7 Distancemeasuringequipment

Introduction VOR in fact providethe standardICAO short-range

navigationsystem. A DME beaconmay also be
Distancemeasuringequipment (DME) is a secondary locatedon an airfield equippedwith ILS, thus giving
radarpulsedrangingsystemoperatingin the band continuousslantrangereadoutwhile on an ILS
978-1213MHz. The originsof this equipmentdate approach,suchuseof DME is limitedat present.
back to the Rebecca-Eureka systemdevelopedin I'ACAN is a military systemwhich givesboth
BritainduringWorld War II. International agreement range and bearingwith respectto a fixed beacon.
on the characteristicsof the current systemwas not The rangingpart of TACAN has the same
reacheduntil 1959but sincethen implementationhas characteristics as civil DME. Thereare,however,more
beenrapid. channelsavailablewith TACAN sinceit utilizes an
The systemprovidesslantrangeto a beaconat a extendedfrequencyrangeof 962-1213MHz. Thusa
fixed point on the ground. The dift-erencebetween civil aircraft equippedwith DME can obtain range
slantrangeand ground range,which is neededfor measurementfrom a TACAN beaconprovidedthe
navigationpurposes,is srnallunle5sthe aircraft is very DME canbe tunedto the operatingfrequencyof the
high or closeto the beacon. Figure7.1 showsthe TACAN concerned.Many civil aircraftcarry a DME
relationshipbetweenslant range,ground rangeand which coversthe full frequencyrange.
heightto be:
Transponder lnterrogator
s2 = G2+ (r46oso)2 (7.1)
igroring the curvatureof the earth. To seethe effect
of this consideran error in rangeof I per cent, i.e.
S = l'01G. Substitutingfor G, rearrangingand
evaluatingwe have:
s +/t8s3
for a I per cent error. Thus at 30 000 ft if the DME
readoutis greaterthan about 35 nauticalmiles the
error is lessthan I per cent,while at 5000 ft greater Frg.7.2 The d.m.e.sYstem
than about 6 nauticalmiles readoutwill similarlv
givean error lessthan I per cent.
BasicPrinciples
Givingrange,DME alonecan only be used for
position fixing in a rho-rho scheme,three readings
The airborneinterrogatorradiatescoded r.f. pulse
beingneededto removeambiguity. With the
pairsat a frequencywithin the band978-1213MHz
additionof bearinginformation, suchas that derived antenna.A ground
from an omnidirectional
from VOR, we havea rho-thetascherne;DME and
transponder(the beacon),within rangeof the aircraft
and operatingon the channelto which the interrogator
is selected,receivesthe interrogationand
automaticallytriggersthe beacontransmitterafter a
fixed delayof 50 irs. The omnidirectionalradiation
from the beaconis codedr.f. pulsepairsat a frequency
63 MHz below or abovethe interrogationfrequency.
Gnm
This reply is receivedby the suitablytuned
Fig. 7.1 Slantrange/ground
r?ngetriangle intenogator receiverand after processing is fed to the

105
rangecircuits where the round trip travel time is beaconif there are reflectingobjectsinconveniently
ccmputed. Rangeis givenby: placedwith respectto the aircraft and the beacon.
This possibilityarisessincethe antennasat both ends
R = (r - so)lt2'3s9 (7.2)
of the link areomnidirectional.Shouldsucha 'dog
where:R is the slant rangedistancein nautical
leg'path occur.the round-triptraveltime Z in
milesto or from the beacon;I is the time in
equation(.7.2\ may be that for the long way round
microseconds furs)betweentransmission of the
and thus lead to a readoutin excessof true short
interrogationand receptionof the reply. The
range.
constantsin the equation are 50 prscorresponding
To describethe way in which the systemdesign
to the fixed beacondelay,l2'359 prsbeingthe
copes with this it is necessary
to introduceseveral
time taken for r.f. energyto travel I nautical mile
new termswhich aredefinedand explainedbelow.
and return.
Both beaconand transponderusea single Jitter Dellberaterandom variationof the time
omnidirectionalantennasharedbetweentransmitter intervalbetweensuccessive interrogations.Each
and receiverin eachcase. This is possiblesincethe i n t e r r o g a t oprr t r d l l g sa5J i t t e r i n gp u l s e( p a i r )
systemis pulsed,and diplexingis simplesincethe repetitionl-requency (p.r.f.)'which,overa periodof
transmit and receivefrequenciesare different. severalinterrogations, describes a uniquepattern
Onceevery30 s the beacontransmitsits identity sincethc variationsare random. With an
which is detectedby the pilot asa Morsecodeburst interrogationrate of, say, 100,the average interval
of threelettersat an audiotone of I 350 Hz. It should betweeninterrogations will be l0 ms,with any
be noted that the r.f. radiatedfrom the beacondurine particularintervalbeingbetweensay9 and I I ms.
identificationis of the samelorm aswhen The uniqueiuterrogationpatternenablesthe DME to
transmittingrepiies,i.e.pulsepairs. The difference recognizerepliesto its own interrogationby
is that when replyingthereare randomintervals stroboscopictechniques.
betweentransmissions whereasduringidentification
the intervalsareconstantat l/l350th of a second. Automatic Stattdby Often rei'erredto as
signal-activated search.Whenthe aircraftis out of
Further Principles and Terminology rangeof the beaconto rvhichthe airborneDNIEis
By now the readermay haveidentifiedseveral tuned,no signalswill be received.This stateinhibits
problemswith the principlesof systemoperationas interrogations until suchtime as the aircraftis within
described.With DME, many aircraftwill be asking range and signals are received.
the beacon'what is my range?',the beaconwill reply The implementationof this featuredetermines
to all of them,the problembeinghow eachis to whetherinterrogations commenceasa resultof mean
identify its own reply. Anotherproblemis how to signallevelexceedingsomepredetermined levelor the
preventthe airborneDME interrogatingan rateof signalsbeingreceivedexceedssome
out-of-rangebeaconsincethis would be wastefulof predetermined rate. The two alternativesareequivalent
equipmentlife. asthe aircraft approachesthe beaconfrom beyond
It is obviousthat the DME operationmust be in at maximum range,and typically interrogations
leasttwo phasessincewe cannot expect an commencewhen the receivedsignalcount is in excess
instantaneous readoutof the correctrangethe of 300-400per second.They arenot equivalentwhen
momentwe selecta beacon.Theremust be some the aircraft is closeto the beaconsincethe mean
periodwhen the DME is acquiringthe rangefollowbd signallevelwill be raiseddue to signalstrength;
by a period, hopefully much longer,during which the consequentlythe requiredrate is much reducedfor
indicatorcontinuoushdisplaysthe correctreading. the former altei'native.This is of littie consequence
In this latter period rvemust considerthe eventuality when the aircraft is well within range;one would not
of a temporarylossof reply suchasoccursduringthe expect the DME to be on auto standby. When
transmission of the identiflcation(ident)signalby the gound testing,however,an auto standbycircuit
beacon,or perhapsduring'manoeuvre'when all which monitors mean signallevel-cangive unexpected,
signalsmight be iost. but not unexplainable, resultssincethe test set
We haveassumedthat the r.f. anergywill travelin (beaconsirnulator)will normallyoutput
a straightline from aircraft to beaconand back. This constant-strength signaisregardless of rangesimulated.
of coursewill be the caseunlessthere are any
obstructionsintervening;however,it is possiblethat Squitter The auto standbycircuit will not allow
theremay be more than one path to or from the interrogations to commenceuntil it detectssignals

