Instrument Landing System (ILS)

Siddharth Saxena
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Northern India Engineering College, New Delhi, India
siddharth.saxena25@gmail.com

Abstract This paper is a part of my summer internship
program with the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The
Instrument Landing System or ILS is a navigational aid to the
pilot that helps him land an aircraft safely on the runway during
times of low visibility. The aim of this paper is to provide a
detailed overview and analysis of working of the Instrument
Landing System and its components Localizer, Glide scope,
Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) and Markers.
Keywords course deviation indicator, distance measuring
equipment, glide path, glide scope, ILS categories, instrument
landing system, localizer, localizer constraints, markers,
reciprocal ILS, runway orientations, space modulation
the wind flows in cross direction to the runway. Also, it is
easier for the aircraft to land if the wind flows against it; and
similarly it is easier to take-off if the wind flows with the
aircraft. Therefore, runways are built keeping into
consideration the direction of the wind.
In India, since the wind direction is from west to east for
major part of the year, the runways in our country will mostly
be either 27/09 or 28/10 or 29/11.
0

I. INTRODUCTION 270 90

N AVIGATIONAL Aids or NAV AIDS refer to the

methods and techniques used by airports around the
world that help the pilot to navigate or guide an aircraft, 180
290
with or without the help of electronic devices.
The NAVAIDS can be broadly classified into 4 parts namely
Runway
29/11
1) Instrument Landing System (ILS);
2) Doppler VHF Omni Radio Ranging (DVOR);
3) Distance Measuring Equipment (DME). 110

II. RUNWAY ORIENTATIONS 280 Runway

28/10

In aviation terminology, the basic navigational directions,

i.e. north, south, east and west are divided into a 360 100
Cartesian plane as shown above. The 0 hand represents the
north direction whereas the 180 hand represents the south
direction. Similarly, the 90 hand represents the east direction,
and the 270 hand west direction. So, an airstrip running from Runway
west to east will be called as runway 27/09 (because west = 27/09
270 90
270 and east = 90, 27/09), between 280 and 100 as
runway 28/10, between 290 and 100 as runway 29/11 and so
on.
Fig. 1. Runway orientations at IGI Airport.
The orientations of runways are determined according to the
wind pattern of the country. Aircrafts cannot land or take-off if

Copyright 2016 by Siddharth Saxena. Page 1

 III. INSTRUMENT LANDING S YSTEM (ILS) A. Categories of ILS

The Instrument Landing System or ILS is an electronic By ICAO guidelines, ILS equipments are divided into 3
system that provides both horizontal and vertical guidance to a categories on the basis of equipment efficiency that supports
specific runway, used to execute a precision instrument landing/approach operations.
approach procedure. The ILS system provides both course and
altitude guidance to a specific runway. TABLE I
CATEGORIES OF ILS
The main purpose of using ILS is to guide the aircraft to the Category
Runway Visual Range
Decision Height (DH)
centre line of the runway, and provide the touch-down point (RVR)
on the runway at a specific descent angle for smooth landing CAT I < 550 m DH > 60 m
even at times of low visibility. CAT II < 350 m 30 m < DH < 60 m
CAT IIIa < 200 m 15 m < DH < 30 m
ILS consists of 4 parts namely CAT IIIb < 50 m DH < 15 m
CAT IIIc No RVR limitation No DH limitation
1) Localizer (LLZ);
2) Glide Path (GP);
3) Distance Measuring Equipment (DME); and
4) Outer Marker, Middle Marker and Inner Marker Runway Visual Range or RVR refers to the distance over
(OM, MM, IM). which runway markings such as centre line etc. are visible to
the pilot. [1]

Decision Height or DH is defined by ICAO as a specified

altitude or height (A/H) in the precision approach at which a
missed approach must be initiated if the required visual
reference to continue the approach has not been established."[2]

Runways 28, 29 and 11 have CAT IIIb ILSs whereas runways

27, 10 and 09 have CAT I ILSs at the IGI airport.

It must be noted that specialized training and authorization for

pilots as well as maintenance of aircrafts is required to meet
the stringent criteria to fly on CAT III systems.

B. Reciprocal ILS

Reciprocal ILS is a scenario where two ILS equipments are

Fig. 2. ILS components localizer, glide path antennae and markers installed installed on the same runway. Such a runway is also known as
with appropriate distances from the runway. The localizer antenna provides an Interlock Runway. ICAO stipulates that only one ILS be
the vertical azimuth whereas the glide path provide horizontal azimuth to the switched on at a time in case of an interlock runway. All the
aircraft on approach towards the runway. Source: Google runways at IGI airport are interlock runways.

