Introduction to Airports Authority of India

(AAI)
Airports Authority of India (AAI) was constituted by an Act of
Parliament and came into being on 1st April 1995 by merging
erstwhile National Airports Authority and International Airports
Authority of India. The merger brought into existence a single
Organization entrusted with the responsibility of creating, upgrading,
maintaining and managing civil aviation infrastructure both on the
ground and air space in the country.

Functions of AAI
Design, Development, Operation & Maintenance of
international & domestic airports and civil enclaves.
Control & Management of Indian airspace extending beyond the
territorial limits of country, as accepted by ICAO.
Construction, Modification & Management of passenger
terminals.
Development & Management of Cargo terminals at international
and domestic airports.
Expansion & strengthening of operation area, viz. Runways,
Aprons, Taxiway etc.
Provision of visual aids.
Provision of Communication and navigation aids, viz. ILS,
DME, DVOR, Radar etc.

Communication, Navigation & Surveillance

(CNS)
Communication, Navigation and Surveillance are three main
functions (domains) which constitute the foundation of Air Traffic
Management (ATM) infrastructure.
The following provide further details about relevant domains of CNS

Communication: Communication is the exchange of voice and

data information between the pilot and air traffic controllers or flight
information centres.

Navigation: Navigation Element of CNS/ATM Systems is meant to

provide Accurate, Reliable and Seamless Position Determination
Capability to aircrafts.

Surveillance: The surveillance systems can be divided into two

main types: - Dependent surveillance and Independent surveillance. In
dependent surveillance systems, aircraft position is determined on
board and then transmitted to ATC. The current voice position
reporting is a dependent surveillance systems in which the position of
the aircraft is determined from on-board navigation equipment and
then conveyed by the pilot to ATC. Independent surveillance is a
system which measures aircraft position from the ground. Current
surveillance is either based on voice position reporting or based on
radar (primary surveillance radar (PSR) or secondary surveillance
radar (SSR)) which measures range and azimuth of aircraft from the
ground station.

Units in Communication, Navigation &

Surveillance
1. Automation.
2. Very High Frequency (VHF).
3. NAV-AIDS (Navigational-Aids).
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AUTOMATION UNIT
Basically automation unit deals with Data Link between the
ATCo & Aircrafts.
Surveillance of Aircrafts in airspace and in vicinity of airports.
Surveillance is done by the use of Radars, Flight Plans, etc.
Automation unit is divided into various sections.
Sections of Automation Unit.
Radar:
It is device used for the detection of an object in its work range. It is
of two types. (I). Primary Radar, (II). Secondary Radar.
ASR
Primary +
Secondary
Radar

ARSR

ELDIS
RADAR
BP
(Bhopal Radar)
Secondary
Radar

VN
(Varanasi
Radar)
UD
(Udaipur
Radar)

Flight Plan:
It is the hard printed copy of the flight details. It contains all data
related to its individual flight. It includes all details of an aircraft,
flight source, destination, air route for flight, alternate airport. All
these details are printed on a strip in the form of IDENTS. Although
the ATCo have all the details of a flight but it is still used for
emergency. FSP (Flight Strip Printer) is used to print the Flight Strip.
Meteorological Department:
It is the field that is responsible for providing the meteorological
information of the surrounding of the airport to the ATCo. It provides
the weather conditions, wind speed, wind flow direction etc.
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Time Sync:
It is used to provide the synchronisation of the time between pilot
instruments, aircrafts, satellite, & ATCo. It basically removes the time
error present in the instruments. It is done by GPS (Global Positioning
System). If any error is present in time then it may led to very
dangerous situation.

CPDLC:
Controller-Pilot Data Link Communication. It is a method by which
ATCo can communicate with the pilot over a data link system. It is
provided by the SITA Links.
Servers Used in Automation Unit
1. RDPS: - Radar Data Processing System
Data of the radar first come to the RDPS and then it do
processing on the data & forward it to the ATCo control
panel.
It does the sectorisation of airspace for different ATCos. It
make the sectors of the airspace and hand over them to
different ATCos to reduce the stress.
2. FDPS: - Flight Data Processing System
Does the matching of the flight plan & radar data.
Makes a synthetic target on the basis of the flight plan.
Converts all data from serial data to IP data.
3. CGP: - Communication Gateway Process
Provides the gateway to the CPDLC.
4. AMAN: - Arrival Manager
Manage the arrival of the aircrafts on the airports.
Creates a sequence of the landing of aircrafts and every take
off & landing is done by this sequence.
5. DSA: - Direct Surveillance Access
Used to take all the radar data to the system on complete
system failure.
Connected to a separate LAN and provides directly the IP
data.
6. NTP: - Network Time Protocol
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 Provides the time synchronisation to the whole CNS system

Connected to satellites via GPS (Global Positioning System)
to provide time synchronisation.
Controls to the ATCos
1.
2.
3.
4.