106
 from the beacon. When a sufficient number of Should more than 2700 interrogationsper secondbe
intenogatingaircraft are within rangeof the beacon receivedthe sensitivityis reducedstill further, thus
thereis no problem, sinceanother aircraft coming maintainingthe servicefor thoseaircraft closestro
within rangewill receiveall the replies and thus bigin the beacon.
to interrogate. If, however,we considerthe beacon In fact the nominal madmum of 100 aircraft is
havingjust come on line or the first flight, after a exceededsinceinterrogationrateson track (see
quiet period, approachingthe beacon,we havea below) are considerablylessthan twenty-sevenfor
-chicken-and-egg situation: the beaconwill not reply modernequipment,and further the interrogatordoes
unlessinterrogated;the interrogatorwill not not need 100 per cent repliesin order to maintarn
interrogateunlessit receivessignals. readoutofrange. The beaconcapabilityof 100
From the explanation thus far there are in fact aircraft may be reducedif peak traffic is much less
sigralsavailable,namely ident, but this meansan than this figure.
aircraft may haveto wait 30 s, perhapsmore in weak
signalareas,before coming out of auto standby. This Search During searchthe range-measuring circuits of
is unacceptable;consequentlythe beaconis made to the interrogatorhavenot recognizedthose pulses
transmit pulse pairs even in the absenceof arnongstthe total receivedwhich have the same
interrogations.Such transmissions from the ground jittering pattern as the interrogation. The
beaconare known collectivelyas lsquitter' to interrogationrate is high so as to decreasesearchtime,
distinguishthem from replies. When the random the maximum rate allowedbeing 150 s-r. The search
squitterpulsepairs are receivedthe airborne time in a modern equipmentis typically lessthan I s.
equipmentstartsto interrogate. A p.r.f. of 135 is avoidedsinceit may cause
A beaconmust transmit randomly distributed interferencewith the bearingmeasurementfunction
pulsepairsat a repetition rate of at least700; this of TACAN. The readoutwill be obscuredby a .flag'
minimum rate includesdistancerepliesas well as if of the mechanicaltype, or will be blankedif
squitter. Beaconswhich supply a full TACAN service, electronic.The counterdrumsof an electro-
i.e. rangeand bearing,must maintain a rate of 21.00 mechanicalindicator can be seento be rotating when
pulsepairsper second. In order to achievethis during the interrogatoris searching;an electronicindicator
ident an equalizingpair of pulsesis transmitted may havea lamp or Le.d.which illuminatesduring
100ps aftereachidentity pair. A range-onlyDME search.
beaconat a constantduty cycle of 27OOpuisepairs It is an ICAO recommendationthat if after l5 000
per secondis not ruled out. pairsof pulseshavebeentransmittedwithout
Ifwe considerthe caseof a beaconwith a constant acquiringindication of distancethen the p.r.f. should
duty cyclein a quiet period all transmittedpulsepairs not exceed60 until a changein operatingchannelis
aresquitter,apart from during the dots and dashesof madeor a successfulsearchis completed. In practice
the ident signaltransmission.With one aircraft using useof automaticstandbycircuitsand searchp.r.f.s as
the beaconinterrogatingat a rate of, say, 27 then the low as,say,40 in modernequipmentsmakesthis
numberof squitter pulsepairswill be recommendation redundant.
2700 - 21 = 2673 s-r while the reply pulse pairswill
number27 s-t. Two aircraftwould Gad to isquitter Track Dunng track the range-measuring circuits,
rate of 2646 s-t and a reply rate of 54 s-r andio on havingacquiredthe reply pulses,follow their early or
until we arriveat a condition of beaconsaturation late arrivalas the aircraft movestowardsor away from
with a nominalmaximumof 100 aircraft the beacon.Continuousrangereadoutis givenwith
interrogating.We can seethat all the squitter pulse. the'flag'out of view. The p.r.f. is low. In order to
pairshavebecomesynchronizedwith received optimize beaconcapabilitya maximum averagep.r.f.
interrogations.From the interrogator'spoint of view of 30 is laid down. This assumes that 95 per -ent of
all receivedpulsepairs appearto be squiiter except the time is occupiedby tracking,thus:
thoseidentified by the rangecircuits as being ,rp-lim
to its own interrogations. 9sr+ss < 3000 Q3)
Maintaininga constantduty cycle for the beaconis where:7is the track p.r.f. andS the searchp.r.f.
achievedby varying the receiversensitivity. When no In practicemodernequipmentsmay havetrack p.r.f.s
interrogationsare receivedsensitivityis sufficiently o f l e s st h a n 1 0 .
high for noiseto trigger the beaconmodulator 2700 In someequipmentsthe transitionfrom searchto
timesper second. As interrogationsare receivedthe track, during which the rangemeasuringcircuits check
sensitivitydecreases so maintainingthe duty cycle. they havein fact acquiredthe correctsignals,is