IV. LOCALIZER
TD Centre Line
The Localizer is an antenna array that helps the pilot
detects the centre-line of the runway. It is installed at about
1000 2000 feet on the extended centre line from the stop-
end of the runway to prevent it from being a collision hazard.
It provides azimuth guidance to an aircraft while approaching
Threshold of Runway Stop-end of Runway LLZ for landing. The azimuth guidance is in terms of offset
towards left or right of the extended centre line. The localizer
frequency of operation ranges from 108 112 MHz (VHF
Frequency Band). The range of localizer signal is 25 NM from
DME GP
the antenna to an altitude of 4500 feet above the elevation of
antenna site.
Fig. 3. Runway markings along with ILS components Localizer, Glide
Path and DME.

Copyright 2016 by Siddharth Saxena. Page 2


Fig. 4. Localizer array and equipment hut. Source: Google
Antenna arrays are generally used because the centre-line is a
relatively very thin line, therefore a high gain, high directivity
antenna is required to correctly ascertain the centre-line. If the
terrain conditions are mountainous then more antenna are
required to be connected to the array to improve gain and
directivity and also nullify the effect of these high obstacles.
Typically, the number of antenna connected range from 14
20 and are horizontally polarized. The antenna used is a log
period dipole antenna (LPDA) (Refer to Appendix I).
Fig. 5. 16 element localizer antenna array at Melbourne Airport, Australia.
Source: Google
A. Localizer Coverage
Fig. 6. Localizer Coverage Course and Coverage region. Source: Google
The coverage region of localizer array is divided into 2
parts, i.e. course coverage and clearance coverage. The area
that extends from the localizer array upto 10 NM at an angle
of 10 is called as course coverage, and the area that extends
Copyright 2016 by Siddharth Saxena.
from localizer array upto 18 NM at an angle of 35 is called as
clearance coverage. The purpose of using a localizer is to
provide azimuth guidance towards the centre line to aircrafts
from both the course and clearance coverage ranges.
Fig. 7. Course coverage of Localizer. Illustration by Komal Ahuja.
The clearance coverage is provided using 3 methods
1) In-Phase Clearance Same frequency and phase as
that of course is provided;
2) Two Frequency Clearance Clearance signal is
displaced about 10 kHz frequency from that of
course; and
3) Quadrature Clearance Same frequency as that of
course is provided but at an audio and RF phase from
the course.
Clearance radiation also covers side lobes of the course
responsible for false guidance.
B. Operation
The Localizer consists of an audio card that generates 2
frequencies, 90Hz and 150Hz. Another card, called the
synthesizer card generates the carrier signal in the localizer
range. A modulator card then modulates both of these signals
via Space Modulation (SM) and then transmits them. The
modulator used is a modulating power amplifier.
DDM Difference in Depth of Modulation
SDM Sum of Depth of Modulation
Using the Amplitude Modulation equation, two signals CSB
and SBO are generated.
m
P =P + (Side bands)
2
where, ma = Modulating Factor
E
m =
E
where, Em is the maximum amplitude of message signal; and
Ec is the maximum amplitude of carrier signal.
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ma = 0.2 (ICAO standard)
ma = 20%
SDM = 40% (ICAO standard)
150 150
90 90
c(t)
Fig. 8. Carrier with Side Band (CSB) signal.
150 150
90 90
Fig. 9. Side Band Only (SBO) signal.
These CSB and SBO signals are then used to calculate the
position of centre-line by the aircraft receiver.
Consider situation I, where the aircraft flies directly in the
centre of the runway. The aircraft receiver receives a signal
CSB from the antenna array B. Also, it receives a signal
SBO and + SBO from the antenna array A and C respectively.
Receiver = CSB SBO + SBO; and
DDM = 0.
Note: if DDM = 0, then it means that the aircraft is perfectly
aligned with the runway and flying directly in front of the
centre line.
This leads to mutual cancellation of these signals and only
CSB is received. Therefore the aircraft identifies that it that
the centre-line of the runway is straight ahead and no course
correction is needed.
Consider situation II, where the aircraft flies slightly to the
right of the runway. The aircraft receiver again receives a
signal CSB from the antenna array B. However, the signal +
SBO phase leads with respect to the CSB signal. Also, the
signal SBO phase lags with respect to the CSB signal. This
causes a phase inversion that results in growth of the 150 Hz
signal in comparison to the 90 Hz signal.
Receiver = CSB + 150 Hz SBO component; and
DDM 0.
The detection of 150 Hz signal implies that the aircraft is
towards the right-hand side of the runway and is not aligned
properly. Therefore, the aircraft is said to be flying in the Blue
Copyright 2016 by Siddharth Saxena.
Sector. The magnitude of the phase difference between the
CSB signal and extra 150 Hz signal identifies about how much
degrees is the aircraft to the right of the centre-line of the
runway and, the suitable course correction is then taken.
Consider situation III, where the aircraft flies slightly to the
left of the runway. The aircraft receiver again receives a signal
CSB from the antenna array B. However, the signal + SBO
phase lags with respect to the CSB signal. Also, the signal
SBO phase leads with respect to the CSB signal. This again
causes a phase inversion that results in growth of 90 Hz signal
in comparison to the 150 Hz signal.
Receiver = CSB + 90 Hz SBO component; and
DDM 0.
The detection of 90 Hz signal implies that the aircraft is
