LORAN

Navigation
LORAN NAVIGATION
SYSTEM
is a terrestrial radio navigation
system which enales shi!s and
aircra"t to determine their !osition
"rom low "re#$ency radio signals
transmitted y "i%ed land ased radio
eacons&
'ISTORY

LORAN was an American develo!ment( advancing

the technology o" the*ritishGEEradio
navigationsystem that was $sed early in+orld +ar
II& +hile GEE had a range o" ao$t ,-- miles
./,,0m1( initial LORAN systems had a range o"
2(3-- miles .2(45-0m1&

It originally was 0nown as 6LRN6 "orLoomis Radio

Navigation( a"terAl"red Lee Loomis( who invented
the longer range system and !layed a cr$cial role in
military research and develo!ment d$ring+orld +ar
II( $t later was renamed to the areviation "or the
more descri!tive term&

In R$ssia( LORAN is called 7'AY8A&

9rinci!le

Thenavigational method!rovided y LORAN is

ased on meas$ring the time di""erence etween
the recei!t o"signals"rom a !air
o"radiotransmitters& A given constant time
di""erence etween the signals "rom the two
stations can e re!resented y ahy!erolicline o"
!osition.LO91&

I" the !ositions o" the two synchroni:ed stations are

0nown( then the !osition o" thereceivercan e
determined as eing somewhere on a !artic$lar
hy!erolic c$rve where the time di""erence etween
the received signals is constant& In ideal conditions(
this is !ro!ortionally e#$ivalent to the di""erence o"
thedistances"rom the receiver to each o" the two
stations&
O9ERATION
LORAN Stations O!erations are organi:ed into s$;gro$!s o"
"o$r to si% stations called 6 7'AIN <&One station in the 7hain is
designated the 6 MASTER 6 and others are called 6
SE7ON=ARY 6 or 6 SLAVE 6 Stations&

The theory is to calc$late the time etween rece!tion o" the

signals "rom the MASTER and SLAVE stations( which are
emitted at di""erent "re#$encies ( at low or very low ands
4-0': ; 22- 0':& in !$lse gro$! and has !ower o" ,-- ; 2/--
0ilowatts& The master station emits its own signal "irst( when
that signals reach the slave station ( it emits its own signal
a"ter a !redetermined delay& +hen the master station>s signal
reaches the aircra"t ( its Navigation system co$nts the time
$ntil the slave station>s signal arrives& Yo$r !osition is "o$nd
as the intersection o" the line o" two LORAN stations&

Signal Processor ; receives the

signals and meas$res the di""erence
etween the time o" arrival o" each
secondary station !$lse gro$! and the
master station !$lse gro$!& time
di""erence val$e is meas$red to a
!recision o" ao$t -&2 microseconds&

Navigation Computer

Control and Display

LORAN ?NIT
Other loran systems

LORAN @ A

LORAN @ *

LORAN @ 7

eLORAN
There are three maAor "actors when
considering signal delay and!ro!agationin
relation to LORANB
9rimary 9hase Cactor .9C1@ This allows "or the "act that the s!eed o"
the !ro!agated signal in the atmos!here is slightly lower than in a
vac$$m&
Secondary 9hase Cactor .SC1@ This allows "or the "act that the s!eed
o" !ro!agation o" the signal is slowed when traveling over the
seawater eca$se o" the lower cond$ctivity o" seawater com!ared
to land&
Additional Secondary Cactors .ASC1@ *eca$se LORAN;7 transmitters
are mainly land ased( the signal will travel !artly over land and
!artly over seawater& ASC may e treated as land and water
segments( each with a $ni"orm cond$ctivity de!ending on whether
the !ath is over land or water&

Terrestrial Long
Range Navigation

Land ased radio

transmitter

$ses low "re#$ency

radio transmitters
in many
de!loyments so as
to determine the
location

Geo 9ositioning
Satellite

Satellite

!rovides location as
well as time
in"ormation in all
weather( on the
Earth thro$gh the
G9S satellites&
LORAN vs G9S
=ISA=VANTAGE
LORAN s$""ers "rom electronic e""ects o" weather and the
ionos!heric e""ects o" s$nrise and s$nset& At night the
indirects0y wave( ent ac0 to the s$r"ace y
theionos!here( is a !rolem as m$lti!le signals may arrive
via di""erent !aths .m$lti!ath inter"erence1& The
ionos!here>s reaction to s$nrise and s$nset acco$nts "or
the !artic$lar dist$rance d$ring those !eriods&Magnetic
stormshave serio$s e""ects as with any radio ased
system&
LORAN $ses gro$nd ased transmitters that only cover
certain regions&