107
known asacquisition.lt is convenientttl identity simulates a rangeof zero,or nearzero,nauticalmiles.
'lhus
this eventby a separate terntsinceit takesa llnite. after self-testthe outbound searchcommences
thoupilrshort.time and the equipntcntis neither fiorn at or nearzero.
s e a r c l t i rnr go r t r a c k i n g .
PcrcentageRepll' rNecan seefrom the abovethat not
Mennry If repliesarelost an interrogatorwill not all interrogations will giveriseto repliesevenif the
immediatelyrevertto searchor auto standbybut will aircraftconcernedis well within range.lt may
enterits memorycondition;this rrtaybe one of two happenthat an interrogationarrivesduringthe
W
, i t h e rs t a t i co r v e l o c i t y .
t y p e se i t h static m e n l o r y groundreceiverdeadtirne. Other causes of lossof
the readout is maintained steady, whereas with replies are ident transmission from the beacon and
velocitymemorythe readoutcontinttesto changeat suppression of the interrogatorrecbiverby other
its lastknown rate. Mentorytime will norrnallylie airborneL band equipment.Everytime an L band
between4 and 12 s. equipment, i.e. ATC transponderor DME
If, duringmemory,repliesare re-acquired, the interrogator,transmits,a suppression pulseis senton
equipmentwill continuetracking:thus the pilot will a commonline to all other L band equipment.This
havebeenspareda falsewarning. At the end of may well be when a reply would otherwisehavebeen
nremory,if tltereareho signalsat all beingreceived, received.
autostandbywill ensue;otherwise the equipmentwill Ignoring,for the moment, ident transmissionfrom
commencesearching. the ground and suppressiondue to ATC transponder
replieswe can calculatea worst-casepercentagereply
Echo Protection The possibilityof the interrogator figure. Assuminga beacondeadtime of 60 ps and
trackingreplies which have suffered reflection must maximum capability operatingconditionsof 21OO
be guardedagainst,both on the ground,for the interrogationsper second,we havea total deadtime
= ps d e a dt i m e
interrogationpath,and in the air, for the reply path. o f 6 0 X 2 7 0 O 1 6 20 0 0 s - r ; i . e .
constitutes 16'2 per cent of total time. The
On the ground,dependingon the geographyof the
will arrive maximum p.r.f. (average) of No. 2 DME is 30 with
terrain,the reflectedor echointerrogation
line-of'sight interrogation' Thus a suppression pulse width of not greaterthan 60 ps;
a short time after the
for long enough thus No. I DME will be suppressed for at most
if the ground receiveris suppressed
3 0 X 6 0 = l 8 0 O p s s - r ; i . e .0 ' 1 8 p e r c e n to f t h e t i m e .
a{'terreceptionof an interrogationthe echowill not
Thus we are left with 100 - l6'38 = 83'62 per cent
trigge.r a reply. Normallya suppression period, or
deacltime, of up to 60 gs is sufficient;exceptionally asthe reply rate exPectation.
up to 150ps may be necessarY. The ident transmissionoccursonce every 30 s
A similarsituationexistsin the air but a different when the total key-downtime will be lessthan 4 s.
solutionis normallyemployed.The line-of-sight and The code group transrnittedconsistsof dots and
'dashes
the echo replies will both exhibit the same jittering o f t i m e d u r a t i o n0 ' l - 0 ' 1 2 5s a n d0 ' 3 - 0 ' 3 7 5s
p.r.f. asthe interrogator;however,the line-of-sight respectively.The time betweendots and dashesis
reply arrivesbeforethe corresponding echo' To uuullubl.for replies. We havethe situation where
achieveecho protection the interrogator is arranged about three replieswill be lost during a dot, and
If the search commences at zero about ten duringa dash,assuming a track p.r.f. of
to searchoutbound.
about2l . For a modern equipment with a lower
nauticalmilesand movesout, then the first set of
p.r.f., reply losses will be even less. Under these
repliessatisfyingthe rangecircuit's searchfor the
jitter patternwill be thosecorresponding to the true circumstances it is not sensible to calculate the
To guarantee echo protection on changing exp'ected percentage reply since the effect of the
iung..
channelor before commencingsearchafter memory ident is possibiyto make the interrogatorgo into
or auto standby,the rangecircuitsshouldbe memory, particularlywhen a dashis transmitted'
returnedto the zero nautical miles condition. This is Sincethe memory time is at leastaslong as the
done in someequipmentswherethe reverse total key-downtime the momentaryswitch between
will not be
movementtowards zero may be known as a reciprocal track and memory and back to track
search,althoughno interrogationtakes place. In noticed bY the Pilot.
other equipments,wheresearchis outbound from the It shouldbe noted by the maintenanceengineer
last reading,echoprotection is likely but not that in simulatingident durlrg a ramp test the ident
guaranteed.In this latter situationuseof the self-test sigpalwill be continuous,ratherthan keyed,aslong
svitch or button will givefull echo protection since asthe appropriateswitch on the test set is held on.
virtually all interrogatorshave a self-test facility which Thus if ident is simulatedfor longerthan the memory

