Patent GB-675698-A (GB)
Title: Radio navigation system
IPC: G01S1/30
Filed: 1950-06-19
Abstract: 675,698. Radio navigation. SEISMOGRAPH SERVICE CORPORATION. June 19, 1950 [Jan. 12, 1950], No. 15320/50. Class 40 (vii). A radio navigation system includes a pair of spaced stations, a plurality of pairs of transmitters radiating signals of different frequencies, one of each pair being at each station, a plurality of heterodyning means respectively responsive to pairs of signals from said pairs of transmitters to produce beat frequency signals and other heterodyning means for producing at least one further beat frequency signal having a frequency representative of the beat frequency between the first beat frequency signals. The navigation systems described are of the type in which signals from two spaced stations are combined at a receiver and the combined signal compared in phase with a reference signal obtained by a similar combination of the transmitted signals at a fixed reference point, and then transmitted to the receiver. The hyperbolic position line system shown in Fig. 2 determines a position line through the receiver with varying degrees of accuracy and ambiguity. It comprises two stations 28 and 29, a link reference signal transmitter 30, and mobile receiver 31. Station 28 radiates, as shown, signals of 99.985 kc., 89,995 or 90.005 kc. and 98.990 kc., and station 29 signals of 100.015 kc., 90.005 or 89.995 kc. (whichever is not being radiated at that particular time by station 28), and 99.010 kc. At the unit 30 three receivers are provided, 32, 33, and 34, respectively, accepting the pairs of signals of 89.995 and 90.005 kc., 99.985 and 100.015 kc; and 98.990 and 99.010 kc. The output circuits of the receivers are fed to filter circuits 35, 36, 37, respectively, passing the beat frequencies of 10 c/s., 30 c/s., and 20 c/s. and the 10 and 30 c/s. signals mixed in mixer 38 and the 20 c/s beat frequency selected by filter 44. Likewise the 20 c/s. and 30 c/s. signals are mixed at 39 and the 10 c/s. beat frequency selected by filter 45. The reference signal transmitter 40 works on a frequency of 95 kc. and is modulated with the outputs of filters 44 and 45 and also the 30 c/s. signal from filter 36. The mobile receiver comprises units 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 58, 59, 53 and 54 which are equivalent to, and function in the same way as, units 32 to 39, 44 and 45 of the reference signal unit 30. There is thus available at the inputs of phase meters 60, 61 and 62 signals of 20 c/s., 30 c/s. and 10 c/s., the first and the last of which are beat frequencies of the beat frequencies of pairs of signals from the two stations and the intermediate one of which is the beat frequency of a further pair of signals. The mobile receiver also includes a 95 kc. receiver unit 49 receiving the modulated reference signal from transmitter 40. The audio output of unit 49 is separated by filters 55, 56 and 57 and the separated 20 c/s., 30 c/s. and 10 c/s. fed to the other inputs of phase meters 60, 61 and 62. Assuming station 28 is transmitting 89.995 kc. signals then for each pair of signals station 29 is transmitting that of higher frequency and the beat frequency signals available from filters 50, 51 and 52 have in each case a phase sensitivity dependent on the mean frequency of the radiated signal pair from which they are derived or approximately the frequencies to which the corresponding receivers are tuned, i.e. 90, 100 and 99 kc. The 20 c/s. signals fed to phasemeter 60 have a phase sensitivity dependent on the difference of the first two of these, that is 10 kc., and the 10 c/s. signals compared in phasemeter 62 a phase sensitivity dependent on the difference of the last two or 1 kc. Thus the indications given by meters 60, 61 and 62 are equivalent to those that would be obtained from 10 kc, 100 kc. and 1 kc. phase patterns between the stations 28 and 29 and determine the receiver position with 3 degrees of accuracy and ambiguity. A further degree may be obtained by interchanging the signals of 89.995 kc. and 90.005 kc. so that the higher of these is radiated from station 28. If this is done meter 60 will have a phase sensitivity equivalent to that of a 190 kc. pattern. A similar but simpler system to that of Fig. 2 is described in connection with with Fig. 1, wherein only 2 pairs of signals are radiated from the two stations and the craft indicator has only two degrees of phase sensitivity. To define the position of the receiver completely two intersecting patterns of position lines are necessary, requiring the use of at least three stations providing two pairs of phase measurements. One of these stations may be combined with the reference signal unit as in the transmission system shown in Fig. 5. In this system stations 116 and 117 each radiate 3 signals, one from each station being accepted by receiver 122 and the others by receiver 123 at station and reference unit 118. Unit 118 in its role of third station radiates two signals from transmitters 118a and 118b which are received respectively by the receivers 122 and 123, and transmitter 118b is modulated by the reference signals. Two beat frequencies (of 100 c/s. and 175 c/s.) are derived from the outputs of receiver 122, one associated with a pair of transmitters at stations 117 and 118 and the other with a pair of stations 116 and 118. These beat frequencies are mixed with beat frequencies of 70 c/s. and 145 c/s., and 105 c/s. and 275 c/s. derived from signals from the same pairs of stations in receiver 123. The difference of the beat frequencies is selected by filters 130, 131, 132 and 133 and frequency multiplied at 138 before being used to provide the reference signal modulation of transmitter 118b. The frequency multiplication is essential to avoid confusion with the beat frequency signal themselves. At the receiver, Fig. 6 (not shown), all the beat frequency signals are multiplied by the same factor as used in multiplier 138 and mixed in pairs in the same way as in the reference signal unit to provide four beat frequencies of the beat frequencies for comparison with the reference signals derived by detection and filtering of the 90 kc. signal. There are thus four phase meter indications giving coarse and fine indications with respect to patterns between each of the two pairs of stations. If a separate reference signal unit apart from the third station is used and the reference signals modulated on a separate carrier frequency multiplication is not required, Figs. 3 and 4 (not shown). A similar system, Figs. 7 and 8 (not shown), is described with a separate reference transmitter and two transmitters at each of two stations and three at the third which is common to each pair. It is pointed out that distortion of the hyperbolic lattice lines will occur due to phasing differences in the reference signal as the receiver moves towards or away from the reference signal transmitters. Although this will not be great, owing to the long wavelengths at the reference frequencies used, for the comparison of signals of frequencies of the order of 100 kc. for the coarser pattern frequencies it cannot be neglected. Modified lattices compensated for the effect can be drawn on the charts but as the degree of distortion is usually different for patterns of differing degrees of accuracy the relative errors measured by phasemeters determining position lines with respect to the same stations with different ambiguities will not be the same and confusion due to skew intersecting lines may result. To avoid this the degree of apparent distortion may be made the same for coarse and fine patterns by selecting the radiated frequencies so that ratio of the reference signal frequency for the difference hyperbolas to the reference signal frequency of the sum hyperbolas is the same as the ratio of the average difference position signal frequency for the difference hyperbolas to the average sum position signal frequency for the sum hyperbolas. Specification 452,235 is referred to.