towards the left-hand side of the runway and is not aligned
properly. Therefore, the aircraft is said to be flying in the
Yellow Sector. The magnitude of the phase difference
between the CSB signal and extra 90 Hz signal identifies
about how much degrees is the aircraft to the left of the centre-
line of the runway and, the suitable course correction is then
taken.
C. Space Modulation
Space modulation is a radio amplitude modulation
technique used in instrument landing systems that incorporates
the use of multiple antennas fed with various radio frequency
powers and phases to create different depths of modulation
within various volumes of three-dimensional airspace. The
space modulation differs from conventional amplitude
modulation with respect to the fact that amplitude modulation
happens inside the transmitter whereas the space modulation
occurs outside the transmitter, i.e. space. Different
transmitting antennae are used to transmit different signals at a
particular phase interval and are allowed to mix in space rather
than a modulator. The distance at which the actual modulation
occurs from the transmitter end is called as Rayleigh
Distance. [3]
An aircraft with an on-board ILS receiver within the capture
area of an ILS (glideslope and localizer range) will detect
varying depths of modulation according to the aircraft's
position within that airspace, providing accurate positional
information about the progress to the threshold.
D. Localizer Installation Constraints
There are various factors that are considered and required
for installing a localizer antenna array at an airport. A few of
them are listed below
1) Obstruction clearance criteria;
2) Signal coverage requirements;
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 3) Presence of reflecting or reradiating objects in the
vicinity;
4) Safety considerations;
5) Back-course requirements;
6) Anticipated facility upgrading and/or airport
expansion;
7) Establishment costs; and
8) Approach Road.
Under ICAO guidelines for installation of localizer array
1) The Localizer Array must lie within 300 m of the
Runway End Safety Area (RESA) after the runway
end and within the graded portion of the Runway
Strip;
2) The installed equipment should be of low mass and
frangible;
3) The distance chosen shall preclude
Penetration of the approach surface plane by the
localizer plane; and
Will not be Less than 300 ft. from the stop end of
the runway to ensure minimum protection from
the effects of the aircraft engine jet blasts, at
airports where commercial jet aircrafts are in
operation.
Interference to ILS signals is dependent on the total
environment around the ILS antennas and also antenna
characteristics. To safeguard ILS signal, Protective zoning is
used which is divided into 2 types
1) Critical Area Critical Area is an area of defined
dimensions about the localizer and glide path where
vehicles, including aircraft, and any constructions
(e.g. buildings, trees, etc.) will cause unacceptable
disturbances to the ILS performance.
2) Sensitive Area The Sensitive Area is an area
extending beyond the critical area where the parking
and/or movement of vehicles, including aircraft, and
the presence of buildings, trees, fences, etc. may
affect the ILS performance.
E. Grading and Leveling Requirements for Critical Area
1) Critical Area should be graded to be compliant with
ICAO Annex 14 requirements and recommendations
Copyright 2016 by Siddharth Saxena.
for Runway end safety area as given in Annex 14
paragraph 3.4. Area A shall be free of localizer
interference sources as trees, buildings, fences, etc;
2) Roughness shall be less than 15 cm;
3) Slope in any direction less than 1:100; and
4) Transverse slope to be symmetrical about the
extended centre line.
F. Grading and Leveling Requirements for Sensitive Area
1) Within this sector obstructions shall be less than 0.5
elevation, when measured from ground level at the
antenna base;
2) Roughness shall be less than 30 cm;
3) Slope in any direction less than 1 : 50; and
4) The area is to be clear of localizer interference
sources like metallic objects, trees, fencings, walls
etc.
V. GLIDE P ATH
Fig. 10. Glide Scope antenna for runway 09 at Hannover Airport, Germany.
Photo by Herr-K.
Glide Path or GP is an antenna array that gives the pilot
the glide angle or descent angle with respect to the touch
down point of runway. It is installed 1000 feet down the
runway from approach end and 450 feet away from the
runway. It provides vertical guidance to an aircraft while
approaching for landing. The vertical guidance is in terms of
offset above or below the glide angle. According to the ICAO
guidelines, the descent angle must be between 2 4for
smooth landing. The Airports Authority of India standardizes
the descent angle to be equal to 3. The Glide path frequency
of operation ranges from 328 336 MHz (UHF Frequency
Band). The range of Glide path signal is 10 NM. The antenna
used for Glide path is a 3 element M array antenna (The
antenna elements are kept odd otherwise it becomes a null
antenna) (Refer to Appendix II).
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 Glide Path
A Course Deviation Indicator or CDI is an interface used
Touch by pilots to navigate an aircraft. It incorporates the features of
Down Point both Localizer and Glide Path and represents it in the form of
Runway Stop-end
of runway a circular dial that can be used by pilots for suitable
corrections while landing. The CDI is designed to interpret a
signal from both VOR and ILS receivers. To switch to VOR
indication, an OBS (Omni Bearing Selector) knob is provided
in the lower left of the indicator.