108
 time the interrogatorwill start to search,This is circularpath centredon the beaconwould registera
usefulsinceoperationof one switch on the test set ground speedof zero on the DME indicator!
allowsthe checking of ident tone with its associated If the airborneequipmenthas calculatedgound
volume control, memory time and searchp.r.f. speed,it is a simplematter to give time to station
= DST/KTS whereTTS is time to
The ATC transponderproducesreplies,and hence (beacon)sinceTTS
suppression pulses,only when interrogated. If an station.DST is slant rangeand KTS (knots) is the
Again this is only a usefulindication
aiiciaft is wilhin rangeof one interrogatorit will only gound speed.
be interrogatedabout thirty timesper sweep' With a wtren ttrJ aircraft is on courseto/from the beaconand
say some distance from it.
sweeprateof say 12 r.p.m.and a beamwidth of
will occur during a time The time constant of the ground speedmeasuring
5o thesethirty interrogations
interval givenby the product of 5/360 and 60112, circuitis longbut cancopewith aircraftacceleration'
i.e. aboui 0'07 s. For thirty interrogations the p.r.f' ln groundtesting.however,one mustwait sometime
-
would needto be 30/0'07 430 which is closeto the foithe groundspeedreadingto take up the simulated
a similar situation to value of velocityselected on the ramp testset,slnce
maximum p.r.f. of 450. We have
loss during ident transmission, i.e' the in switching-in a velocity one is simulatingan infinite
the reply
o..uti.n". is relativelyinfrequent;for example0'07 acceleration.
in 5 s. If the aircraftis within rangeof more than one
interrogatorthe total interrogationtime in, say, 5 s is
increased. Interrogation
Consideringthe effect on DME only during the
time the ATC transponderis replyingwe have, The full TACAN interrogationfrequencyrangeis
assuming an ATC interrogation rate of 450 and a 1 0 2 5 - l1 5 0M H z w i t h 1 N { H zs p a c i n gT. } r u st h e
suppression pulse duration of 30 ps, percentage interrogation will be one of 116 possiblefrequencit's
suppression iime = 450 X 30 X 100/I 000 000 = l'35 tlependingon the channelselected.The r'f is keyed
'rn
per cent. If we alsotakeinto accountthe worst'case by pulsepairs. The timing,which is dcpendenl
reply for the DME system of 83'62 per cirannel selection, X or Y' is illustrated in Fig' 7'-1'
percentage
-
..nt *. haveduring this short time 83'62 1'35,
82 per cent replies.In fact the DME interrogator - 1 3'5trs
stroutO.op. *ith this and remainon track' l l x
J
The aboveis not quite the whole story. The
intention is to allay the fearsof studentswho, on L=--------*l
I l2irs I
findingout how manywaysrepliescanbe lost, wonder
how on earthDME worksat all. The few simplecal-
culationsgivenshowthat the situationis in fact
quitesatisfactory. It can,however,be worsethan sug-
gestedsincethe ICAO specification only requiresthat
iit. OVf beaconhavea 70 per centreplyefficiency; pulsespacing
Fig.7.3 Interrogation
one of the reasons, not previouslymentioned,being
that time mustbe allorvedfor self-monitoring' Even
will cope with percentage The p.r.f. is dependenton the nlodeof operationof
so most DME interrogators
theDME:
repliesasiow as.orlower than 50 per cent'
Search 40-I 50 Average
Ground Speedand Time To Station The interrogator Track l0-30
-Average
continuouslymonitorsthe slantrangeto the beacon actualp.r.f.dependson tl-reequipmentdesign
The
which,of course,will changeasthe aircraftflies
of and may be lower than minimutrlliguresgiven. There
awayfrom the beacon.Measurement
' towardsor will be a smallvariationin the average p.r.f. due to
the rateof changeof slantrangegives. the speedof
jitter. The average p.r.f.,assuming that 95 per centof
approachor departureto the beacon.Such
the time is spenton track' must be lessthan 30' The
measurement is carriedout by most airborneDMEs with verticalpolarization'
groundspeed.tt is radiationis omnidirectional
and presenteci asso-called
importantthat the pilot realizes that the readoutcan
only be consideredasground speedwhen the aircraft R e p l y
is flying directly towardsor away from the beacon
The r.f. at one of 252 frequencies between962 and
and is somedistancefrom it. An aircraft flying a
r09
 l2l3 MHz isteyed by pulse pairs the timing
of which
conjunction with VOR and, largely
is similar to that given in f ig. I .5, the differince as a future
being
requirement,ILS. To achievettris,
e1l f channelspacingis 30 prs,not 36 pr. ffrc OUe Uru.on, "r.
co-locatedwirh VOR or ILS beaconr,
radiationis omnidirectionalwith verticalpoiarization. in1r" i.j"g
prescribedmaximum separation
fi.its 1a"nr"'i to
the conventionon InternationalCivil
A'v",j"rl.
Wherewe havecoJocationconstituting
X and Y Channel Arrangements a sinele
fapility the two systemsshould
;;;il ""'"ii""o"ra
frequencypairing(Table7.1).r,i rr."r1nii
r""''
and 252 replyfrequenciesassociatedidentity signal.
Jh...rr1.-..lZ!^i1t-elryCation
in the full
trequency IA!{I-fr.guency range.The-repty_.._.
is 63 MHzaboveor belowtheintiriogating
Table7.1 Frequencypairing
fre.quency, asshownin Fig.7.4. fne chann.ispacing
is I MHzfor bothinterrogation andreply. The' v.h.f. nav.freq. v.h.f. allocation
TACANchannels arenumbered lX,ly,'. . . liOX, TACAN channel
r26Y.
UsingFig.7.4we seethat channel20X say, r08.00 VOR l7x
, 108.05 VOR
corresponds to aninterrogation
at 1044M;Hz';nda t7Y
replyat 981MHz,whilechannel r08.10 ILS l8x
I16I,, say, 1 0 85 .1
corresponds to aninterrogation ILS t8Y
at I140 MHzanda
replyat 1077MHz. ii1lo 19t .'?{
l I 1.95 ILS 56Y
Eeacon Aircraft Beacon
reply interrogation I12.00 VOR 57X
reply
X
l12.05 VOR 57Y
1213 126X
n2.ro VOR 58x
--'--'t'-
63Y 1 1 5 0 I r50 1't51 d4x 112.25 VOR 59Y
I Y 1c|aR t088 -'f-'-r- r12.30 VOR
r26Y 1087
70x
1 0 8 7 -*__\l\_
64Y 1025 1 0 2 5 -_|.__\a t17'95 VOR t26y
to24 63X
962 t x
Fig,7.4 .Y/y channel
arrangements With standardfrequehcypairingthe
need for
separate DME and v.h.f.nav.contiol unitsis
For civil DME beaconsthe 52 channels eliminated.It is normalpracticefor u .o.Uin"O
l-16, X controllerto be used,the selectedfrequency
and nd 60-69,X andy,are avoidedi"it*.
reasons.Firstly DME is meant to be used indication beinggivenin termsof tne v.h.f.nav.
in
coniunctionwith VOR and ILS, which occupy frequency.Thusa selectionof 10g.05Uffr-woufO
200
channels ratherthan 252. Secondly,havingh'fty_two tune the v.h.f. nav. receiverto that frequencyund the
redundantchannels,the gapsare chosen DME to the pairedchannell7y.
to-overlap
Someequipmentshavea hold facility whereby,
lle lTC transponder fre[uencies"f l0i0;;;' .
when engaged.
1090MHz to avoid any p-ossible interference, a changein the selectea".fr.f."u".
althoughdifferent codesand ,nr,u.i ,"iprJrJion lrequencywill not causethe DME channel
"r" to change.
also usedfor this purpose. W.hen.using hold, rangeand bearinginfo.rn"iion i,
The useof_thefifty+wo missingchannels givenbut not to a common point.
is, how- This could lead to
ever,not precludedby the ICAO;they pilot navigationerror, to .uoid ttris
may be alloc- illuminat a warninf tr*nr r,
areoon a nationalbasis.The fact that ed when hold is selected; n.*rtf,.i."rr,'ror.
civii aircraft
rnay wish to useTACAN beaconsmeans national authoritiesfrown upon the availabilit
thai many of
DME interrogatorshavethe full ZSi.f,.""rfr.' sucha faciliry.
In Table 7.1 the frequencypairingarrangements
lt1:Lo*n. The frequenciesshown.i Uring"uiio.ut.O
to-ILS are,ofcourse,localizerfrrqu.n.irrit.
The Link With v.h.f. Navigation tigtrrt
of which is I I I .95 MHz. The gfi.iepatfr/ioJirel
frequencypairingis not affectel tV IUE
As statedpreviously DMEis meantto beusedin p.iri"g.
ThoseTACAN channelsnot pairedwith
v.h.f. nav.
110
dnnnels may nevertheless still be required. In this v.h.f. nav. controllers. The RNAV facility (see
casethe pairingsfor channelslX to I 6Y are Chapter l2) nray not be available,in which caseslant
134.40-135.95 MHz and for channels60X to 69Y are rangewould be fed direct to the HSI or often, a
133'30-134'25MHz solely lor the purposeof separateDME indicator in which speedand time is
selectionon combinedcontrollers.Selectionof one computed. wirh a DME indicator fitted the HSI may
ol thesechinnelswould only give rangeinformation still act asa repeaterfor slant range.
ro an aircraftnot equippedwith full TACAN.
Associatedidentity is the term givenfor
qynchronization ofthe ident signalsfrom co-located
beacons.Each30 s intervalis dividedinto lbur or
rnoreequalpartswith the DME beaconident
transn'rittedduringone periodonly and the associated
v.h.f.facility ident duringthe renrainingperiods.
Associated identity would alsobe usedwith a Vortac
beaconwhich providesbearingand rangeinformation
to both civil and military aircraft. A TACAN (or
DME) beaconnot co-located with VOR would use
ndependentidentity. .

