Textbook in PDF format

The objectives of this book are to impart knowledge about basic radio propagation theory, radio aids, radar, area navigation systems, global navigation satellite systems and performance-based navigation. In the beginning you will learn some basics about the general propagation and reception of radio waves. Subsequently a chapter on radio aids follows. This chapter deals with all kinds of navigation aids that are located on the ground, which you are going to use for navigating through airspace. They provide you with information about directions and distances. The next step covers radar. Radar is used by controllers to monitor and guide aircraft but it can also be used as an on-board system to circumnavigate severe weather. Another chapter refers to area navigation systems. Those systems are used for operations on any desired track within the coverage of station-referenced navigation signals or within the limits of a self-contained navigation system. The second-to-last chapter refers to global navigation satellite systems, commonly known as “GPS”, which also helps you to navigate through airspace, independent of any ground station. Since airspace is getting dense due to permanently-increasing air traffic, there is a high demand for using airspace efficiently. Therefore the last chapter deals with concepts and systems to improve and optimize airspace usage. In aviation language it is called performance-based navigation (PBN)