Threshold A. Operation
of runway

LLZ GP
Fig. 11. An aircraft attempting to land on the runway using glide path.
VHF band UHF Band

A. Operation
Antenna Receiver Detector Electric Current

The operation of glide path antenna is similar to that of

localizer except, the antenna is vertically polarized in case of
glide path. Comparator = m90 x m 150
Fig. 14. Signal Flow Diagram of CDI.

Fig. 12. Radiation Pattern of Glide Path antenna. The dominant 90 Hz field
above the glide path is called as Yellow Sector and the 150 Hz field as Blue
Sector. Source: Wikipedia
The modulating tones 90 Hz and 150 Hz are transmitted
through Space Modulation.
VI. COURSE DEVIATION INDICATOR (CDI)
The Localizer and Glide Path signals that were sent from
the ILS equipment are received by the aircrafts receiver
antenna. The receiver first demodulates the signal to extract
the 90 Hz and 150 Hz tones from both the localizer and glide
path antenna and then passes it through a detector. The
detector used here is essentially a comparator that compares
the magnitude of 90 Hz and 150Hz side-band signals and
produces an electrical voltage in order of 150 mV that
correspondingly causes a deflection in the CDI needles.
Localizer
Indicator
Glide Path
Indicator

Fig. 15. Course Deviation Indicator needles representing localizer and

glide path respectively. Illustration by Komal Ahuja.

The vertical needle represents the localizer and the horizontal

Fig. 13. Course Deviation Indicator. Source: Google needle represents glide path.

Copyright 2016 by Siddharth Saxena. Page 6

B. CDI Localizer Needle
The vertical needle in the CDI indicates the localizer signal.
If the aircraft is flying directly in front of the centre line,
then the needle is perfectly vertical otherwise a deflection will
occur, either on the left or right indicating the aircrafts
relative position with respect to centre line and the actual
centre line. An illustration of this is shown below
Fig. 16. Aircraft positions and corresponding deflections produced in the CDI.
Illustration by Komal Ahuja.
C. CDI Glide Path Needle
The horizontal needle in the CDI indicates the glide path
signal. If the aircraft is flying on the 3 glide path plane, then
the needle is perfectly horizontal otherwise a deflection will
occur, either on above or below indicating the aircrafts
relative position with respect to the glide path plane and the
actual glide path plane. An illustration of this is shown below
Fig. 17. Aircraft positions and corresponding deflections produced in the CDI.
Illustration by Komal Ahuja.
VII. DISTANCE MEASURING EQUIPMENT (DME)
Distance Measuring Equipment or DME is a transponder
based technology that provides slant distance between the
aircrafts current position and touch down point at the
runway. It is co-located with GP antenna. The DME frequency
of operation ranges from 960 1215 MHz (UHF Frequency
Band). The range of DME signal is 10 NM. The DME antenna
Copyright 2016 by Siddharth Saxena.
is installed with both GP and DVOR. However, the DME
associated with GP uses less power (100 W) because the range
requirement is low (10 NM) as compared the range required
for a DME associated with DVOR (200 NM) (1 kW).
Applications of DME include
1) Permitting the use of multiple routes on common
system of airways to resolve traffic;
2) Permitting distance separation instead of time
separation between aircraft occupying the same
altitude facilitating reduced separation thereby
increasing the aircraft handling capacity; and
3) Expediting the radar identification of aircraft.
A. Operation
DME works on the principal of secondary radar where
interrogator (aircraft) sends out paired pulses at specific
spacing.
Fig. 18. Operation of Distance Measuring Equipment. Source: Google
The ground DME station receives the interrogation pulses and
then responds with paired pulses at a different frequency.
Back at the aircraft receiver the distance is calculated using
the simple formula,
Distance = Speed Time
Since the initial signal took a round trip to reach back at the
aircraft receiver, the time taken is divided by 2 to calculate the
distance between aircraft and touch down point.
VIII. MARKERS
A Marker is a radio beacon that gives a pilot a means to
determine his position along an established route such as a
runway. Markers are installed at fixed distances from the
runway. Since the advent of DME, the use of markers is now
redundant.
Page 7