Instattation

The DME interrogatorcomesin rrranyforms; airline

standardequipmentis rack-mounted whereasgeneral
aviationinterrogators rriaybe panel-rnounted with
integralcontrolsand digrtalreadout. King havegone
one betterwith their KNS 80 integratednav.system
sinceone panel-rnounted box containsthe DME
interrogator: v.h.f.nav.recejverand converter,
glideslopereceiver,RNAV computerplus integral
controlsand readoutof range,groundspeed,and
time to station(seeFig. I .10).
Figure7.5 showsa singleDME installationwith a
combinedv.h.f. nav./DMEcontroller,an output to an
Fig.7.5 DMEinstallation with RNAVtie-in
RNAV computer/controllerand with slant rangeand
groundspeedor time to station displayedon an HSI
(Fig. 7.6). All largeraircraft would havea dual
installation,possiblywith changeover relaysfor HSI volume control is irrcorporatedin the system. Other
feeds. A combinedcontrolleris usuallyfound, but it
is possibie(not advised)to haveseparateDME and
Fig.7.6 KPI 533pictorialnavigation indicator(courtesy
KingRadioCorp.)
Co-axialcablesareusedfor antennafeederand
suppression.With a dual ATC transponderand dual
DME installationall four setswill be connectedin
parallelfor suppression purposes,so that when one
transmitsthey are all suppressed.The antennais
mounted on the undersideof the fuselagein an
approvedposition. Sufficientspacingbetweenall
Lband equipmentantennasmust be allowedto help
prevent mutual interference,althoughsuppression,
different frequencies,p.r.f.s and pulsespacingall
contribute to this.
Tuning information to both DME and the v.h.f.
nav. receiveris likely to be 215,althoughb.c.d. and
slip codesmay be found. Screenedcables,preferably
twisted and screened,areusedfor transferof
analogueor digital data and alsofor audio
identificationto the audio integratingsystem. The
audio may be routed through the controllerif a
controller/DMEinterconnectionsare for self-test,off,
standbyand on.

