AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

LIST OF NAVIGATIONAL AIDS USED BY AIRCRAFT

NAME: Tharesh Nicholas A/L Raveendran

BATCH: 18D
MATRIX ID: DAM160510082
IC NO: 980410-10-6139
LECTURER NAME: MEJAR MAYA A/L MARIMUTHU

INTRODUCTION

A navigational aid (also known as aid to navigation, ATON, or

navaid) is any sort of marker which aids the traveler in navigation; the
term is most commonly used to refer to nautical or aviation travel. Aid
to Navigation (ATON) is any device external to a aircraft specifically
intended to assist navigators in determining their position or safe
course, or to warn them of dangers or obstructions to navigation.

LIST OF NAVIGATIONAL AIDS

1) GPS
The global positioning system has become the most valuable method of
navigation in the modern aviation world. GPS has proven to be
tremendously reliable and precise, and is probably the most common
NAVAID in use today.
The global positioning system uses 24 U.S. Department of Defense
satellites to provide precise location data, such as aircraft position, track,
speed, and to pilots. The GPS system uses triangulation to determine the
aircraft's exact position over the earth. To be accurate, a GPS system must
have the ability to gather data from at least three satellites for 2-D
positioning, and 4 satellites for 3-D positioning.
GPS has become a preferred method of navigating due to the accuracy
and ease of use. Though there are errors associated with GPS, they are
rare. GPS systems can be used anywhere in the world, even in
mountainous terrain, and they aren't prone to the errors of radio
NAVAIDS, such as line-of-sight and electrical interference.

2) ADF/NDB

ADF/NDB: The most elementary form of radio navigation is the

ADF/NDB pair. An NDB is a nondirectional radio beacon that is stationed on
the ground and emits an electrical signal in all directions. If an aircraft is
equipped with an automatic direction finder (ADF), it will display the aircraft's

position in relation to the NDB station on the ground. The ADF instrument is
basically an arrow pointer placed over a compass card-type display. The arrow
always points in the direction of the NDB station, which means that if the pilot
points the aircraft in the direction of the arrow in a no-wind situation, he will fly
directly to the station.
The ADF/NDB is an outdated NAVAID, and it's a system prone to errors.
Since its range is line-of-sight, a pilot can get erroneous readings while flying in
mountainous terrain or too far from the station. The system is also subject to
electrical interference and can only accommodate limited aircraft at once. Many
are being decommissioned as GPS becomes the primary navigation source.

3) VOR

Next to GPS, the VOR system is probably the most commonly used
NAVAIDS in the world. VOR, short for VHF Omnidirectional Range, is a
radio-based NAVAID that operates in the very-high-frequency range. VOR
stations are located on the ground and transmit two signals -- one continuous
360-degree reference signal and another sweeping directional signal.
The aircraft instrument (OBI) interprets the phase difference between the
two signals and displays the results as a radial on the OBI (omni-bearing
indicator) or HSI (horizontal situation indicator), depending on which
instrument the aircraft uses. In its most basic form, the OBI or HSI depicts
which radial from the station the aircraft is located on, and whether the
aircraft is flying toward or away from the station.

VOR are more accurate than NDBs and are less prone to errors, although the
reception is still susceptible to line-of-sight only.

4) DME

DME: Distance Measuring Equipment is one of the most simple and

valuable NAVAIDS to date. It's a basic method using a transponder in the
aircraft to determine the time it takes for a signal to travel to and from a DME
station. DME transmits on UHF frequencies, and computes slant-range distance.
The transponder in the aircraft displays the distance in tenths of a nautical mile.
A single DME station can handle up to 100 aircraft at one time, and they
usually co-exist with VOR ground stations.

5) ILS

An instrument landing system (ILS) is an instrument approach system

used to guide aircraft down to the runway from the approach phase of
flight. It uses both horizontal and vertical radio signals emitted from a
point along the runway. These signals intercept to give the pilot precise
location information in the form of a glideslope -- a constant-angle,
stabilized descent path all the way down to the approach end of the
runway. ILS systems are widely in use today as one of the most accurate
approach systems available.

