Hyperbolic Navigation

Systems
Hyperbolic navigation
o HYPERBOLIC NAVIGATION IS A CLASS OF NAVIGATION SYSTEMS
BASED ON THE DIFFERENCE IN TIMING BETWEEN THE RECEPTION OF
TWO SIGNALS, WITHOUT REFERENCE TO A COMMON CLOCK. THIS
TIMING REVEALS THE DIFFERENCE IN DISTANCE FROM THE RECEIVER
TO THE TWO STATIONS.
o PLOTTING ALL OF THE POTENTIAL LOCATIONS OF THE RECEIVER FOR
THE MEASURED DELAY PRODUCES A SERIES OF HYPERBOLIC LINES
ON A CHART. TAKING TWO SUCH MEASUREMENTS AND LOOKING
FOR THE INTERSECTIONS OF THE HYPERBOLIC LINES REVEALS THE
RECEIVER'S LOCATION TO BE IN ONE OF TWO LOCATIONS.
Hyperbolic navigation
o The earliest known hyperbolic system was used during World
War I as an acoustic location system for locating enemy
artillery. The sound of a shell being fired was received by
several microphones, and the time of reception sent to a
computing center to plot the location.
o The first system to be used was the World War II-era Gee,
introduced by the Royal Air Force for use by RAF Bomber
Command. This was followed by the Decca Navigator System
in 1944 by the Royal Navy, along with LORAN by the US Navy
for long-range navigation at sea.
Gee System
Hyperbolic navigation
o Gee is a radio navigation system used by the Royal Air Force
during World War II. It measured the time delay between two
radio signals to produce a fix, with accuracy on the order of a
few hundred metres at ranges up to about 350 miles (560 km). It
was the first hyperbolic navigation system to be used
operationally, entering service with RAF Bomber Command in
1942.
Hyperbolic navigation
o Gee chains used an arrangement with one master and
(typically) three slaves. The signals from the master and either of
the two slaves would be active at any time, with the third
station and a chain monitor station providing backup and
signal quality measurements. The transmitters had a power
output of about 300 kW and operated in four frequency bands
between 20 and 85 MHz.
Hyperbolic navigation
GEE EQUIPMENT

Gee station components

Hyperbolic navigation
GEE EQUIPMENT

Close up of Gee Indictor

LORAN System
Hyperbolic navigation
o LORAN, or long range navigation, is a hyperbolic radio
navigation system developed in the United States during World
War II. It was similar to the Gee system but operated at lower
frequencies in order to provide an improved range up to 1,500
miles (2,400 km) with an accuracy of tens of miles. It was first
used for ship convoys crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and then by
long-range patrol aircraft, but found its main use on the ships
and aircraft operating in the Pacific theatre.
Hyperbolic navigation
o LORAN stations were built in chains, one master and two slaves
(minimally, some chains were constituted of as many as five
stations) typically separated by about 600 miles (970 km). Each
pair broadcast on one of four frequencies, 1.75, 1.85, 1.9 or 1.95
MHz (as well as the unused 7.5 MHz). In any given location it
was common to be able to receive more than three stations at
a time, so some other means of identifying the pairs was
needed. LORAN adopted the use of varying the pulse
repetition frequency (PRF) for this task, with each station
sending out a string of 40 pulses at either 33.3 or 25 pulses per
second.
Hyperbolic navigation
LORAN EQUIPMENT
Decca Navigation
System
Hyperbolic navigation
o The Decca Navigator System is a hyperbolic radio navigation
system which allowed ships and aircraft to determine their
position by receiving radio signals from fixed navigational
beacons. The system used phase comparison of two low
frequency signals between 70 and 129 kHz, as opposed to
pulse timing systems like Gee and LORAN. This made it much
easier to implement the receivers using 1940s electronics,
eliminating the need for a cathode ray tube.
Hyperbolic navigation
o The system was invented in the US, but development was
carried out by Decca in the UK. It was first deployed by the
Royal Navy during World War II when the Allied forces needed
a system which could be used to achieve accurate landings
and was not known to the Germans and thus free of jamming.
After the war, it was extensively developed around the UK and
later used in many areas around the world. Decca's primary use
was for ship navigation in coastal waters, offering much better
accuracy than the competing LORAN system.
Hyperbolic navigation
o The Decca Navigator System consisted of a number of land-
based radio beacons organised into chains. Each chain
consisted of a master station and three secondary stations,
termed Red, Green and Purple. Ideally, the secondaries would
be positioned at the vertices of an equilateral triangle with the
master at the centre. The baseline length, that is, the master-
secondary distance, was typically 60–120 nautical miles (110–
220 km).
Hyperbolic navigation
DECCA EQUIPMENT
Omega Navigation
System
Hyperbolic navigation
o OMEGA was the first global-range radio navigation system,
operated by the United States in cooperation with six partner
nations. It enabled ships and aircraft to determine their position
by receiving very low frequency (VLF) radio signals in the range
10 to 14 kHz, transmitted by a network of fixed terrestrial radio
beacons, using a receiver unit. It became operational around
1971 and was shut down in 1997 in favour of the Global
Positioning System.
Hyperbolic navigation
OMEGA EQUIPMENT

Omega receiver
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