AIDS TO APPROACH AND LANDING

VISUAL FLIGHT RULES Horizontal visibility = 5km Vertical Visibility or CEILING = 300 m When these conditions are not met, the landing is under INSTRUMENT FLIGHT RULES Difference between first and second approach ILS = Instrument Landing System, MLS = Microwave Landing System These gives the pilot in relation to a prescribed path continuously by an instrument carried in the aircraft GCA = Ground Controlled Approach Here, precision approach radar employs operators on ground who determine the position of the craft and instructs the pilot on the course hi is to follow Ground Operator control the movement of the aircraft, through the pilot

INSTRUMENT LANDING SYSTEM (ILS) ILS comprises of 3 units 1. Localizers 2. Glide Path 3. Marker Beacons

LOCALIZER : defines a vertical equi signal plane This plane passes through the center line of the RUN WAY and the GLIDE SCOPE Equisignal plane is inclined to the horizontal to some desired angle of descent ( 2 or 4) The intersection of these two planes gives the approach path MARKER BEACONS: Installed at specific distances from the end of the runway. These give an indication in the craft as it flies over them and thereby pilot can check his position in the approach path

a) THE LOCALIZER Operates in VHF Band ( 108-110 MHz) Consists of Transmitter with an antenna system Radiation Pattern of this antenna has two lobes, one with modulation of 90 Hz and other with 150 Hz

Along XOX two signals are equal and this equi signal course is aligned with the center line of runway The antenna array consists of 7 ALFORD LOOPS placed on a line at 90 to the to the center line of the runway at 300 m from the end of the runway These loops make 3 arrays 2 on either side ( side band loops ) and remaining 1 at the center ( called Carrier Antenna ) The SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT of loops is designed to give a POLAR DIAGRAM of BUTTERFLY TYPE (b) The carrier is modulated to same depths by sinusoids of 90 Hz and 150 Hz and is fed to the central antenna (a) The other two arrays to the side bands of 90Hz and 150 Hz Modulation is applied Sidebands must satisfy the following phase relations with the central antenna 1. 150Hz side band are reversed in phase wrt those in the central antenna 2. Sidebands of both modulating signals are shifted by 90 in phase 3. Side Band Power is split in 2 equal parts and fed to 2 side band arrays with one shifted 180 in phase As a result of above phase relations fields produced by two side band antennas at a distant point are in phase quadrature to that produced by central one Also, These two fields are mutually antiphase NULL ALONG XOX : At any point along XOX, the field cancels since the two antenna radiate in anti phase and path length are equal. This is thus a NULL along this line On either side of this line, the fields will not cancel out because the path lengths are different and the field is the Phasors sum of the two Combined Field pattern (c) with 90 Hz modulation on one side and 150Hz on the other

PHASOR DIAGRAMS
a) SITUATION ALONG THE LINE XOX

OC = phasor of the field due to central antenna OR / OL = Phasors due to the side band antennas on the right and left of the central antenna OR / OL are in phase quadrature to OC OR OC are in phase opposition with each other Since they are equal, they cancel each other leaving only the central antenna field Same goes for 150Hz side band signal Phasors OR and OL have reversed in position

a) SITUATION on LHS of Central Line XOX

Signal from one antenna OL is phase advanced Signal from the other antenna (OR )is phase retarded by same amount For 90 Hz Modulation : 2 Phasors give a resultant which adds to the signal from the central antenna For 150 Hz Modulation: the same phase changes give a resultant which subtracts from the 150 Hz Phasors of the central antenna Thus 90Hz modulation predominates on the LHS

a) SITUATION on LHS of Central Line XOX

150 Hz modulation predominates the RHS

HOW MODULATION IS PERFORMED ?? The antenna system and the modulators are shown below

