The purpose of this effort was to determine the performance characteristics of air traffic control radar beacon transponders in an operational environment in general aviation aircraft. A transponder performance analyzer (TPA) was developed at the Federal Aviation Administration Technical Center to measure performance parameters of transponders installed in aircraft. The TPA was installed in a bus for mobility and simulates an air traffic control beacon interrogator (ATCBI) to facilitate measurement of 15 transponder parameters in approximately 30 seconds. A standard gain horn antenna is utilized to couple the signals between the TPA bus and the aircraft. Transponder data were collected at six different geographic locations resulting in more than 690 samples of general aviation transponders. Results show that 42 percent of the transponders met all measured parameters. This is a slight improvement over the 1977/1978 data and is attributed to inclusion of data collected at general aviation airports in the Atlanta area. It is recommended that a study be conducted to determine the effects of transponder performance on the air traffic control systems (Automated Radar Terminal System (ARTS) and National Airspace System (NAS)) by individually varying each of the 15 parameters outside of their specification limits. (Author)
Summary of Transponder Data, May 1979 through November 1979
1981
29 pages
Report
No indication
English
NTIS | 1980
|NTRS | 1980
|Zahnradgetriebe 1979 - Tagung München 1979
TIBKAT | 1979
|Intasafcon 4, Brighton, England, November 1979
TIBKAT | 1979
|