111
Controls and Operation
A drawingof a combinedcontrolleris shown in
Chaptera (Fig.4.9). Controlsfor DME areminimal.
Frequencyselectionis usuallyby rotary click stop
knobs,the digitat readoutof frequencyon the
controllerbeingthe v.h.f.nav.frequency,e'g.
108'00 MHz. The DME on/off switching may
'standby'
incorporatea standbyposition. Usually
indicatesthat VOR/ILS is on, while DME is on
standbyi.e. transmitterdisabled.Sucha switchis
'off'-v.h.f. nav, and DME off;
often marked
'receive'- v.h.f.nav.on, DME standby;
'transmit' - both v.h.f. nav.and DME on. A self-test
switch will be providedon the controlleror, rarely,
be panel-mounted.Further switchingtakesplaceon
the indicatorfor groundspeed(KTS or SPD)or
time-to-station (TTS or MIN). A hold switchmay
alsobe found (see previousnote on'hold').
Operationis simple;just switchon, tune to
requiredbeaconand ensurelock-on after a brief
search.lf the indicator employsa mechanicallydriven
digital readouta flag will obscurethe readingduring
search, whereaswith an electronicdigitalreadoutthe
displaywill be blanked. Whentuning to a different
beaconthe ident signalshouldbe checkedto ensure
the correctchannelhasbeenselected.Also if the
DME is of a type which searches out from its
last-knownreadingthe self-testmust be operatedto
return the dialsto near zeroso that an outbound
searchwill resultin lock'on to a line-of-sightreply
andnot an echo. Evenwith DMEswhich
automaticallysearchout from zero af'tera channel
changethe self-testshouldbe operatedoccasionally'
Simplified Block Diagram Operation
The bl<rckdiagramof Fig. 7 .7 canbe usedto explain
the operationof virtuallyall DME interrogators.
Naturallyvariationswill occur when comparingtypes
of DME; in particularthe range'measuring circuitswill
reflect the ingenuityof the designerand further. as
one rvouldexpect,havein recentyearsmadethe
transitionfrom analogue to digrtaltechniques.
A jitter generatordividesthe p.r.f. of a timing
oscillatoroutput by a variabledivisor. For example
with a basicp.r.f. of 400 a divisorof approximately
20 would providea track p.r.f' of 20, while a divisor
of approximately 4 would providea searchp.r.f. of
100. Of vital importanceto the operationof DME is
that the divisorvariesrandomly,so that if on track
thenbetween,say, l5 and 25 timingpulsesmay occur
betweensuccessive output pulses/s from the jitter
generator.
112
The pulsests are fed to the modulator and thus
decidethe time of transmission.The modulator
producespulsepairsof the appropriatespacingwhich
in turn key the transmitterpower amplifiers. The r.f.
is generatedby a frequencysynthesizerthe output of
which servesas receiverlocal oscillatoraswell as
transmittermasteroscillator. The amplifiedr.f. is fed
to and radiatedfrom an omnidirectionalantenna.
The peak power output of a modem airline standard
DME will be about 700-800W nominal.
Receivedpulsesare fed to the receivermixer via a
tuned preselectorwhich givesimagerejectionand
someprotection from the transmittedsignal. In
addition duplexingaction will normally be employed
to ensurereceivermixer protection during
transmission.Sincethe transmit and received
frequenciesare always63 MHz apart,the frequency
synthesizercan be usedasdescribedaboveand the i.f.
amplifieris tunedto 63 MHz. A dual superhetmay
be employed. The receiveroutput will be the
detectedvideo signal.
The decodergivesan output pulsefor each
correctlyspacedpair of pulses.The decoderoutput
consistsof repliesto all interrogatingaircraft plus
squitteror pulsesat the identificationp.r.f. of
1350Hz, in which casea bandpassfilter givesa
1350Hz tone output to the audiointegratingsystem.
The auto standbycircuitcountsthe pulsescoming
from the decoderand if the rateexceeds a
predeternrinedfigure(say400 per second)euablesthe
jitter generator.If the rateis low therewill be no
modulatortriggerandhenceno interrogation.A third
decoderoutput is fed to the rangegate.
The zero time pulses/o are effectivelydelayedand
stretchedin the variabledelay which is controlled
eitherby the searchor track circuits' The output of
the variabledelay,often termedthe rangeSate
waveform,opensthe rangegate?'ps after every
interrogation.If a reply or squitterpulseis received
at a time when the rangegateis open.a pulseis fed to
the cr.rirrcidence counter' Assumethe DME is
searching with an interrogationrateof 100,and
further,assume the rangegatewavelormgatingpulses
are20 ps in'duration,then on average duringa period
of l/100 = 10000 prsthe range gate will be openfor
o n l y 2 0 p s ,i . e . l / 5 0 0 t h o r 0 ' 2 p e r c e n to f t h e t i m e '
Now squitterand unwantedrepliesoccurrandomly
so the chanceof full coincidenceat the rangegateis
roughly I in 500 for eachof the decoderoutput
puises.Sincethere are2700 received pulsepairsper
secondwe will have,on average' 2700/500,i'e.
5-6 pulsesper secondfrom the rangegate.
During searchthe variabledelay is continuously
increasedat a rate correspondingto anythingfrom
 Suppression
pulse gen.

PRF change

t-
I *-oirt"-nJl
to ind.
I
r l
l l
_ll Range.
I measunng
I circuits
I
I
I
I
I
replios

Rx supprcssion
Frg.7 .7 Interrogator block diagram

liming gen.
o/P i li l i l l i l i l i l l l l l ll ll ll ll ll l l l l l l l ll ll l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l
Jittcr gcn.
otP r t l
Rengo gate
YVtVCtOrm

Dodcr

H
otP

l|nec g!r.
otP
r---1
F3 7.8 Stroboscopicprinciple

It3
 20 to 400 nautical miles per second,dependingon the zero crossingsof the delayedsine wave turn on
vintageof the design. While in searchthe rangegate, (Q = l)a bistablewhich is turned otr (Q = 0) by the
output rate, as detectedby the coincidencecounter, zero time pulsesfrom the jitter generator. The
is low. When the delay lps is equalto the round bistableoutput is connectedto the positive-going
trip travel time plus the 50 ps beacondelay the range triggerinput of a monostable;in this way the
Bateoutput rate increases by a sigrificant amount. resulting30 ps pulsesoccur at a time determinedby
Assumingas abovea searchp.r.f. of 100, and also a those delayed timing pulseswhich occur I ps after
50 per cent reply rate, then the output.of the range transmission.The elapsedtime I representsthe
gatewill jump from say 5 pulsesper secondto 50 rangereadout which will be obscured'by a flag during
pulsesper second. This is the situation shown in search.
Fig. 7.8. Whenthis easilydetectedincreasein rate In the logic employed in Fig. 7.9 a low rate output
occursthe mode control circuit will: (a) enablethe from the rangegate will give a logic zero output from
tracking circuit; (b) inhibit the searchcircuit; the coincidencecounter, so enabling the search
(c) senda p.r.f. changesigral to the jitter generator; circuit but disablingthe early and late gates.When
and (d) lift the indicator blanking or flag as Zps correspondsto the actualslant rangeofthe
appropriate. beaconthe rangegateoutput rate is high, hencethe
During track the variabledelay is controlled by thesearchcircuit is disabledand a logic one is fed to the
trackingcircuitsso as to keepeachwanted reply in early and late gates. The other inputs to the earlyand
the centreof the correspondingrangegatewaveform late gatesare the decodedpulsesand a ramp
pulse. Should the aircraft be flying towards the waveformsymnietricalabout zero volts and coincident
beacon,successive replieswill appearearly within thewith a 30 ps rangegatewaveformpulse. The ramp
gatepulse,so causingthe delay to be reduced. The input to the late gateis invertedso that the late gate
opposite occurswhen the aircraft is flying away from is open for almost all of the latter half of the 30 ps
the beacon. The variabledelay representsthe slant period,while the early gateis open for almostall of
rangeand so a signalproportionalto or representing the first half. The slopeof the ramp waveformis
this delayis fed to the indicator and/or RNAV chosenso as there is a period (equalin duration to the -
computer. decoderoutput pulsewidth) when neither early nor
Ifwanted repliesare lost, the coincidencecounter late gateis open. Thus when on track the wanted
output registersa zero tate and hencethe mode repliesare steeredto the decreaseor increaserange
control switchesto memory. With static memory the circuits,dependingon whether the repliesarriveearly
trackingcircuits are 'frozen', whereaswith velocity or late within the rangegatewaveformpulse
memory the trackingcircuitscontinueto changethe respectively.
variabledelay at the last known rate. The motor drive circuits supply the motor so that
when in searchthe readoutand delay progressively
increases.While in track the motor will turn in a
RangeMeasuringand ModeGontrol direction dependenton which of the decreaseand
increasecircuits givesan output. It can be seenthat
Analogue in track we havea servosystemwhich maintainsthe
Typically in an older analogueDME the variable delay wantedrepliesin the centreof the rangegate
takesthe form ofa phaseshifter resolver,the rotor of waveformpulses.
which is fed from the timing oscillator and is The memory circuit is enabledwith the early and
mechanicallycoupledto a distancemeasuringshaft. late gateswhen it clearsthe flag. Subsequently,should
The trackingcircuitsin suchequipmentoften employ therebe a lossof replies,searchwill be inhibited and
a ramp generatoi. Figure7.9 illustratesa block the motor held (staticmemory)or madeto continue
diagramand waveformswhich may be used to explain rotating with the samesenseand speed(velocity
the operationof sucha DME but is not meant to memory) for the memory time.
representany particularequipment.
The timing generatoroutput is sinusoidaland so Digital
must be fed to a pulseformer (zero crossingdetector) What follows is an explanationof the principlesof a
beforethe jitter generator.The timing signalis also first-generationdigital DME basedon, but not
fed to a phaseshift resolverwhereit is phase-shifted accuratelyrepresenting,the RCA AVQ 85. Currently
(delayed) by an angledependingon the position of the trend is to usea special-purpose l.s.i. chip to
the distance-measuring shaft which also drives the perform the rangemeasurementand mode control
readout. Pulsescoincidentwith the positive-going tasks.

