
of the three degrees of freedom gyroscope, neglecting the part of the solution that
concerns the nutation, which is an additional oscillation of the spin axis:
My
ωx = −
H , (eq. 11.1)
M
ωy = x
H
where:
ωx,y = angular velocity around x- and y-axis (see fig. 11.7 for the reference system);
Mx,y = torque around x and y-axis.
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AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS – LECTURE NOTES, VERSION 2004
Chapter 11 – Flight instruments and navigation systems
Gyro rotors can be operated by airflow from the pneumatic system or by electric
motors.
The typical error that affects a 3 degree-of-freedom gyroscope is drift, that can be of
three types: real, apparent and transport drift.
Real drift is due to construction imperfections that generate torques. Current
technology significantly limits this problem.
Apparent drift is due to Earth rotation: since the gyroscope tends to keep its axis
orientation with respect to a fixed reference system, a gyroscope located somewhere
on the Earth surface will tilt according to a local observer.
Transport wander is due to the fact that a levelled flight is parallel to the Earth
surface, which is not flat, bringing to an effect similar to the apparent precession.
All these errors are compensated by erection systems: pendulum-like devices fixed
on the internal gimbal align with the local (apparent) gravity and activate torque
motors, or air nozzles, that slowly re-align the gyro spin axis. Of course such a
technique if affected by the important error of being sensitive not only to gravity but
also to any inertia acceleration, meaning that it is deceived during any airplane
manoeuvre. To avoid this problem, erection systems are designed to discriminate
drift misalignment from manoeuvre effect, simply based on the fact that drift
progression is much more moderate than manoeuvre effect.
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Chapter 11 – Flight instruments and navigation systems
The turn indicator contains also another instrument, the slip indicator; this is a simple
inclinometer, which is a pendulum system, usually made of a ball in a glass tube,
curved as a circular arc. A liquid in the tube damps the ball movement. Being a
pendulum, it is subject to gravity and inertia accelerations, keeping a neutral position
during straight flight or coordinated turns.
a manoeuvre.
The choice of the frequency depends on the aim of the avionic instrument.
Radiations from the VLF to MF bands are characterised by long ranges because they
are partially transmitted via ground and reflected by the ionosphere, but on the other
hand they are affected by meteorological noise and magnetism phenomena; higher
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AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS – LECTURE NOTES, VERSION 2004
Chapter 11 – Flight instruments and navigation systems
11.12 Radar
As anybody knows, the radar is based on the detection of the echo of radio signal
pulses transmitted by the station and reflected
by a target (fig. 11.11). The time lapsed from
pulse transmission to echo sensing is
proportional to the distance from the target,
since the signal travels at the constant speed
of the electromagnetic radiation. This means
that between two consecutive transmissions,
the system must switch to a receiving mode
for a time suitable to allow the signal to come
back.
Fig. 11.11 – Transmitted and An oscillator (magnetron) generates the radio
reflected radio beam frequency, then modulated and sent to the
aerial; this transmits a high burst of energy in
narrow directed beams, for a short period of time (order of 1 µs); the signal intensity
decreases proportionally to the second power of the distance; a considerable amount
of power is absorbed by the atmosphere; limited part of the signal striking the aircraft
is reflected in direction of the transmitter/receiver antenna; this weak reflected signal
received from the radio station is then amplified, detected and filtered.
The used frequencies are considerably high, in the spectrum of UHF and SHF,
allowing for sharp beam widths.
Many kinds of radar are used in aviation: primary and secondary surveillance,
Doppler, altimeter and weather.
Primary radar
The primary radar is a ground based system used for the air traffic control; the
directional antenna rotates at constant speed, then scanning all the 360° of
surrounding region at each rotation; the angular position of the antenna is transduced
together with the measure of target distance; the display (PPI, planned position
indicator) can then indicate the target position in terms of radial and distance with
respect to the radio station.
The order of magnitude of the transmitted power of a long-range surveillance radar is
some Mw, frequency in the UHF band, detection range higher than 250 nm for
aircraft flying at high altitudes.
Secondary radar
The secondary radar completes the task performed by the primary one, with
additional information of altitude and aircraft identification. In fact this device sends a
radio signal by a directional antenna coupled with the primary radar antenna, that
trigger a transponder on the aircraft, interfaced with the altimeter (more precisely with
the central air data computer) and connected to an omni-directional antenna located
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Chapter 11 – Flight instruments and navigation systems
in the airplane belly; the transponder will reply with a coded radio signal including
identification and altitude, and more recently range and bearing. The ground operator
will have the full information visualised on the PPI, allowing coordination of the air
traffic.
