CHAPTER III
LORAN C
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
LORAN C is a long range hyperbolic system of position fixing which
measures the time difference between the beginning of master and
beginning of secondary pulses as shown in figure 1.
IMG
Figure 1
Time difference measurement between master and secondary pulse
This system comprises of chains and each chain comprises of one master
(M) and usually two to four secondary stations called W, X, Y and Z. Each
station transmits a group of eight pulses on a carrier frequency of 100 kHz
at a specified group repetition interval (GRI) as shown in figure 2. The
duration of each pulse is of 250 µs and the interval between two
consecutive pulses is 1000 µs. The master station always transmits nine
pulses, so that the receiver can easily distinguish between the master and
secondary pulse. The interval between eighth and ninth pulse is 2000 µs.
The secondary stations always transmit in sequence after the
transmission from the master with pre-determined delay so that they are
received in the same sequence throughout the coverage area. All the
secondary stations maintain precise time delay with respect to master
station, which is achieved by atomic clocks.
IMG
Figure 2
Transmission sequence of Loran C
TDW, TDX and TDY represent the time difference measurement between master
and secondary stations W, X and Y respectively.
Transmission from stations are continuously monitored by System Area
Monitor (SAM) and any malfunction in the chain is indicated by the
secondary blink i.e. first two pulses of the affected secondary station are
switched on and off according to specified code. The secondary stations
do not blink when the master station is malfunctioning. The ground wave
coverage is ranging from 800 to 1200 nautical miles depending upon
transmitter power and attenuation over the signal path.
PRINCIPLE
In figure 3, assuming that the master station and secondary station W are
placed 324 nautical mile apart (corresponding to 2000 µs approximately)
and these stations are transmitting their pulses simultaneously. These
pulses will be received at the same time by the receiver onboard at P on
the centre line as the distance from P to these two stations will be same
hence the time difference measured is 0 µs. The time difference measured
on either side of the base line extensions will be maximum i.e. 2000 µs
because the signal from either of the stations will take 2000 µs to travel to
the other station. As the ship moves toward the secondary station W from
point P, the distance from master to ship increases while that to
secondary decreases hence the pulses will not be received
simultaneously, resulting in a time difference measured between the
arrival of master and secondary pulses. This time difference measured will
keep increasing as the ship is moving towards the secondary. Assuming
the time difference measured at point Q is 100 µs then a hyperbola can be
drawn on the base line where at any point on this hyperbola the time
difference measured is 100 µs. Similarly, a number of hyperbolae can be
drawn on the base line as shown in the figure 3 where time difference
measured towards secondary station will keep increasing.
IMG
Figure 3
Simultaneous transmission
Note: The velocity of radio waves = 300 × 10⁶ meters/sec
= 300 meters/µ sec
In 2,000 µ secs, the radio wave travels 2,000 × 300 = 600,000 meters
= 324 nautical mile.
Consider the ship on the centre line and moving towards the master, in
this case also the time difference measured between reception of master
and secondary signals will keep on increasing. When the time difference
measured reaches 100 µs, another hyperbola R can be drawn where again
at any point on this hyperbola the time difference measured is 100 µs.
Similarly a number of hyperbolae can be drawn with increasing time
difference towards master.
Suppose a time difference of 400 µs is calculated by the receiver, the ship
could be on the lattice S or T and the position of the ship could be easily
determined as these two lattices are far apart as shown in figure 3.
However, if the time difference measured is small i.e. less than 100 µs,
the ship could be between lattice Q and R i.e. close to and on either side
of the centre line causing ambiguity.
This ambiguity can be resolved by staggering the transmission of the
secondary and allowing it to transmit its pulses as soon as the signal from
master is received. The time difference measured at any point on
secondary's base line extension will be 0 µs because the two pulses will
be received at the same time, whereas the time difference measured on
the master's base line extension will be maximum i.e. 4000 µs. Time
difference at any point on the center line is 2000 µs. If a ship is placed on
the base line near to the secondary, the time difference measured will be
minimum and as the ship moves towards the master, the time difference
measured will keep increasing till the ship reaches near to the master
station. The time difference measured at point Q on the hyperbola will be
less than that at point R, the latter being closer to the master, and hence
the ambiguity is resolved.
IMG
Figure 4
Staggered transmission
However with this arrangement, another difficulty arises near to the
secondary station i.e. the time difference upto one pulse length can not be
measured because before the pulses from the master is completely
received, the pulses from secondary will start arriving at the receiver at
point A as shown in figure 5.