The signal from the transmitter is divided into two parts by modulation bridge ABCD This signal reaches the antenna bridge EFGH by two paths Mechanical Modulators give modulation at 90Hz and 150 Hz Mechanical Modulator consists of two quarter wave transformers coupled to the lines BE and DG One end of the quarter wave line is short circuited and the other is terminated by 2 plates Motor M is in the center of quarter wave line which rotates a PLATE Plate in BE Branch has 3 Lobes and in DG Branch has 5 Lobes Rotation of these plates produces a varying impedance across the line and therefore changes the power transmitted in the line Motor rotates at 1800 rev / min produces modulation of 90Hz and 150 Hz Bridge ABCD ensures that the modulation on the 2 sides do not interact At Antenna Bridge the carrier 90 Hz sidebands from E and carrier 150Hz side bands from G add at F and go to CENTRAL ANTENNA So, the central antenna radiates the carrier and all the side bands Power comes to H from two paths EH and GH This power divides into 2 paths going to 2 sideband arrays

GLIDE SLOPE SYSTEM PRINCIPLE is same as that of LOCALIZER System operates in the band 339.3 335 MHz Employs 2 Antennas with vertical polar diagram shown below

The Larger Lobe represents the radiation from lower antenna It has the carrier and side bands of 90Hz and 150Hz Two Smaller Lobes represent the radiation from the top antenna They have only side band frequencies PHASE RELATIONS: Below the null, the sidebands of 150Hz signal are enhanced and these of 90Hz signal are reduced and vice versa above the nulls If the aircraft flies along the null, it receives the signal of lower antenna only and two modulations are equal, give an equi signal course ELEMENTS OF NULL TYPE GLIDE SLOPE SYSTEM Carrier and the side bands are radiated by the lower antenna and the side bands by the upper antenna MODIFIER ARRAY: used to make the path of decent nearly a straight line to the touch down point

RECEIVING EQUIPMENT Receiver is a crystal controlled multi channel receiver Separate receivers are required for LOCALISER and GLIDE SLOPE Very Efficient Automatic Gain Control in employed here This keeps the output of the receiver constant Instrumentation part of ILS Receiver is shown below

. WORKING Output of the receiver is applied to two filters which separate 90Hz and 150Hz signals. Both of these are rectified by a bridge rectifier Difference of the rectifier voltages is applied to indicator coil BALANCE CONTROL R1 compensates for losses in two rectifiers Voltage across R3 is applied to a coil which operates the FLAG ALARM INDICATOR consists of a meter with two center zero movements HORIZONTAL NEEDLE indicates deviation from glide path and VERTICAL NEEDLE indicates deviation from the LOCALIZER COURSE SHARPNESS AND WIDTH The sharpness and width of the course are dependent on relative depths of modulation of 90Hz and 150Hz signals Total signal Modulation : M = (A+B)/C ; A and B are amplitudes of 150Hz and 90Hz signal and C = carrier amplitude Current Proportional to difference in modulation depths of two signal (A-B)/C drives the needle of the pointer Sharpness of the course is measured in terms of the ratios of 90Hz and 150Hz side band signals This ratio is measured in db and is called CLEARANCE

SITE EFFECTS IN ILS The Localizes and Glide Slope are affected by the nature of the site in which they are installed Since both these uses CONTINUOUS WAVES, the presence of surface irregularities, hills, vegetation affects the equisignal course Special Arrays may be used which radiate very little energy in undesired directions The aircraft can now come into the beam of more directed main transmitter by a subsidiary low power transmitter CAPTURE EFFECT: During above process, the two transmission differ slightly in frequency. The stronger signal is responded to by the receiver. Low Power Signal = Clearance Signal High Power Signal = Directional Signal MARKER BEACONS

ILS Employs 3 Marker Beacons These give an indication in the craft when it passes over them All Operate at 75MHz and work with an Antenna with FAN SHAPE BEAM The most distant one (OUTER MARKER) = 7km from touchdown point, Modulation at 400Hz, gives 2 dashes per second Second One ( MIDDLE MARKER) = 1km from the touchdown point, Modulation at 1300Hz , with 1 dash every 0.6 sec INNER MARKER is placed 30m above the ground, Modulated at 3000Hz, six dash per second ADVANTAGES 1. Easy to understand by operator 2. Smooth Landing under bad visibility Conditions 3. Indicate to the pilot about any deviation DISADVANTAGES OF ILS 1. It provides a single approach path along the extended center line of runway 2. Site Sensitive 3. Subject to distortion and bending of the approach path 4. It can provide only 40 channels 5. It is prone to interference from broadcast stations