6) LORAN-C

The LORAN-C system offers great promise as a standard long range aid
to navigation. IT is capable of great accuracy at extended ranges when
used with a precision LORAN-C receiver. Less accuracy can be obtained
with less precise equipment, consistent with the needs of the user.
Receiver outputs are suitable as inputs to any type of readout device.
A total of 17 stations are now operating and future planning encompasses
expansion as requirements become known. A system on the order of 40 to
50 stations would provide world-wide coverage with accuracies
consistent with the needs of variety of users. The United States policy, as
stated in this chapter, is to encourage standardization without stifling
development. AS of early 1962, LORAN-C is the only operational system
which can meet both U. S. and international long range navigational aid
requirements.

7) INERTIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM

An inertial navigation system includes at least a computer and a platform

or module containing accelerometers, gyroscopes, or other motionsensing devices. The INS is initially provided with its position and
velocity from another source (a human operator, a GPS satellite receiver,
etc.) accompanied with the initial orientation, and thereafter computes its
own updated position and velocity by integrating information received
from the motion sensors. The advantage of an INS is that it requires no
external references in order to determine its position, orientation, or
velocity once it has been initialized.
An INS can detect a change in its geographic position (a move east or
north, for example), a change in its velocity (speed and direction of
movement), and a change in its orientation (rotation about an axis). It
does this by measuring the linear acceleration and angular velocity
applied to the system. Since it requires no external reference (after
initialization), it is immune to jamming and deception.

8) MAGNETIC COMPASS

A magnetic compass aboard an aircraft displays the current magnetic

heading of the aircraft, i.e., the aircraft's directional orientation relative to
the Earth's geomagnetic field, which has a roughly north-south
orientation. The compass can be used in turns to verify the aircraft is
travelling in the desired direction at the conclusion of a turn. The nature
of the instrument and the alignment of the magnetic pole of the earth
cause the magnetic compass to have several significant limitations when
used for navigation. A pilot aware of those limitations can use the
compass effectively for navigation. The compass continues to operate
despite failures in the electrical, vacuum or pitot static systems.
Compass turns (turns using the compass as the primary reference
instrument) are not standard practice in modern aircraft. Compass turns
are typically performed in simulated or actual failures of the directional
gyro or other navigational instruments. A magnetic compass is a simple
instrument when the compass is not moving and is on the earth. A
magnetic compass installed in an aircraft is subject to compass turning
errors during flight. Pilots must compensate for such errors when using
the magnetic compass.
The standard practice when flying with a gyro-stabilized compass (or
heading indicator) is to read the magnetic compass only while in straight
and level unaccelerated flight. This reading is then used to set the gyrostabilized compass. The gyro compass will read correctly in a turn,
whereas the magnetic compass can't be read properly while turning. Thus
the pilot will always ignore the magnetic compass while turning, but
periodically check it in straight and level unaccelerated flight.
9) CELESTIAL NAVIGATION

A sextant is used to measure the altitude of a celestial body above a horizontal

line of reference. (Altitude in this case is a special use of the word describing
an angular measure, not a distance in feet above sea level.) A mariner can use
the horizon as this line of reference, but when an airplane is above the clouds or
flying at night, its navigator cant see the horizon. The bubble sextant solves this
problem by providing an artificial horizon. It takes its name from an air bubble
in a liquid-filled chamber that functions like a carpenters level, indicating when
the sextant is aligned horizontally. When I look through the eyepiece of my
sextant, I locate a star and, with a drum on the side of the instrument (like a
cameras focus ring), adjust the angle of a rotatable prism until the star showing
in the eyepiece is aligned beside the bubble. The prism and drum are geared to
circular scales, marked off in degrees. From these scales I read the stars
altitude.
But acceleration of the aircraft and turbulence frequently deflect the true
vertical; therefore, a single reading may not be accurate. For that reason, the
bubble sextant also has a mechanical averager with a wind-up clock. It takes 60
altitude readings over a two-minute period, using a little counter that looks like
a cars speedometer to average and display the measurements.

