FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1314.PDF
224 FLIGHT, 12 August 1960 IBM* SYSTEM SURVEY Fido Development PROGRESS towards the development of a modified form of Fidofog-dispersal system has been such that the MoA is planning a demonstration to airlines during next month. It is understoodthat the new Fido has been developed by MoA in conjunction with certain manufacturers and that it burns fuel oil withoutsmoke and requires no warm-up time. According to Parliamentary answers, other systems, including one employing an "electricalspray" and another using liquid propane, were either of marginal effectiveness or raised storage difficulties. The cost of installing the new Fido at London Airport would beabout £700,000 and operating expenses would be about £280 for a landing and £70 for a take-off. It remains to be seen whetherthe demand from the airlines is sufficient to warrant installation, but considerable interest has been shown in the US and France. Inertial Demonstration in Britain A NORDEN miniature all-attitude inertial platform was recentlydemonstrated by Ketay Ltd, a company of the Plessey Group, to senior RAF and RN officers and MoA officials. Norden is adivision of United Aircraft Corp in the US. The platform contains three Norden miniature integrating gyros and three precisionaccelerometers in a three-axis, four-gimbal configuration, and weighs less than 201b. It is said to give very accurate attitude,heading and acceleration information for aircraft or space vehicle applications and forms the basic unit of a system which canprovide stabilization and inertial navigation facilities. Doppler Inertial System for P3V-1 THE Lockheed P3V-1 anti-submarine aircraft is to have Dopplerinertial navigation equipment in which the inertial element is provided by the Electronic Equipment Division of LittonIndustries and the Doppler radar by Ryan Electronics. It is reported that the system is to be employed for both long- andshort-term flights and that the Doppler is of the AN/APN-122(V) type now being made by Ryan for land-, sea- and carrier-basedaircraft for attack, anti-submarine and airborne early warning roles as well as for helicopters. APN-122 can be combined withposition and course computers, inertial systems, bombing directors, terrain clearance radar, integrated flight systems, andautopilots. In helicopters it serves automatic hovering controls and has been ordered for Fleet Air Arm Wessex helicopters. Ryan now have orders worth $51m for the APN-122 and alsoproduce other types of Doppler. New Honeywell Scanners A RANGE of simple scanners bridging the gap between electronicstrip chart recorders and complex data-handling systems has been developed in Britain by Honeywell Controls Ltd. They will scanprocess variables at two or seven points per second and have, instead of a print-out system, only an alarm and an annunciaterpanel to indicate points scanned and points off-normal. Applicable to process industries where permanent records are not necessary. Ekco CE.178 CRDF equipment being tested in the new factory of Ekco Elec- tronics Ltd at Roch- ford, Essex the new scanners compare incoming voltage against pre-set alarmlevels and are produced in three main types, with optional facilities including flashing alarms, recycling, alternative input switches anda means of varying the number of inputs and set points. DME for Light Aircraft THE Bendix Corp has developed a new type of distance-measuringequipment and demonstrated it to the FAA and US Army Signal Corps Research and Development Laboratory. DesignatedNVA-203A, the device weighs 5.31b in prototype form and is housed in a short | ATR case. Operating in the normal VHFfrequency band, it forms an accessory to the normal communica- tions radio. Distance-measuring signals interrupt communicationsfor 0.5 sec. The range-measuring cycle is initiated by the interrogatorstation, which transmits a precise 750c/s tone through the com- munications radio. The signal is received at the responder station,which stores the tone by ringing a tuning fork in phase with the received 750c/s. A fraction of a second later this signal modulatesthe responder carrier. The transponder signal is received by the interrogator and its phase compared with that of the originaltransmission. The distance measured from the phase difference is displayed on a meter. The accessory unit contains the audio frequency circuitry andtiming and switching circuitry to store the tone and perform phase comparison. Periodic measurements may be automaticallymade or single measurement initiated by manual command. Later versions will have a selective calling device. NVA-203A respondersmight be installed at VOR beacons to provide light aircraft with range information, or they might be combined with markerbeacons to give range measurements during ILS approaches. DMET and Terminal Radar THE first purchase of Tacan-compatible DME has beenannounced by the FAA. A contract with International Telephone and Telegraph Co worth $856,000 covers 20 beacons and spareparts and it is stated that other agencies will be able to buy dual beacon units and aerials, without spares, for between $36,434 and$32,666, depending on the quantity involved. This offer is to stand for one year. Numbers of Vortac beacons are already installed inthe US for joint civil and military use. A new terminal radar called ASR-4 is to be supplied for 34major US airports by Texas Instruments Inc under an $11,000,000 contract. The ASR-4 has a range of 60 miles at up to 25,000ft andincorporates video mapping, MTI and devices to eliminate rain clutter. ASR-4s are already being installed at Newark, Orlandoand Little Rock and 48 other radars will be modified to bring them up to ASR-4 performance. Transponders for Business Aircraft BOTH the Hazeltine Technical Development Center, Indianapolis,and the Wilcox Electric Co, Kansas City, now have FAA contracts to develop cheap, lightweight radar transponders suitable for lightand executive aircraft. Experimental versions should be delivered for evaluation in about a year and the companies state that pro-duction versions would weigh about 141b and cost about $1,000. The FAA states that, without transponders, radar control involvestoo much radio traffic and manoeuvres on the part of the aircraft. Transponders are already obligatory in jet transports and are alsofitted in some other types. Precision gyros fce/ng assembled for the Ryan AN/APN-122(V) Doppler which is to be combined with an inertial system by Litton Industries for use in the Lockheed P3V-1 anti-submarine aircraft (see col II
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