CCWS: - Common Controller Work Station

GPWS: - General Purpose Work Station
FSP: - Flight Strip Printer
MPWS: - Multi Purpose Work Station

All the servers that are listed above are connected to satellites. They
are used for the normal functioning of the airports. All the server are
connected to a LAN in parallel circuit.
Backup of each server is also placed in system connected to the
backup LAN for the case of failure of main servers.
When all the system fails then we use DSA server which is connected
to another LAN connection. It directly takes all the data of radars and
provide their output to the ATCo.
The data received from the radar is in serial form but the short range
of transmission of serial data (~ 30 ft.) & our necessity of long range
transmission is led to the transform of serial data to the IP data. IP
data has the long range (~ 300 ft.).

VERY HIGH FREQUENCY (VHF) UNIT

Very High Frequency (VHF) is the radio frequency ranging from 30
MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below of VHF are High
Frequency (HF), the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra High
Frequency (UHF).
Currently VHF is at low-end of practical frequency usage.
VHF propagation characteristics are ideal for short distance territorial
communication, with a range generally somewhat farther than the
line-of-sight from the transmitter. Unlike HF, the ionosphere does not
usually reflect VHF radio and this transmission are restricted to the
local are (and dont interfere with transmission thousands of kilometre
away).VHF is also less affected by atmospheric noise and interference
form electrical equipment that lower frequencies. Whilst it is more
easily blocked by land features that HF and lower frequencies, it is
less affected by buildings and other less substantial objects than UHF
frequencies.
Sometimes VHF used unusual propagation condition which can allow
much farther range that normal. The atmospheric ducting can occur
parallel to an advancing cold weather front, especially if there is a
marked difference in humidity between the cold & warm air masses.
A duct can form approximately 250 Km (155 Mile), much like a
ventilation duct in a building, and VHF frequencies can travel along
inside the duct, bending or refracting for hundreds of kilometres.
Certain subparts of VHF band have the same use around the world.
Some national uses are listed below.
108 MHz 118 MHz: Air navigation, beacons, VOR and ILS
localizer.
118 MHz 136 MHz: Air band for air traffic control, AM.
121.5 MHz: Emergency frequency
122.3 MHz: VHF frequency used at Safdurjung Airport.
126.4 MHz: ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information Service).
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Frequency provided to the Indian Airspace by the ICAO is 118 MHz

136 MHz, which is further divided into 28 subfrequncies for different
operations.
Indian Airspace is virtually divided into two regions.
1. East Area- controls the air traffic in the east side of India.
2. West Area- controls the air traffic in the west side of India.
India is divided in the four FIRs (Flight Information Region).
1.
2.
3.
4.

Delhi FIR
Mumbai FIR
Chennai FIR
Kolkata FIR
Sections in VHF Unit

1.
2.
3.
4.

Transmitters
Receivers
HF Communication Equipment
VCCS (Voice Communication & Control System) - Provides an
interface to ATCos for hassle-free working.
5. RCAG (Remote Controlled Air/Ground) Provides the
extension to communication frequency beyond the 200 Nm
(Area Region).

NAV-AIDS (Navigational Aids) UNIT

Nav Aids is the unit that deals with the Navigation of the aircrafts.
Navigation is the Art of determining the position of an aircraft over
earths surface and guiding its position from one place to another.
To accomplish this Art, some sort of aids are required by the pilots.
Sections in NAV-AIDS Unit
ILS: Instrument Landing System
Localizer
Glide Path
DME
NDB: Non Directional Beacons
ILS: Instrument Landing System
The ILS provides a means for safe landing of aircraft at airports
under conditions of low ceilings and limited visibility.

Localizer
Provides Azimuthal Guidance (Extended Centre Line of
Runway) to an aircraft while approaching for landing.
The azimuth guidance is in terms of offset toward left or right of
the centre line.
Frequency if operation 108 MHz 112 MHz.
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 In localiser, Modulation frequencies of 90 and 150 Hz are used

to provide right and left indication.
90 Hz predominates toward left of the course (C/L) as seen from
approaching aircraft. This is known as Yellow Sector.
150 Hz predominates toward right of the course (C/L) as seen
from approaching aircraft. This is known as Blue Sector.

Glide Path
Provides Vertical Guidance (Glide angle/Slope) to an aircraft
while approaching for landing.
The vertical guidance is in terms of offset above or below the
glide angle.
Glide path creates an inclined plane aligned with line glide path.
The glide angle is 3.
Frequency of operation is 328 MHz - 336 MHz.
90 Hz predominates above the slope (Glide angle) as seen from
approaching aircraft.
150 Hz predominates below the slope (Glide angle) as seen from
approaching aircraft.

 DME: Distance Measuring Equipment

Provides the distance of aircrafts from the touchdown point.
Transponder-based radio navigation technology that measures
slant range distance by timing the propagation delay of VHF
radio signals.
Frequency of operation 960 MHz 1215 MHz.
It is co-located with an ILS Glide path.
NDB: Non Directional Beacons
Provides the fixed distance from the Runway threshold.
Operating frequency is 75 MHz.
Co-located with Markers.

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