114
 ----l
I

I
I
I
I
I
I
roln I
ming I
\ - l l
en. i
l I
Delayed I t -'l I
timing ; \ I
t l
pulses i____ -J---..i

M
o
T
o
R
D
Ranoe R
oat"" Enable I
V
E

ro
r r l
Delayed +iTe ' I
tlmrng
pulses

Bistable
o
t ' l

Mono^stabre h j* so r,s h
o l

Monostable
o

Ramp gen.

Earlv n Late
Decoder o/P

Fig. 7.9 Analoguerangemeasuringand mode control block

diasram

The AVQ 85 hasa searchp.r.f. of 40, a track p.r.f.
of l2 and a maximumrangeof 400 nauticalmiles,
which correspondsto a two-way travel time of
5000ps. Duringthis time the nuntberof pulsepairs
receivedfrom a beaconwill be, on average:
5000x10-6x2700=13.5.
Of the thirteen or fourteenpulsepairsreceivedone
will, hopefully,be a wantedrepiy.
During the searchmode the elapsedtime between
f6 and the time arrival of a particulardecodedpulse
is measured.If rn is the time measured after the
nth interrogationthen /1111is the time to the first
decodedpulseto arrivesuchthat tn+1) tr, where
r,l= 0, L . ., and /o = 0. Whenwe haveequality,i.e.
tn+L = /r, then /r, is, subjectto further checking,the
roundtrip traveltime to the beacon.It can be seen
that if the aircraftis at rnaximunlrangewe shallneed,
on average, l3-14 successive interrogations to complete
the searchtime- At a searchrate of 40 this will take
sayl3'5/40 s,i.e.about one-thirdof a second.The
acquisitiontime of the AVQ 85 is quotedaslessthan I s.

115
 Int.rrogatiorl
lst mcesurornont
2nd measuremart
3rd measurement
4ttl melsurc|tranl
Sth mcaermont
6th measuremetrt
7th- moasurotnctrt
- search
Fig.7.l0 Digital rangemeasurement
With the aboveoperationonly one time
measurement needsto be storedin a register. With a
modestamount of memory the wanted reply could
be identified within two successive interrogations,
providedthat sucha reply was receivedafter eachof
the interrogations.If we assumea 50 per cent reply
rate then four interrogationswould be needed.
During a 5000 ps interval lessthan eighty-fourpulse
pairswill be received,assuminga minimum spacingof
60 ps betweenbeaconsquittertransmissions and
allowingfor a 60 ps deadtime. Eachtime
measurement would need l2 bits if a resolutionof
one-tenthof a nauticalmile is required. Thus'a faster
searchtime could be achievedif a RAM of
12 X 84 X 4 = 4032 bits were provided. A practical
circuit would consistof 4 X lK bit (lK = 1024\
RAMs, the pulsearrivaltimes,expressedas distances,
dfter eachof four interrogationsbeing recorded
successively in eachRAM chip. The first chip would
thus record the arrival times after the first, fifth,
ninth, etc. interrogations,similarly for the second,
third and fourth chips. Of courseonly one 4K bit
drip is needed,providedit can be organizedinto four
linear arraysof l2-bit words. With a searchp.r.f. of
40 thereis a periodof 30000 ss (= l/40) less
5000 ps in which to checkfor equal arrivaltimes
116
Valid
reply
which, when detected,signalthe end of search.
In Fig. 7.1I we return to the one measurementper
interrogationsituation. Initially the distance
measuringcircuit countersand registersare cleared.
Time measurementfrom /6 is carriedout by the
distancecounter which counts809 kHz clock pulses,
thus givinga rangeresolutionof one-tenthof a mile.
The sequenceof eventsfollowing the (r + I )th
interrogationof a searchcycle is as follows:
l. te+20ps
Distancecountgrciears.
Blankingcounter loadedwith contentsof
distancestorageregister= rn.
2. ts + 47 tts
Blankingbounterstartsto count down.
3. ls + 50 r/s
Distancecounter startsto count up towards
maximum range.
4. to+tn
Blankingcounter reacheszero and hence
enablesblanking gateand triggersrangegate
waveformgenerator.
5. ts + tral
A decodedpulsearrivesand passes through
enabledblanking gateto stop distancecounter
 tlccodcd
pulsos
Distance
to lnd s PRF Ind
8O9kHz T chang enable
o
P