Doppler radar
A Doppler radar is able to evaluate the velocity of the target, by measuring the shift
between the frequency of the radiation transmitted and that one of the echo; due to
the Doppler effect the frequency shift is proportional to the velocity.
One possible application of this system is the MTI (Moving Target Indication): only
the shifted frequency echo signals are processed, then discriminating moving target
from stationary objects and erasing these ones on the display.
A second application of this system is the Doppler navigation, mentioned later in this
chapter.
Altimeter
A radar altimeter is able to measure the ground distance by sending a vertical radio
signal to ground and receiving its echo. Due to the size of the target (the earth
surface) and its favourable inclination (orthogonal to the transmission), this type of
radar needs a few w of power; radio band is usually SHF and is used for low altitude
flight (less than 2500 ft).
A second type of radar altimeter works on continuous wave instead of pulses. The
frequency is modulated in alternation (up and down), so that the indication of height
is obtained by the measure of the difference between the transmitted signal and that
of its echo. This allows long-range measures, and is commonly used on satellite as
well as on airplanes.
Weather radar
Moisture and droplets can be visualised by radar operating typically in the SHF band.
The antenna is located in the nose of the aircraft, heading forward and protected by
the radome, a radio-transparent fairing. Normal order of magnitude of power
transmission is 50 kW, allowing for a good detection up to the range of 300 nm.
11.13 ADF
The automatic direction finding system is a short-range navigation system, based on
the determination of the bearing of the aircraft to a ground radio beacon.
The radio beacon transmits a carrier signal in the MF band, then with some
possibility of out-of-sight range; the signal contains a Morse identification of the
beacon. The radio wave is received by a sense (non directional) antenna and a loop
(directional) antenna on the airplane.
Originally the determination of the bearing was manually operated by the crew with a
radio-goniometer, i.e. a radio receiver integrated with compass, sense and loop
antenna; the minimum signal intensity from the loop antenna was obtained when it
was aligned with the radio wave.
Next development of the ADF consisted in an electric motor that automatically
oriented the loop antenna on the basis of its signal intensity with respect of that
received by the sense antenna, and then transducing the orientation of the antenna
structure to the cockpit indicator.
Latest digital generation uses a sense antenna integrated with a loop antenna made
of a rose of coils, with no moving parts.
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Chapter 11 – Flight instruments and navigation systems
ADF is the simplest navigation aid and, even if more sophisticated systems are now
available, it is still in use. Its main and easiest use is to follow the signal to the radio
beacon, which often is in an airport area.
TACAN, or tactical air navigation system, is still a UHF system for polar localisation,
based on a DME-transponder for distance measurement and on comparison
between an omni-directional reference signal and a rotating directional signal. The
rotating signal is a cardiod pattern revolving at 15 cycles per seconds and, every time
its maximum passes through the East, the reference signal is transmitted. The phase
difference between the two signals depends on aircraft bearing.
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Chapter 11 – Flight instruments and navigation systems
Decca was developed during the Second World War for ships positioning, then
extended to aircraft and finally discontinued at the end of the 80’s. The beacons
transmit synchronised continuous radio signals in the LF band; from the phase
difference it is possible to evaluate the difference of distance between the two ground
stations, then generating one hyperbola. With a third station is possible to define, by
combination with the other two stations, one additional hyperbola, then allowing for
position determination. A Decca Navigator consists actually of 4 beacons, one
master and three slaves, and phase comparison is made between the master and
each slave. Accuracy vary from 100 m for a
receiver close to the radio beacons and
good weather conditions, to several nm
when the receiver is around 400 nm from
the beacons, that is considered the range of
this navigator, because of interference with
the radio waves transmitted through ground
and those reflected by the ionosphere.
11.16 GPS
The global positioning system, and in particular the differential GPS, is by far the
most accurate method of positioning. The system is based on the reception of radio
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Chapter 11 – Flight instruments and navigation systems
signals from a constellation of satellites with known positions, whose launches began
in 1978 and that became fully operational in 1995 with two types of signals: one
restricted for US military use (the system is property of the US Ministry of Defence)
and one allowed for civil use, containing an intentional degradation. Since year 2000
the signal degradation is cancelled and the system has levelled the accuracy to all
users.
The 24 satellites, called the space segment, are uniformly grouped in 6 different
orbits in such a way that from any position on the Earth surface at least 4 satellites
are above the horizon. A group of US Air Force ground stations, called the ground
segment, monitors constantly the satellites, generating a prediction of their future
orbit parameters and supplying this information to the satellites themselves. The
receivers are called the user segment.