The pulses from these two stations will overlap and it becomes very
difficult to separate them in order to measure the time difference.
IMG
Figure 5
Signals of master and secondary stations overlap at A
This difficulty is overcome by delaying the transmission of the secondary
for a short period after it receives the signals of the master. This delay in
transmission from the secondary is known as Coding Delay. The coding
delay ensures that the pulses from the master will always be received first
throughout the coverage area and each secondary is assigned with the
coding delay.
The hyperbolae between master station and secondary station W are
drawn on the Loran C charts taking into account the coding delay of the
secondary station W.
IMG
Figure 6
Staggered transmission with coding delay of 11,000 µ sec.
Similarly hyperbolae are also drawn on the Loran C charts between master
and other secondary stations with the respective coding delay
incorporated.
Assuming the coding delay of the secondary stations W and X for a given
chain to be 11,000 µs and 24,000 µs respectively then the hyperbolae
printed on the Loran C charts will be as shown in figures 6 and 7.
IMG
Figure 7
Staggered transmission with coding delay of 24,000 µ sec
For master & secondary station Y and master & secondary station Z pairs,
assuming the coding delay to be 35,000 µs and 47,000 µs respectively,
the student may himself draw the hyperbolae.
GROUP REPETITION INTERVAL (GRI)
In this system, each station transmits a group of 8 pulses on a carrier
frequency of 100 kHz and to prevent the interference between the chains,
each station transmits their pulses at a specified interval as shown in
figure 8. The group repetition interval is the total time between the
beginning of master pulse of one sequence and the beginning of the
master pulse of the next sequence. Each chain has a different GRI value
and should have sufficient time to contain the master and secondary
pulses.
IMG
Figure 8
Group Repetition Interval
The minimum GRI is therefore a direct function of number of stations and
distance between them along with the coding delay. The chains are
identified by its GRI value divided by 10 i.e. 7950 would define a chain
having GRI value of 79,500 µs. To acquire the Loran C signals, the GRI
value of the Loran C chain of that area must be selected. All charts and
other publications are recognized by its GRI value.
ELIMINATION OF SKY-WAVE
In this system, the signals are received through ground wave and sky
wave together. Due to simultaneous reception, the shape of the pulse is
distorted and the accuracy of the fix will be affected. This can be avoided
by the fact that sky wave signal is always received later than the ground
wave. The difference in time of arrival between ground wave and sky
wave decreases as the distance from transmitter to receiver increases as
shown in figure 9 but it is not less than 30 µs anywhere in the ground
wave coverage area. The duration of the Loran C pulse is of 250 µs where
the first 30 µs of ground wave pulse is always free from sky wave
interference. Hence, to avoid sky wave interference, the Loran C uses the
first 30 µs of the ground wave pulse to measure the time difference.
Figure 9
Difference in time of arrival between ground wave and sky wave is more at A
than at B
TIME DIFFERENCE MEASUREMENT
The time difference measurement is carried out by the following methods
➢ Automatic Pulse Envelope Matching and
➢ Automatic cycle Matching or 3rd cycle Matching.
AUTOMATIC PULSE ENVELOPE MATCHING
The pulse envelope matching measures the time difference between the
beginning of the master and beginning of the secondary pulses as shown
in figure 10. It gives the time difference in tens of thousand, thousand,
hundred and tens of micro-seconds. This is also known as coarse
matching.
The pulses received from the master are passed through the different
stages of the receiver and finally given to variable delay unit (VDU). This
unit is necessary because the pulses from master are always received first
through out the coverage area.
IMG
Figure 10
Time difference is measured between the beginning of each master pulse and
beginning of each secondary pulse respectively
When the pulses from the secondary stations are received, the beginning
of the delayed master pulses are made to coincide with the beginning of
the incoming secondary pulses using a fly-wheel oscillator circuit and the
time difference is measured automatically. This time difference measured
is indicated in a digital read out along with the fine time difference
measured by automatic cycle matching.
AUTOMATIC CYCLE MATCHING OR 3rd CYCLE MATCHING
There are different methods by which cycle matching can be achieved. It
gives the time difference in unit and tenth of unit and is termed as fine
matching.
