§171.313. Azimuth performance requirements. — Inbound Citations

(1) A description of the facility and evidence that the equipment meets the performance requirements of §§ 171.309, 171.311, 171.313, 171.315, 171.317, 171.319, and 171.321 and is fabricated and installed in accordance with § 171.323.

(1) The performance of the MLS facility, as determined by flight and ground inspection conducted by the FAA, must meet the requirements of §§ 171.309, 171.311, 171.313, 171.315, 171.317, 171.319, and 171.321.

(2) A wider proportional guidance sector which exceeds the minimum specified in §§ 171.313 and 171.317.

(2) The timing of the angle transmissions must be in accordance with Tables 4a, 4b, and 5. The actual timing of the TO and FRO scans must be as required to meet the accuracy requirements of §§ 171.313 and 171.317.

(i) Must be in accordance with requirements of § 171.311(i)(1).

(ii) In all azimuth formats, sector signals must be transmitted to provide Morse Code identification, airborne antenna selection, and system test signals. These signals are not required in the elevation formats. In addition, if the signal from an installed ground component results in a valid indication in an area where no valid guidance should exist, OCI signals must be radiated as provided for in the signal format (see Tables 4a, 4b, and 5). The sector signals are defined as follows:

(A) DPSK transmissions that will permit Morse Code facility identification in the aircraft by a four letter code starting with the letter “M” must be included in all azimuth functions. They must be transmitted and repeated at approximately equal intervals, not less than six times per minute, during which time the ground subsystem is available for operational use. When the transmissions of the ground subsystem are not available, the identification signal must be suppressed. The audible tone in the aircraft is started by setting the Morse Code bit to logic “1” and stopped by a logic “0” (see Tables 4a and 4b). The identification code characteristics must conform to the following: the dot must be between 0.13 and 0.16 second in duration, and the dash between 0.39 and 0.48 second. The duration between dots and/or dashes must be one dot plus or minus 10%. The duration between characters (letters) must not be less than three dots. When back azimuth is provided, the code shall be transmitted by the approach azimuth and back azimuth within plus or minus 0.08 seconds.

(B) A signal for airborne antenna selection shall be transmitted as a “zero” DPSK signal lasting for a six-bit period (see Tables 4a and 4b).

(C) Where OCI pulses are used, they must be: (1) greater than any guidance signal in the OCI sector; (2) at least 5 dB less than the level of the scanning beam within the proportional guidance sector; and (3) for azimuth functions with clearance signals, at least 5 dB less than the level of the left (right) clearance pulses within the left (right) clearance sector.

The duration of each pulse measured at the half amplitude point shall be at least 100 microseconds, and the rise and fall times shall be less then 10 microseconds. It shall be permissible to sequentially transmit two pulses in each out-of-coverage indication time slot. Where pulse pairs are used, the duration of each pulse shall be at least 50 microseconds, and the rise and fall times shall be less then 10 microseconds. The transmission of out-of-coverage indication pulses radiated from antennas with overlapping coverage patterns shall be separated by at least 10 microseconds.

(D) Time slots are provided in Tables 4a and 4b to allow radiation of TO and FRO test pulses. However, radiation of these pulses is not required since the characteristics of these pulses have not yet been standardized.

(iii) The encoding must be as follows:

(A) Azimuth and elevation angles are encoded by scanning a narrow beam between the limits of the proportional coverage sector first in one direction (the TO scan) and then in the opposite direction (the FRO scan). Angular information must be encoded by the amount of time separation between the beam centers of the TO and FRO scanning beam pulses. The TO and FRO transmissions must be symmetrically disposed about the midscan point listed in Tables 4a, 4b, 5, and 7. The midscan point and the center of the time interval between the TO and FRO scan transmissions must coincide with a tolerance of ±10 microseconds. Angular coding must be linear with angle and properly decoded using the formula:

(B) Each guidance angle transmitted must consist of a clockwise TO scan followed by a counterclockwise FRO scan as viewed from above the antenna. For approach azimuth functions, increasing angle values must be in the direction of the TO scan; for the back azimuth function, increasing angle values must be in the direction of the FRO scan. The antenna has a narrow beam in the plane of the scan direction and a broad beam in the orthogonal plane which fills the vertical coverage.

(C) The radiation from elevation equipment must produce a beam which scans from the horizon up to the highest elevation angle and then scans back down to the horizon. The antenna has a narrow beam in the plane of the scan direction and a broad beam in the orthogonal plane which fills the horizontal coverage. Elevation angles are defined from the horizontal plane containing the antenna phase center; positive angles are above the horizontal and zero angle is along the horizontal.

(iv) The timing of the clearance pulses must be in accordance with Figure 8. For azimuth elements with proportional coverage of less than ±40 degrees (±20 degrees for back azimuth), clearance guidance information must be provided by transmitting pulses in a TO and FRO format adjacent to the stop/start times of the scanning beam signal. The fly-right clearance pulses must represent positive angles and the fly-left clearance pulses must represent negative angles. The duration of each clearance pulse must be 50 microseconds with a tolerance of ±5 microseconds. The transmitter switching time between the clearance pulses and the scanning beam transmissions must not exceed 10 microseconds. The rise time at the edge of each clearance pulse must be less than 10 microseconds. Within the fly-right clearance guidance section, the fly-right clearance guidance signal shall exceed scanning beam antenna sidelobes and other guidance and OCI signals by at least 5 dB; within the fly-left clearance guidance sector, the fly left clearance guidance signal shall exceed scanning beam antenna sidelobes and all other guidance and OCI signals by at least 5 dB; within the proportional guidance sector, the clearance guidance signals shall be at least 5dB below the proportional guidance signal. Optionally, clearance guidance may be provided by scanning throughout the approach guidance sector. For angles outside the approach azimuth proportional coverage limits as set in Basic Data Word One (Basic Data Word 5 for back azimuth), proper decode and display of clearance guidance must occur to the limits of the guidance region. Where used, clearance pulses shall be transmitted adjacent to the scanning beam signals at the edges of proportional coverage as shown in Figure 8. The proportional coverage boundary shall be established at one beamwidth inside the scan start/stop angles, such that the transition between scanning beam and clearance signals occurs outside the proportional coverage sector. When clearance pulses are provided in conjunction with a narrow beamwidth (e.g., one degree) scanning antenna, the scanning beam antenna shall radiate for 15 microseconds while stationary at the scan start/stop angles.

(3) There is a reduction in the radiated power to a level not less than that specified in §§ 171.313(a)(4) or 171.313(g)(4) for a period of more than one second.

(a) The MLS facility must be permanent and must be located, constructed, and installed in accordance with best commercial engineering practices, using applicable electric and safety codes and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licensing requirements and siting requirements of §§ 171.313(b) and 171.317(b).

(j) The requirements specified in § 171.313(e) apply except that the reference point is the back azimuth reference datum.

(1) There is a change in the ground equipment contribution to the mean course error component such that the path following error at the reference datum or in the direction of any azimuth radial, exceeds the limits specified in §§ 171.313(e)(1) or 171.313(j) for a period of more than one second.

(k) The requirements specified in § 171.313(f) apply.

(3) There is a reduction in the radiated power to a level not less than that specified in §§ 171.313(a)(4) or 171.313(g)(4) for a period of more than one second.

(1) There is a change in the ground equipment contribution to the mean course error component such that the path following error at the reference datum or in the direction of any azimuth radial, exceeds the limits specified in §§ 171.313(e)(1) or 171.313(j) for a period of more than one second.