Orbeta, Razzel The Rebecca-Eureka radar system
Patawaran, Arron Jan was produced.
It includes an airborne interrogator
called “Rebecca” and a ground
Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) beacon called “Eureka.” The system
operated at a radio frequency of
What is a DME? 200MHz. At 1946, a crystal-
It is a transponder-based radio controlled DME system was
navigation technology that measures developed at ITT Nutley Laboratory.
slant range distance by timing the
propagation delay of VHF or UHF 1947
radio signals Radio Technical Commission for
The main purpose of the DME is to Aeronautics (RTCA) organized
display your distance from a committee SC-31. Only the DME
VORTAC, VOR-DME, or localizer. and the Secondary Surveillance
DME reduces pilot workload by Radar remained in the 960-1215
continuously showing your distance MHz band. Modern DME controls
from the station, accurate to within a incorporate digital readouts of
half-mile or three percent. frequency, DME and groundspeed
It is a combination of ground and information.
airborne equipment which gives a
continuous slant range distance- DME Equipment
from-station readout by measuring
time-lapse of a signal transmitted by 1. Ground Equipment
the aircraft to the station and
responded back.
DME is often installed near VOR
stations so as to provide combined
bearing and distance.
Combined with VOR, DME permits
you to determine your exact position
from a single ground station; VOR
tells you what radial you're on and
DME tells how far out on that radial
you are. 1.1 Transponder Beacon
A device for receiving a radio signal and
Uses of DME
automatically transmitting a signal so that
DME provides the physical distance an air traffic control station can identify the
from the aircraft to the ground DME aircraft and detect its location.
transponder expressed in Nautical
Miles (NM). 1.2 Aerial Array/Ground Antenna
DME also calculates ground speed
The accessory equipment of transponder
and the time needed to reach the beacon used for both transmission and
station if the aircraft is fitted with reception, and it adjacent to the transponder
appropriate computer. beacon housing.
History of DME 1.3 Test Equipment
Each beacon installation is supplied with a
It was invented by James Gerry set of test equipment to allow periodic
Gerrand under the supervision of equipment checks and to assist in localising
Edward George “Taffy” Bowen while faults. The test equipment is self-contained
working as chief of Division of Radio and is transportable.
physics of Commonwealth Scientific
and Industrial Research 2. Airborne Equipment
Organization (CSIRO) and was
develop in Australia. 2.2 Interrogator
A radio transmitter and receiver for sending
1939 out a signal that triggers a transponder and
The radar beacon was invented by a for receiving and displaying the reply.
group at the Dawdsey Research The interrogator is the airborne equipment
Station of the Air Ministry in the in the aircraft that transmits interrogating
United Kingdom in response to a pulses to the ground station. It transmits on
military need, and its invention was a center frequency of 1025-1150 MHz, 150-
not immediately made public for 200 miles. The interrogator uses unique
security reasons. pairs of pulses to differentiate an answer
from another answer.
The initial purpose of the beacon
was for Identification of Friend or
Foe (IFF), where it indicates whether
a particular military vehicle was
either a “friend” or “foe” in World War
II.
1943
The rate in the calculation is the
velocity of the radio pulse, which is the
2.3 Antenna speed of light (roughly 300,000,000 m/s
The antenna, used for both or 186,000 mi/s). The time in the
transmission and reception, is a very calculation is (total time – 50µs)/2.
small "sharks fin" normally mounted The system operates in the Ultra-High
on the underside of the aircraft. Frequency (UHF).
When the aircraft receives back the DME receiver inside the cockpit
signal, it takes a 50 µsecond delay measures the distance from the aircraft
before it is displayed in the DME to the ground DME antenna.
indicator located in the cockpit. Then, the computed distance is
displayed through DME indicator in the
cockpit.
Disadvantages
High air traffic density
The DME ground station can only
respond to a certain number of
interrogations in a given period of
time. If too many aircraft are
interrogating the ground station, it
will automatically desensitize its
receiver so that it can only hear and
reply to the strongest interrogations.
Common Errors
The DME system receiver can
calculate groundspeed accurately
DME Indicator in the Cockpit only if the aircraft is flying directly to
Enables aircraft to establish its range to the ground or from the ground station. The
station. groundspeed information allows the
pilot to make accurate estimates of
Distance in nautical miles (NM)
time of arrival and accurate checks
Ground Speed in Knots of aircraft progress
Flying time to station in minutes
DME Coverage Advantage
The DME coverage is limited by the line of
sight. If there isn’t line of sight between the One advantage of the DME
transponder and the interrogator, there will system is that it is infrequently
not be a communication link. affected by precipitation static
and thunderstorms.
How DME Works?
Paired pulses at specific spacing Principles of DME Navigation
(Interrogation) are sent to a ground The DME operates on frequencies from
station from the aircraft via the antenna. 962 MHz to 1213 MHz with 252
The ground station (Transponder) channels, divided into 126 channels for
sends the same pulses back to the X mode and 126 for Y mode
aircraft at a different frequency.
Aircraft equipment measures the
time between transmission and
reception to determine the
distance; from that, groundspeed
and time to station can be
derived.
. A radio signal takes approximately
12.36 microseconds to travel 1
nautical mile (1,852 m) to the target Frequencies
For interrogation pulses from aircraft,
and back—also referred to as a
frequencies from the range 1025 MHz
radar-mile.
to 1150 MHz is used
The time difference between For the response pulses from the
interrogation and reply, minus the 50 ground beacon, the whole frequency
microsecond ground transponder delay, range from 962 MHz to 1213 MHz is
is measured by the interrogator's timing used
circuitry and converted to a distance
measurement (slant range), in nautical
miles, then displayed on the cockpit
DME display.
The distance formula, distance = rate *
time, is used by the DME receiver to
calculate its distance from the DME
ground station.