In one of the method, the receiver selects a reference point on the master
and secondary pulses, which is usually 30 µs after the start of the pulse or
3rd cycle of the 100 kHz carrier frequency. This point is chosen because
the amplitude of the 1st cycle is weak and although the amplitude of 7th
cycle is maximum, but there is a possibility of sky wave interference in the
latter. The 3rd cycle has reasonable amplitude and is always free from sky
wave interference.
The received pulses from the master is amplified which is shown as osc1
in figure 11 and 12. These pulses are further amplified 1.35 times and
delayed by 5 µs which is shown as osc2. These two are algebraically
added and osc3 is obtained, which has well-defined minima. This minima
is used as sampling point P in figure 12 and it occurs exactly at 30 µs from
the start of the pulse.
Figure 11
Block diagram showing how the sampling point is achieved
Similarly the minima is obtained on the secondary pulses and with the
help of fly wheel oscillator circuit the time difference measurement is
carried out between the minima of the master and that of the secondary.
This time difference along with the time difference measured by the
automatic pulse envelope matching will give total time difference between
the master and secondary pulses.
IMG
Figure 12
The amplified pulse is shown as osc1. This is multiplied by 1.35 and delayed by 5
µ secs gives osc2. Algebraic sum of osc1 and osc2 gives osc3 which has a well
defined minima (P) at 30 µ secs.
NOTE
To obtain the sampling point at exactly 30 µs the amplitude of oscillation 1
which is given by the formula t² e⁻²ᵗ/⁶⁵ is multiplied by 1.35 and delayed
by 5 µs to get oscillation 2. These two are algebraically added and
oscillation 3 is obtained. This is shown in table below at intervals of 5µs.
We can see that the amplitude of oscillation 3 is initially increasing and
then starts decreasing and if the other parameters are fed to the
equation, the sampling point is obtained exactly at 30 µ s.
Table indicating amplitude of oscillation at interval of 5 µs
time in µs oscillation oscillation oscillation
1 2 3
0 0 0 0
5 21.435 0 21.435
10 73.514 28.935 44.579
15 141.820 99.244 42.576
20 216.173 191.457 24.929
25 289.606 291.834 02.234
30 357.565 390.968 –
7th CYCLE MATCHING
The signal strength of the ground wave decreases as the distance from
transmitter to receiver increases and if the signal strength becomes very
weak, the receiver cannot measure the time difference using 3rd cycle
matching. This will cause signal lamp to start blinking which gives a
warning to the navigator that the amplitude of the 3rd cycle is very weak
and the navigator should select extended range mode. In this mode the
receiver now selects the 7th cycle automatically for measuring the time
difference since the amplitude of 7th cycle is maximum. In this mode the
range will be extended but the accuracy will be reduced.
PHASE CODING
In this system, the signal is received through ground wave and sky wave
together. The sky wave signal is received as early as 30 µs and as late as
1000 µs after the ground wave signals. The delayed sky wave signals will
overlap the succeeding ground wave signal, which will cause distortion in
the received signal and the accuracy will be affected. Hence the phase of
each pulse of the 100 kHz is changed with a pre-determined sign as
shown in the following table.
Master Secondary Secondary Secondary
W X Y
Cycle +−+−+ +−++− +−+−+ ++−++
1 +++ +−− +−− +−−
Cycle ++−−+ ++++− ++++− +++++
2 −+− −−− −+− −−−
The negative sign in the table stands for a pulse, which is 180° out of
phase with normal pulse. The master station has a different code from the
secondary stations.
and all the secondary stations have the same code. These codes are same
in all the chains through out the world. The transmission sequence
consists of cycle 1 and cycle 2 and the sequence is repeated alternatively.
The phase coding is basically used for initial locking of Loran C receiver
and for identification of master and secondary signals.
NOTCH FILTER
It is basically used to suppress the interference close to 100 kHz
frequency. The procedure usually involves some form of tuning dial
ranging from 70 kHz to 130 kHz, a signal strength meter and generally
two notch filters. The tuning dial is rotated between 70 kHz and 90 kHz to
get the maximum deflection on the meter and one of the notch filters is
used to dip the meter reading. This procedure is repeated for frequencies
from 110 kHz to 130 kHz and by using another notch filter, the
interference is suppressed. The suppression should not be carried out
from 90 kHz to 110 kHz because the shape of the pulse is such that 99%
of the radiated energy is contained between the frequency of 90 kHz and
110 kHz. The interference should be checked periodically and notch filters
should be adjusted accordingly.