Small effects are controlled by CAPTURE EFFECT LOCALIZER LIMITATIONS 1. Terrain Requirement 2. Traffic Handling Capability

GROUND CONTROLLED APPROACH SYSTEM (GCA)

High precision Radar System installed near the airport runway By the help of GCA, a controller on the ground can bring the aircraft in the approach zone and then guide it along the path of decent to a point very near to runway The system consists of two RADARS 1. SURVILLENCE RADAR ELEMENT (SRE) It is a search radar with a PPI display which helps to locate the aircraft at a distant point and bring it to within a few miles from the approach end of the runway from the proper direction 2. PRESION APPROACH RADAR (PAR) It operates in conjunction with SRE

SURVEILLANCE RADAR ELEMENT This is basically a SEARCH RADAR It is used to control the approach of the aircraft Also called AIRPORT SURVEILLANCE RADAR (ASR) First, an aircraft flying 30-40 miles away should be detected and Secondly, it must be correctly tracked down to the runway

PRECISION APPROACH RADAR Range = 15-20km Scans approach zone in both azimuth and elevation Radar has to scan 20 azimuth and 7 elevation sector for proper operation Beam Width in the scanning direction should be 0.5 Thus, two separate antennas are used for azimuth and elevation scanning The coverage of antenna is shown below

The location of the PAR in respect of the runway is shown below

PAR uses a single RADAR transmitter which is connected alternately to two antennas, the two scans are interlaced A waveguide (SQUEEZABLE WAVEGUIDE) is used to feed the current into the antenna Any change in the wavelength changes the relative phase of the current and therefore the direction of maximum radiation is changed Data obtained by PAR is displayed on 2 CRT, one displaying the range and elevation angle and the other displays the azimuth angle

The distance markers appear at certain fixed ranges and the angle markers at the ends of the display Two display tubes are mounted on a single console and are controlled by a single controller

MICROWAVE LANDING SYSTEM (MLS)

OPERATING RANGE: 5031 5090 MHz Scanning Technique covers a larger area and permits approach by DOG LEGGED and CURVED paths

BASIC ELEMENTS

A) The Azimuth Beam Equipment is located at far end of the runway It produces a narrow beam in horizontal plane and a wide beam in the vertical plane This beam is swept rapidly about a vertical axis B) The Elevation Beam equipment produces a narrow beam in vertical plane and wide beam in the horizontal plane It is rapidly scanned in Horizontal axis Located at the end of the runway C) Distance Measuring Equipment or PRECISION DME Located near the Horizontal Guiding Equipment at the far end of the runway This gives the distance from the touchdown point to the aircraft SCANNING PROCESS Beam scans at a uniform rate from +40 to -40 wrt center line of the runway

The first is called TO-SCAN ( + to - )and other is called FRO-SCAN (- to +) The Aircraft picks up signals as beam passes through it If each scan takes T sec, an aircraft on the center line of the runway picks up the beam twice at T/2 an at 3T/2 seconds The interval between the two pickings is T sec If the aircraft is at +40 end, two scans give signal 2T sec apart If it is near to -40 end the two will occur simultaneously and there will be only a single signal By measuring the interval between the two signals, the angular position of the craft can be found = (t-T) v/2 t=interval between two signals picked up At +40, t = 2T and at -40, t = T along the center line The receiving equipment of the craft sets a threshold and measures the interval between the signals. This is shown below

A Microprocessor in the receiver computes the angle which is then displayed digitally

ADVANTAGES of MLS 1. 200 Channels are available 2. Provision of Back Azimuth 3. Less Effected by Interference 4. Less Site Sensitive 5. All weather Landing System 6. Smaller Antenna because it uses HF signal

DISADVANTAGES OF MLS 1. Not available world wide 2. High Cost 3. Only few airlines are equipped COMPARISON

Parameter
Navigational Equipment Decision Power Main Components Full Form Application Cost

ILS
Carried in craft Pilot Localizer, Glide Scope, Marker Beacon Instrument Landing System Used in Landing in INDIA High

MLS
Carried in craft Pilot Horizontal and Vertical Guiding Equipment Microwave Landing System For Landing High

GCA
No Need Ground Operator SRE and PAR Ground Control Approach For Landing Low