Range
gate
wavaform Decoded
809 kHz gen. pulsss

F!. ?.ll Digital rarge measuringand mode control block

diagram

and trigger transfer of data to distancestorage
register;n becomesn + I and circuit waits for
next to.
The abovesequenceis repeatedafter each
interrogation. Within, on average,fourteen
interrogationsthe time to a wanted reply will be
counted and the distancestorageregisterwill contain
the number of tenthsof a nauticalmile actualrange.
After the next interrogationthe blanking counter will
enable the blanking gate 3 prsbefore the arrival ofthe
wanted reply, sincethe blankingcounterstart is
47 ps after re while the distancecounter start is
50 ps after fe. It thereforefollows that the distance
counterwill recordthe samed'.stance, subjectto
aircraft movement.thereafter.
The pulse from the rangegate waveform generator
is of 6 ps duration,its leadingedgebeingX ps after te
whereX is the time of arrivalof the previously
measureddecodedpulseless47 ps. This gatingpulse
is fed to the rangegatetogetherwith the decoder
output. Coincidenceindicatesthat the two latest
pulsesto be measuredhavearrivedwith the sametime
delay t 3 prswith respectto /s and are thus probably
wanted replies. The percentagereply checkingcircuit
then checksthat two of the next eight interrogations
giverise to a decodedpulsewithin the track gateand
if so the mode switchesto track. On track the p.r.f. is
reducedand the indicator givesa readoutofthe range
asmeasuredby the distancecounter. After switching
to track, at leastfour of any sixteensuccessive
interrogations rrtust give rise to a rangeSateoutput;
failure initiates a switch to memory. Five seconds
after memory is entered the mode will revert to
search,subject to auto standby, unlessthe four-from'
sixteen check indicatessuccess,in which casetrack
resumes.
Characteristics
is drawnfromtheARINC
Thefollowingsummary
Characteristic568-5for the Mk 3 airborneDME, it is
not completeand doesnot detail all the conditions
under which the following should be met.
Channels
252 channelsselectedby 215switching.
hise Spacing
Interrogationl2 r 0'5 ps modeX;36 x 0'5 prsmode X
Decoderoutput if lZ ! 0'5 1rsmodeX; 30 i 0'5 tts
mode Y.
Decoder: no output ifspaeing of receivedpulse pain
more than I 5 ps from that required.
Range
0-200 nauticalmileswith overrideto extend to
300 nauticalmiles.
TmckW Sped
0-2000 knots.

717
 :r i : i: -
AcquisitionTime Intenogation Rote
I s or less. Overalllessthan 30, assumingon track 95 per cent of
time, searching5 per cent of time.
Memory
4-12s velocitymemory. Auto Standby
At least650 pulsepairsper secondreceivedbefore
r.f. PowerOutput interrogationsallowed.
> 25 dBWinto 50 O load.

Fig.7.l2 TIC T-24A (courtesyTel-InstrumentElcctronics

Corp.)

118
Tx Frequency Stability 3. Rangerate pulsetransmittedfor each0.01 nautical
Better than t 0.007 per cent. mile changein range.
4. Audio ) 75 mW into 200-500Q load.
Rx Sensitivity 5. Output impedance< 200 st.
-90 dBm lock-on sensitivity.
6. Warningflag( I V d.c. for warning,2i.S y d.c.
satisfactoryoperation.
Suppressiort PulseDurat ion
Blanket: l9 prsmodeX;43 ttsmodeL RangeOutput Accuracy
Pulsefor pulse: 7 gs. From t 0.1 to t 0.3 nauticalmiles,dependingon
sigral strengthand time sinceacquisition.
Antenna v,s.w.r.
l'5: I over 962-1213MHz referredto 50 O.
Ramp Testing
Antenna Isolotion
> 40 dB betweenL-bandantennas.
A DME installationshouldbe testedusinga ramp test
set which will test by radiation,simulatevarious
Outputs
rangesand velocities.operateon at leastone spot
l. Digital: 32-bit serialb.c.d.word at leastfive times
frequencyfor mode X and mode I/, and provide for
per second,resolution0.01 nauticalmiles.
simulationof identification. Two suchtest setsare
Buffers in utilization equipment.
the TIC T-24A (Fig. 7.12) andthe IFR ATC"600A
2. Analogue:pulsephirs5-30 timesper secondwith
( F i g .8 . 2 3 ) .
spacing,in ps, 50 + l2'359d (d beingslant
range). Eachload l2K in parallelwith lessthan
TIC T.24A
I 00 pF.
A battery-operated,one-mantest set operatedfrom

*
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: 4*. .. :a.r/:{ . a

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. t. *.r& nfr
4,frwa.:r
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Et
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ld

Fig. 7.13 TIC T-50A (courtesyTel-lnstrument

Elcctronrcs
Corp.)

'!19
 the cockpit and testingby radiation. ChannelslTX
and 17Y are available(108.00 and 108.05MHz VOR
frequencies)with rangesimulationftom 0 to 399.9
nauticalmilesin 0.1 nauticalmile increments. The
velocity, inbound or outbound, can be selectedin
lO-knot incrementsfrom 0 to 9990 knots. Squitter
is selectableat 700 or 2700 pulsepairsper second.
Identity is availableas 1350 or equalized1350 pulse
pairsper second. An additionalpulsepair l0
nauticalmilesafter the reply pulsepair can be
selected,to enablea checkof echo protection. The
p.r.f. meterhastwo ranges0-30 and 0-150. Finally
the percentagereply may be selectedin l0 per cent
incrementsfrom l0 to 100 per cent.
ATC 600A
This test set doesnot have all the facilities ofthe
T-24A but doesoffer comprehensive testingability
for the ATC transponder(Chapter8). Like the
T-24Athe ATC 600A operateson channelsl7X and
l7Y. The rangecan be set from 0 to 399 nautical
milesin I nauticalmile steps. Twelvedifferent
rrelocitiesmay be simulatedin the range
120
50-2400knots inbound or outbound. The identity is
equalized1350 pulsepairsper second. The percentage
reply is either50 or 100 per cent by selection.
Featuresof the ATC 600A not availablewith the
T-24A arean interrogatorpeak r.f. power readout,
accuracyt 3 dB (t 50 per cent) and interrogation
liequency check.
Bench Testing
Various test setsexist for the benchtestingof DME,
one of theseis the TIC T-50A (Fig. 7.13) which also
providesfacilitiesfor ATC transponderbench testing.
This is not the placeto detail all the featuresof sucha
complex test set; sufficeit to say that the test set is
madeup of optional modulesso that the customer
can choosethe most suitablepackage.One feature
which must be mentionedis the ability to measure
the pulsedr.f. from the DME interrogatorwith a
resolutionof l0 kHz. TIC havefound that many
units changetheir output frequency,sometimes
beyond allowablelimits, when a changein pulse
spacingoccurs;i.e. X to I/ mode or vice versa.