Distance Measuring Equipment

Civil Aviation Institute

Ahmad Sajjad Safi

CNS Instructor

Reference:
DME Technical Manual

DME 415 & 435 General View

Introduction
• DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) has been standardized by the
ICAO as a radio aid for short and medium-distance navigation.
• It is a secondary type of radar, which allows several aircraft to
simultaneously measure their distance from a ground reference (DME
transponder).
• The distance is determined by measuring the propagation and delay
of a RF pulse, which is emitted by the aircraft transmitter and
returned at a different frequency by the ground station after
reception.
• The DME 415/435 ground equipment, is constructed by THALES
Air Systems Division - Milan - Italy.
DME Concept
• DME provides to aircrafts:
- Straight-line distance to the DME ground station.
- Aircraft ground-speed.
- Time to DME ground station.
(If the aircraft is flying straight to the DME ground station)
DME Concept

DME
Ground
Station
DME Coverage
• The DME coverage is limited by the line of sight, if there isn’t line of
sight between the emitter and the receiver there will not be
communication link.
• From 0 to 65 NM radius and above 65 NM.

DME
Ground
Station
DME Association
• Can be used stand-alone or Master.
• It’s always used in association with: TACAN and VORTAC.
• It’s usually used in association with: VOR or ILS.
Aircraft Cabin
Ranging Circuit Autopilot
Distance
Display
DME
Cabin Indicator Block
Transmitter

Interrogations
Receiver

Replies
DME Identification Diagram
Tune

Antenna
Interrogations

Airborne
Antenna
Interrogator
Replies

Transmitter Receiver

Interrogator Antenna: UHF antenna usually placed on the DME

Transponder Delay & Process
bottom of the aircraft fuselage.
Basic Principle of DME
• When a signal is sent by the aircraft on board DME (interrogator), the
on board DME starts counting the time until it gets a reply from the
ground station.
• The resulting time depends of the DISTANCE, the propagation speed
and the signal reflections.
• The DME ground station transponder generates replies
(artificial echoes) and sends it back to the aircrafts
(“Reverse” Secondary RADAR principle).
Basic Principle of DME
• The time interval between interrogation emission and reply reception
provides the aircraft with the real distance information from the
ground station.
• This information may be read by the pilot or the navigator directly on
the airborne indicator.
Basic Principle of DME
• The Ground station is identified by a Morse (3 or 4 letters) coded tone
modulated at 1350 Hz.
• DME frequency rang is UHF : 960 MHz to 1215 MHz.
• DME have 252 Channels which are separated by 1 MHz .
• 126 X channel and 126 Y channel.
• The ground station signal frequency answer is always:
[interrogator signal frequency] ± 63MHz
 Basic Principle of DME
• Pulse Coding

The Interrogator sends pulse pairs with a fixed time separation between the
1st and the 2nd pulse: 12μs (Channel code X) or 36μs (Channel code Y)
– The time separation between pulse pair is randomly generated by the on
board DME transmitter.
– The pulse time is ~3,5μs.
An electromagnetic wave takes 6.18μs to complete 1NM.
Basic Principle of DME
• The ground transponder is able to answer up to about 200
interrogators at a time.
• Search Mode : On board DME will send 150 pp/s until it finds the
ground station.
• Track Mode : When On board DME connected with the ground
station so it sends 24 pp/s.
• pp/s= pair pulse / seconds
 Basic Principle of DME
– Compliant with the ICAO specifications in Annex 10, 5th edition.
 Basic Principle of DME
• The error is near to zero when the aircraft is far from the ground
station and it increases when the aircraft is near from the ground
station in the rang of 0,5NM.
• DME performance is not affected by the weather conditions.
• Control by a Personal Computer (PC) at beacon site, which can be
duplicated at remote site.
• Used with below software inside computer:
– WINDOWS SUPERVISOR
– WINDOWS ADRACS SUPERVISOR
– EQUIPMENT MANAGER
Current Situation of DME- KAIA
• DME 415 and DME 435
– Traffic Capacity: 200 aircrafts
– Max pp/s: 4800
• Digitally controlled output pulse shape
• Automatically provided ICAO performance checks at programmable
intervals
• The equipment is designed to be safe for the user. No dangerous
voltages except mains are used.
Current Situation of DME- KAIA
• DME 415 associated with
ILS 410 Glide Slope 412
• 100 W solid-state DME
• Operate in Approach

DME Antenna
Current Situation of DME- KAIA
• DME 435 associated with DVOR 432 DME Antenna
• 1 kW solid-state DME
• Operate in En-route
DME
BEACON COMPOSITION

DME 415 (same as DME 435)

Cabinet and PC, example of arrangement

It contains an RS232 connector for

interfacing with a computer / Laptop.
DME - COMPOSITION LCSU RF

DME 415/435 equipment divided IF

into five main modules:

TRx & Mon
• RF Path
• Interface System
• Transponder and Monitor
• Local I/O
PWS
• Power Supply
 DME - BEACON COMPOSITION
RF Path:
• Duplexer - DPX
• RF COAX Relay - KCX
• Dummy Load -100 W, 50 Ω
• External Filter Antenna KIT
 DME - BEACON COMPOSITION
Interface System
• Associated Facility Interface - AFI
• Dummy Interface - TAI
• Modem - MDM
 DME - BEACON COMPOSITION
Transponder and Monitor
• Power Supply (DC/DC converter; + 5V, ± 15V ) - PWS
• Monitor - MON
• Receiver - RX
• Digital Processor - DPR
• Digital Modulator - DMD
• Transmitter 100 Wp (also driver for DME 435) - TX 100
• Transmitter Amplifier 1kWp (only for DME 435) - TKW
DME COMPOSITION
Transponder and Monitor
• PWS
• MON
• RX
• DPR
• DMD
• TX 100
• TX Amp
 DME - BEACON COMPOSITION
Local I/O:
• Local Control Status Unit - (LCSU)
composed of:
• Control and Status Board - CSB
• Indication and Controls - INC
 DME - BEACON COMPOSITION
Power Supply:
• Battery Charger and Power Supply
– BCPS
• AC/DC 600W Module - AC-DC
• Terminal bar- 48Vdc
• Batteries supervisor only for BCPS
DME
Simplified
Diagram
 DME - Antenna
• The suggested antenna for the DME 415-435 DME
equipment is the omnidirectional DME antenna.
• This antenna is provided with two obstruction lights
which may be turned on and off during the day by an
automatic night switch.
• The antenna for the DME has vertical polarization
9-dB gain.
DME
Main
Status
End Of DME Lesson

Any question