10) DECCA NAVIGATOR SYSTEM

The Decca Navigator System was a hyperbolic radio navigation system which
allowed ships and aircraft to determine their position by receiving radio signals
from fixed navigational beacons. The system used phase comparison of low
frequencies from 70 to 129 kHz, as opposed to pulse timing systems like Gee
and LORAN. This make it much easier to implement the receivers using 1940s
electronics.
The system was invented in the US, but development was carried out by Decca
in the UK. It was first deployed by the Royal Navy during World War II when
the Allied forces needed a system which could be used to achieve accurate
landings and was not known to the Germans and thus free of jamming. After the
war it was extensively developed around the UK and later used in many areas
around the world. Decca's primary use was for ship navigation in coastal waters,
offering much better accuracy than the competing LORAN system. Fishing
vessels were major post-war users, but it was also used on aircraft, including a
very early (1949) application of moving map displays. The system was
deployed extensively in the North Sea and was used by helicopters operating to
oil platforms.
The opening of the more accurate Loran-C system to civilian use in 1974
offered stiff competition, but Decca was well established by this time and
continued operations into the 1990s. Decca was eventually replaced, along with
Loran and other similar systems, by the GPS during the 1990s. The Decca
system in Europe was shut down in the spring of 2000, and the last worldwide
chain, in Japan, in 2001.

11)OMEGA NAVIGATION

Omega was approved for development in 1968 with eight transmitters and
the ability to achieve a four-mile (6 km) accuracy when fixing a position.
Each Omega station transmitted a sequence of three very low frequency
(VLF) signals (10.2 kHz, 13.6 kHz, 11.333... kHz in that order) plus a
fourth frequency which was unique to each of the eight stations. The
duration of each pulse (ranging from 0.9 to 1.2 seconds, with 0.2 second
blank intervals between each pulse) differed in a fixed pattern, and repeated
every ten seconds; the 10-second pattern was common to all 8 stations and
synchronized with the carrier phase angle, which itself was synchronized
with the local master atomic clock. The pulses within each 10-second group
were identified by the first 8 letters of the alphabet within Omega
publications of the time.
The envelope of the individual pulses could be used to establish a receiver's
internal timing within the 10-second pattern. However, it was the phase of
the received signals within each pulse that was used to determine the transit
time from transmitter to receiver. Using hyperbolic geometry and radio
navigation principles, a position fix with an accuracy on the order of 510
kilometres (3.16.2 mi) was realizable over the entire globe at any time of
the day. Omega employed hyperbolic radio navigation techniques and the
chain operated in the VLF portion of the spectrum between 10 and 14 kHz.
Near the end of its service life of 26 years, Omega evolved into a system
used primarily by the civil community. By receiving signals from three

stations, an Omega receiver could locate a position to within 4 nautical

miles (7.4 km) using the principle of phase comparison of signals.
Omega stations used very extensive antennas to transmit their extremely
low frequencies. This is because wavelength is inversely proportional to
frequency (wavelength in meters = 299,792,458 / frequency in Hz), and
transmitter efficiency is severely degraded if the length of the antenna is
shorter than 1/4 wavelength. They used grounded or insulated guyed masts
with umbrella antennas, or wire-spans across both valleys and fjords. Some
Omega antennas were the tallest constructions on the continent where they
stood or still stand.

CONCLUSION
From this assignment we can conclude that, there are many types of
navigational aids and they all have their own speciality. Some can detect long
ranges frequency and some can detect short range frequency. In Aviation ,
Navigational Aids plays an important role as it helps the pilot fly from one

destination to another and not to forget it also gives the pilot the exact location
which they are flying.