ERRORS
➢ Ground wave propagation error
The lines of position printed on Loran C charts for each master and
secondary station pairs are based on the velocity of the radio waves being
constant. In fact, the velocity of the radio waves vary depending on the
conductivity of the medium through which it passes. Thus if an island or a
patch of land falls in the path of radio signals, an error will result in
measured time. This error is not taken into consideration while plotting the
lattice lines in the Loran C charts. This error is also known as Additional
Secondary Phase Factor. The correction for this error for each chain and
for each pair can be obtained from Loran C tables, which is always in
microseconds with the respective sign. In certain areas the ASF
corrections are already incorporated while plotting the lattice and in such
areas no separate ASF correction is required. This will be indicated on the
charts when included. If this correction is not incorporated, it has to be
calculated algebraically to the reading obtained from the receiver before
plotting the LOPs.
For example, at 1400 hrs, in DR Latitude 48° 24' N and Longitude 056° 23'
E, the Loran C reading and correction from ASF tables is as follows
7930–X TG 16468.5 µs 7930–
Z TG 56236.8 µs
correction − 16.6 µs
+ 12.4 µs
corrected LOPs 16451.9 µs
56249.2 µs
The corrected LOPs has to be plotted on the chart is as above.
➢ Sky wave error
Sky wave corrections are necessary when the signals of master and
secondary are both received through sky waves or one of them is through
sky wave while the other through ground wave. These corrections are also
available in Loran C tables and there are separate corrections for the two.
When both signals are through sky wave the correction is marked TS. If
the signals from master are through sky wave while that secondary is
through ground wave, the correction will be printed as TSG and will be
positive, while if the signal from master is through ground wave and that
of secondary through sky wave, the correction being printed as TGS and
will be negative. These corrections are necessary because the LOPs
printed on the charts are based on ground wave propagation velocity
being constant.
For example, at 2200 in DR Latitude 46° 45′ N Longitude 056° 15′ W the
Loran C reading obtained is as follows
7930–X Tₛ 28468.60 7930–Z Tsg 56284.40
The sky wave reading must be corrected to the equivalent ground wave
reading and these corrections are taken from the attached Loran C tables
–
7930 – X TS 28468.60 µs 7930 – Z TSG 56284.40
µs
correction + 3.05 µs +
57.00 µs
corrected LOPs 28471.65 µs
56341.40 µs
The corrected LOPs to be plotted is as above.
➢ Lattice error
In the outer fringe of the Loran C coverage the angle of cut between the
two LOPs of the same chain is small and the fix obtained will not be
accurate. This error is common to all the hyperbolic position fixing system.
Unlike the Decca system, there is no method of interchain fixing.
➢ Synchronization error
The secondary stations are perfectly time synchronized with master
station so that they have a precise time interval between them which is
achieved by providing atomic clock to each station. Any discrepancy in
this will cause an error and if it exceeds ± 0.2 µs, it is indicated by the
secondary blink.
➢ Envelope to cycle discrepancy
In order to measure the accurate time difference, the shape of the pulse
should not be distorted. When passing through different media, there is a
possibility that the shape of the pulse may get distorted and thereby the
accuracy is affected.
➢ Receiver error
Under severe noise conditions if the receiver selects a wrong cycle,
instead of the 3ʳᵈ cycle the time difference measurement will be in error.
POSITION FIXING
The measured time difference between master and secondary stations is
indicated on a digital read out and is referred to as line of position (LOPs).
To fix the position of the ship minimum two LOPs are required and this is
obtained by using same master but another secondary station. This
reading will also be displayed on the digital read out. On the basis of angle
of cut, the most suitable LOPs are chosen for fixing the position. Before
plotting the LOPs, the required correction obtained from Loran C table
must be applied. The corrected LOPs for chain 7930 are as follow
7930-X 28471.65 µs 7930-Z 56341.40 µs
7930-X, 28471.65 µs and 7930-Z, 56341.40 µs indicate the time
difference measured between master & secondary stations X and master
& secondary stations Z respectively for chain 7930.
IMG
Figure 13
Position of the ship plotted with Loran-C readings obtained from Master –
Secondary X and Master- Secondary Z of chain 7930.
The point of intersection of these two LOPs i.e. 28471.65 µs and 56341.40
µs is at point P on the chart as shown in figure 13, which gives ship's
position.
IMG
IMG