Introduction to

Aerospace Electronics
AE
AE 1350
1350
Aviation Electronics

Avionics
 Avionics Development History
• Wireless Communication (1920s-1930s)
• Navigation (1930s-1940s)
• Surveillance Systems (1940s)
• Autopilots and Missile Guidance (1940s)
• Stability Augmentation (1950s)
• Precision Navigation (1950s)
• “Modern” Air Traffic Control (1950s-1960s)
• Remote Sensing (1960s)
Radar in WWII

Chain Home radar

Flying blind, Doolittle in 1929
VOR Transmitter
 The signal at x is proportional to 1 + a cos(ωt - α)
The signal at X is effectively AM
modulated by 30 Hz
North
X

30 revolutions
per second
α
VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR)
 World VOR

90

60

30

0
-180 -150 -120 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 120 150 180

-30

-60

-90
 USA VOR

50

35

20
-125 -110 -95 -80 -65
Distance Measuring Equipment (DME)

1025 - 1150 MHz

(126 channels) Tx
Rx

Interrogation

Reply

962 - 1024 MHz or

1151 - 1213 MHz
Transponder
Instrument Landing System (ILS)
• Localizer for Lateral Information
• Glideslope for Altitude Information
• Marker Beacons to Check Progress
• Sometimes DME Also
• Sometimes NDB on Approach Course
 Localizer Antenna
*Airborne Antenna Often Shared With VOR

This one is for aircraft approaching from the other direction!

 Glideslope Antenna

Be sure to look for these structures next time you fly!

6000 Flights in the Air...
Automated Radar Terminal System (ARTS)
 Raytheon ASR-11
• Digital Airport Surveillance Radar (DASR) latest version of
the terminal area surveillance radars
– Bottom: primary radar surveillance
• Max range 60 miles
• Operates in the range of 2700 to 2900 MHz
• The transmitter generates a peak effective power of 25 kW and an
average power of 2.1 kW
– Top: interrogating transponders
• Aircraft data for barometric altitude,
identification code
• 1030 to 1090 MHz, transmitting power
ranges from 160 to 1500 watts.
 Northrop Grumman ARSR-4
• Air Route Surveillance Radar (ARSR) 4
• Long-range, three-dimensional, rotating phased array, primary radar
system with coverage of 250 nmi for en route operation
• 1215-1400 MHz
• There are 43 operational systems deployed around the periphery of the
continental U.S., as well as in Guam, Hawaii, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
• Expensive to maintain, they
were to have been
decommissioned until
Sept 11, 2001
‘Command Center’, Herndon VA
 Problems With Current System
• Agreed Upon:
– Very Safe
– Works Well Until Reaches Saturation
– We’re At Saturation
• In USA, Busiest Airports Are Saturated
• In Europe, En-Route Airspace Is Saturated
• What to do?
– Distributed System Model
– Swiss-Train Model
Early Uses of Stability Augmentation

B-47

YB-49
 Importance for Non-piloted Vehicles

V-2

RQ-1 Predator

Ariane 5
New Configurations Made Possible
B-2

A320
Super-augmented Aircraft
F-16

X-29
Satellite Communications

radioelectronics.com
Remote Sensing (60s)
 Inertial Navigation Systems
• A set of gyroscopes maintain a
stable platform, regardless of
whatever motions the missile goes
through
• Within that platform are sensors
that measure acceleration
• This information is sent to a digital
computer, which translates that
data into information about the
Apollo CM vehicle current location and
velocity
• Prior to launch, the computer is
given information about the point
of launch, the gravitational field
over which it will fly
• Solution can be updated in flight
(inertial aiding)
LGM-30 Minuteman III
 More Avionics Development History
• Autonomous Vehicles (Spacecraft, Aircraft) (1970s)
• Precision Guidance Systems (1970s)
• Flight Management Systems (1970s)
• System and Vehicle Health Management; Controls
and Displays (1980s)
• Digital Engine Control (1980s)
• Cockpit Alerting Systems (1980s)
• Sat Comm and Sat Nav (1980s)
• Stealth (1980s)
 (More) Autonomous Aircraft and
Spacecraft (70s)

Voyager-1

Teledyne Ryan AQM-34L

Precision Guidance
 System and Vehicle Health
Management
• Commercial Airliners go from a crew of 5 in 1950s
– Pilot
– Copilot
– Navigator
– Radio Operator
– Flight Engineering
• …to a crew of 2 in the 1980s
– Pilot
– Copilot
– (Dispatcher)
Gemini Spacecraft
Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle (After Upgrade)
Cockpit Complexity on Spacecraft

Program Panels Work Control

Stations Display
Elements
Mercury 3 1 143
Gemini 7 2 354
Apollo 40 7 1374
Shuttle 97 9 2300
Airplane as a Computer Peripheral

A380
Cessna 182
Advanced Displays: Egocentric Perspective
Head Up Displays (HUD)
 Head/Helmet Mounted Display

AH-64 Integrated Helmet and Display Sighting System (IHADSS)

 Night Vision Goggles

AN/AVS-6 Aviator’s Night Vision Imaging System

(ANVIS)
Enhanced Vision Systems
Synthetic Vision Systems
 Human Error

• Human error, at some level, has caused every aviation

accident
• Pilot error is implicated (at some level) in 70%+ fatal
accidents
– Becoming a larger percentage as mechanical systems improve
• What is the correct point of view?
– “Humans are wonderfully adaptable agents, but they are slow to
react and are dangerously prone to error…”
• According to this, why have a human operator at all?
– “What we call human error is really the negative consequences of
normal human behavior that is not accounted for in design.”
Human Error & Implications for Design

• Through
– Knowledge of Possible Errors
– Good Design Principles
• Developers Can
– Prevent Errors
– Make the System More Flexible in the Face of Errors
Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance
System (TCAS-II)
Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning
System (EGPWS)
 Global Positioning System (GPS)
• NAVSTAR GPS (Navigation Signal Timing and
Ranging Global Positioning System)
• Number of Satellites 24 Active, 4 Spare
• Geometry 6 planes, 4 satellites each
– MEO - 20,200 km (10,900 nmi) circular
– 55° inclination
Control Segment
Stealth

F-117