NAVIGATION AT DIFFERENT PHASES

1. Terminal Area & Take off: Aircraft moves ( taxy) from parking base onto runway and
ends when climbs out along runway center line.
Visual vectoring by ATC
Guidance along runway center line.
Accurate speed, barometric altitude (variation of atmospheric pressure affects availability
of air, thus speed) and rate of climb accurately calculated.
2. Enroute: Leads from origin to destination, also alternate destination in case of
emergency.
Fixed airway path
Inertial Navigation, DME, VOR, NDB
Precision navigation by Satellite inputs- GPS, GLONASS etc.
Radio Compass
Surveillance by independent ground-based radars.
3. Approach: Phase begins when ground based landing aids are acquired by aircraft until
airport is physically in sight During approach decision height (DH) is very important to
calculate when to start descent. Better navigation aids, lower the decision height.
Radio Navigation Aid- Instrument Landing System (ILS) or Microwave Landing System
(MLS).
Hyperbolic Navigation System
Satellite navigation system- GPS used.

4. Landing:
Phase begins at decision height (DH)
and ends when aircraft exits the
runway after landing.
Aircraft altimeter measures
height.
Precise air-speed, ground speed,
drift, wind speed are to be known
to land at correct angle.
ILS localizer and glide slope aid
is utilized.
5. On Surface:
Aircraft movement after exiting
runway, until getting parked at
hangar/ parking bay is important
for collision avoidance with ground
vehicles, other moving in/ out or
parked aircraft or physical
installations.
Human Controller with computer
guidance.
GPS reports from aircraft to pilot
and ATC.

TYPES OF NAVIGATION
1. Navigation by Pilotage:
For a non instrument rated, Private pilot planning to fly VFR in a small, single engine airplane around
the local area, the navigation by pilotage is the simple solution. The navigator fixes position of
aircraft by observing known visible landmarks. Features like- river, coast lines, hills, major
infrastructures etc. At night- light beacons, city lights etc.

Advantage:
Easy to understand and perform
No special instrument required.
Disadvantage:
Requires relatively low altitude so that landmarks can be seen and recognized easily.
Mistake in recognizing landmarks can lead to wrong navigation
Not practical to be used during night time or in bad weather as the visibility is limited.
1. Celestial Navigation:
Celestial navigation systems are based on observation of the positions of the Sun, Moon,
Planets and navigational stars. Accomplished by measuring angular position of celestial
bodies. Angular position (azimuth and elevation) is measured using Sextant. Along with precise
time of measurement and angular position, position of craft can be determined on any place
on globe.
Advantage:
Relative independence of external aids.
Drawbacks:
Visibility, accuracy of measuring instrument, accuracy in identification of celestial body.

3. Navigation by Dead Reckoning (DR):

Navigation of an aircraft solely by means of computation based on time, airspeed, distance and
direction. It is based on mathematical calculations to follow a course line using airspeed, course,
heading, wind speed and elapsed time. Manual or flight computers are used to calculate timespeed-distance measurement, fuel consumption and other data necessary to navigate.
Requires means of finding direction of motion of craft or aircraft heading or track angle
and air speed.
Direction from magnetic compass or gyroscope
Speed from air-data sensors or Doppler radars
Wind velocity is obtained by weather broadcasts.
New methods- Doppler radar and inertial navigation

Advantage:

Straighter line courses possible

No limitation for visibility or weather

Drawbacks:

Accuracy of measuring instrument

Calculations to be done prior to flight

4. Radio Navigation:
The location of an aircraft is found by the use of EM waves. Property of rectilinear
propagation and constant velocity of EM waves is utilized.
It requires both Aircraft based Installation (i.e Antenna and Indicator) and Ground/ Space
based Installations (Ground Antenna/ Satellite).
Provides locus of a/c.
Intersection of two or more loci gives a fix.

Now lets try to use radio signals to navigate our airplane.

How can we find our position?
One way is to just look in which direction there are beacons. This will give us the radial
of the corresponding beacons. (Beacons that give you the radial are called -systems. An
example is the VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) beacon.) To find our position in 2D in this
way, we need at least two such beacons.

Another type of beacons are -systems. These beacons give you the distance with
respect to that beacon. An example is the Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) beacon.
This time, two beacons cant unambiguously say where you are. You thus need at least three
beacons to find your position.
Now lets try to use radio signals to navigate our airplane. We can also combine a system with a -system. This --system then tells us the radial and the distance with
respect to the beacon. Examples now include the co-located VOR/DME beacon or
the TACAN beacon. Now, only one beacon is sufficient to tell us our position.

Geometric dilution of precision

All the systems treated above are called line of position systems. A beacon alone cant
tell you your position, but only a line on which your position must be. In reality, the system
cant even tell you that. And this is because accuracy needs to be taken into account. Lets
suppose that were trying to find our position using two -systems. These systems
give us the radials 1 and 2 . However, these radials arent exactly accurate. They
can be off by (for example) 0.5on either side. We now dont get a point anymore where
our position must be. Instead, we get a region. This is displayed in figure 1

Geometric dilution of precision

All the systems treated above are called line of position systems. A beacon alone cant tell you
your position, but only a line on which your position must be. In reality, the system cant even tell
you that. And this is because accuracy needs to be taken into account.
Lets suppose that were trying to find our position using two -systems. These systems
give us the radials 1 and 2 . However, these radials arent exactly accurate. They can be
off by (for example) 0.5on either side. We now dont get a point anymore where our position
must be. Instead, we get a region. This is displayed in figure 1
This region, however, has a special property. Its size depends on our position. If we
are placed inconveniently with respect to the beacons, then the region is quite big. This
dependence of the precision, based on our position, is called geometric dilution of precision
(GDOP).
The GDOP is smallest when the aircraft is positioned on two perpendicular lines of position.

5. Satellite Navigation:
Satellite navigation systems are unaffected by weather and provide global navigation
coverage that fully meets the civil requirements for use as the primary means of
navigation. Properly certified GPS equipment may be used as a supplemental means of
IFR navigation. Navigational values, such as distance and bearing to a waypoint and
groundspeed, are computed from the aircraft's current position (latitude and longitude)
and the location of the next waypoint.
The space element [of GPS] consists of 24 Navstar satellites. This group of satellites is
called a constellation. The satellites are in six orbital planes (with four in each plane) at
about 11,000 miles above the Earth.
At least five satellites are in view at all times. The GPS constellation broadcasts a pseudorandom code timing signal and data message that the aircraft equipment processes to
obtain satellite position and status data.
By knowing the precise location of each satellite and precisely matching timing with the
atomic clocks on the satellites, the aircraft receiver/processor can accurately measure the
time each signal takes to arrive at the receiver and, therefore, determine aircraft position.
Each satellite sends out a signal that includes its own position and the time. The receiver
can calculate the time it took the signal to travel and multiply that by the speed of the
signal (the speed of light) to compute the distance. That distance ("r" in the figure) defines
a sphere.

With four satellites, you have narrowed the universe of possible intersections to just one
(the single black point).

Advantages:
- GPS works in all weather
- relatively low costs (compared to other
navigation systems)

- 100% coverage on the planet

- the system is maintained regularly by
the US government (as compared to other
navigations systems by other countries
e.g. GLONASS)

Disadvantages:
- The US DoD (dept of defense) can, at
any given time, deny users use of the
system (i.e. they degrade/shut down the

satellites)