Any satellite transmits a non directional signal, in the UHF band, that contains
identifier, satellite position and starting time of transmission. The receiver reads the
signal and compute distance from lapsed time. Three distances from known points
enable for positioning, by solving the simple system of equations:
(x − x i )2 + ( y − y i )2 + (z − z i )2 = d i2 = c 2 ⋅ t i2 i = 1,2,3
where:
x,y,z = position of receiver;
xi,yi,zi = position of i-th satellite;
di = distance of receiver from i-th satellite;
c = speed of electromagnetic radiation;
ti = time lapsed between transmission from i-th satellite and reception.
Nevertheless, the precision of the GPS is affected by other phenomena that can
hardly be corrected, as follows:
• accuracy in the determination of satellite position;
• reflection and refraction of the radio signal in the atmosphere, that changes the
beam velocity;
• noise;
• position of the satellite above the horizon, that may be geometrically non
favourable for a fixing.
All the above-mentioned problems make the overall accuracy of current GPS around
10 m. A significant improvement is obtained by a differential system, or DGPS; this
technique makes use of an additional ground station, of known coordinates and
equipped with a GPS receiver; the station is then able to estimate the local GPS
error, which is considered constant in an area of 100 nm around the station; the
ground station broadcasts this parameter that, when included in the fixing evaluation,
increases accuracy to less than 1 m. A new technique that reduces noise can
increase accuracy to 10-20 cm.
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Chapter 11 – Flight instruments and navigation systems
A Doppler system is made of a series of Doppler radars in the SHF band, located on
the airplane belly and transmitting beams to
ground; beam orientations are such that the
velocity vector of the airplane can be computed.
Time integration of the velocity allows the
construction of the trajectory and then estimation
of the current position starting from a previously
evaluated position. A “λ” or “X” configuration is
possible, depending on the fact that the beams
are 3 or 4; in the last case the system is
redundant and more accurate. The signals,
integrated with information from a gyrocompass,
are fed to a computer that evaluate the velocity
components along track, drift and height and
Fig. 11.13 - λ-Doppler configuration then performs the integration to determine the
displacement from an initial point, converted to latitude and longitude. Radar
accuracy is within 0.2% of velocity, but the overall system accuracy is significantly
deteriorated by the heading indication signal; a normal accuracy of the Doppler
navigator is 10 nm for a 300 nm flight.
The ground system is made of two transmitters with aerials near the runway touch
down point (localiser and glidepath transmitters) and some vertical directional radio
beacons along the approach line.
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Chapter 11 – Flight instruments and navigation systems
The localiser is the lateral guidance and is obtained by generating a VHF directional
carrier signal with a different predominant modulation at the left and right of the
approach path (90 and 150 Hz respectively).
The glidepath is the vertical
guidance and is obtained in the
same way with a UHF
directional signal with different
predominant modulation above
and under the approach path
(90 and 150 Hz respectively).
The glidepath slope is in the
range 3-6°. Fig. 11.14 shows
schematically the principle.
Fig. 11.14 – ILS localiser and glidepath When the airplane is in the
path, the receiver will read the
4 modulations with same depths, otherwise there will be an unbalance proportional to
the deviation from the path, which is pictorially shown on a cockpit indicator.
The directional radio beacons, called markers, are 2 or 3 transmitters aligned at
different distances from the runway end: the outer marker around 4 nm, the middle
marker around 0.5 nm and the inner marker around 0.1 nm. They transmit a VHF
signal, vertically directed; when the aircraft passes on the marker area, the receiver
reads the signal and the pilot is informed. Many ILS are equipped with a DME for an
accurate reading of distance from runway.
The ILS indicator on board is at full scale when the aircraft is more than 2° off the
path. This means that, in these conditions, the pilot has no information of the
distance from runway alignment path; therefore aircraft coupling to the ILS approach
path must be done fairly in advance before landing. Such procedure, common for
civil aircraft, is too restrictive for military aircraft. The microwave landing system, or
MLS, is a SHF band radio aid able to generate a broader azimuth and elevation
guidance for aircraft with respect to ILS, and moreover is less affected by
disturbances. For this reason MLS is gradually substituting ILS in civil airports.
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Chapter 11 – Flight instruments and navigation systems
In MLS a narrow directional radio beam sweeps across a wide coverage area, both in
azimuth and elevation, at a fixed scan rate. The angular position of the aircraft in that
area can be evaluated by measuring the time lapsed by two consecutive receptions
of the radio beam. The sector covered is in the range of 40-60° to the left and right of
the runway centreline and 15° in elevation, and is reliable up to 20 nm from the
runway end. This allows the pilot to chose a convenient approach path, which can
also be segmented or curved. Moreover back azimuth guidance is provided for
missed approaches and departure navigation.
A PDME (precision distance measuring equipment) is usually integrated in the MLS.
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