Fig. 19. Various visual indications displayed inside the cockpit while passing
through a marker. Photo by Komal Ahuja.
On the basis of distance from the runway, markers are divided
into 3 categories namely
1) Outer Marker (OM);
2) Middle Marker (MM); and
3) Inner Marker (IM).
A. Outer Marker (OM)
The Outer Marker or OM is located 4 NM in front of the
approach end of the runway, so that the pattern crosses the
glide angle at the intercept altitude.
The transmitter is modulated by a tone of 400 Hz keyed at 2
dashes per second. The Outer Marker is also called as Non
Directional Beacon (NDB).
B. Middle Marker (MM)
The Middle Marker or MM is located 3500 feet in front of
the approach end of the runway, so that the pattern crosses the
glide angle at 200 feet.
The transmitter is modulated by a tone of 1300 Hz keyed by
continuous dot dash pattern.
C. Inner Marker (IM)
The Inner Marker or IM is located 1000 feet in front of
the approach end of the runway, so that the pattern crosses the
glide angle at 100 feet.
The transmitter is modulated by a tone of 3000 Hz keyed by
continuous dots pattern.
APPENDIX I
A log-periodic antenna (LP), also known as a log-periodic
array or log-periodic aerial, is a multi-element, directional,
antenna designed to operate over a wide band of frequencies.
It was invented by Dwight Isbell and Raymond DuHamel at
the University of Illinois in 1958.
The most common form of log-periodic antenna is the log-
periodic dipole array or LPDA, The LPDA consists of a
Copyright 2016 by Siddharth Saxena.
number of half-wave dipole driven elements of gradually
increasing length, each consisting of a pair of metal rods. The
dipoles are mounted close together in a line, connected in
parallel to the feedline with alternating phase. Electrically, it
simulates a series of two or three-element Yagi antennas
connected together, each set tuned to a different frequency.
LPDA antennas look somewhat similar to Yagi antennas, in
that they both consist of dipole rod elements mounted in a line
along a support boom, but they work in very different ways.
Adding elements to a Yagi increases its directionality, or gain,
while adding elements to a LPDA increases its frequency
response, or bandwidth. [4]
APPENDIX II
The M-array system has also been widely used since 1960
and is often referred to as the Capture Effect array when used
with clearance signals. The system uses a three-element array
with the upper, lower and middle elements being driven with
SBO signals, and the middle and lower elements being driven
also with CSB signals. The upper and lower element SBO
driving signals have amplitude and phase 10, whilst the
middle element SBO signal has amplitude and phase 2180.
The middle element CSB drive signal has amplitude and phase
10 and the lower element CSB signal has amplitude and
phase 2180.
The M-array system has an image ground requirement of 550
meters, i.e. significantly less than the null reference system,
and, under ideal conditions, the system has low susceptibility
to above-ground interference. Thus, the M-array field has a
characteristic "scooped-out" pattern above 0 along the
extended centreline of a runway and any above-ground
obstacles along the extended centerline will not significantly
affect the system performance. But the presence of obstacles
in other regions displaced laterally from the centreline may
cause interference, as may in-line objects if the array is
defocussed.
Although the sideband reference and M-array systems
respectively have advantages over the null reference system in
terms of image ground requirements and above-ground
interference susceptibility, they are not so stable as the null
reference system, in which a 10% drive error causes a change
only in the path width. In the case of the sideband reference
system a 10% error may cause a shift in the glidepath angle by
plus or minue one-third degree, and in the case of the M-array
system a 10% drive error varies the glidepath angle by plus or
minus one-quarter degree. However, of greater concern in the
case of the M-array system is that a false glidepath at angles
up to 1.18 to the ground may be created and the amplitude
and phase of drives to the array must therefore be closely
monitored. [5]
Page 8
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author thanks Mrs. Komal Ahuja, Senior Manager

(Electronics) in assisting the author to learn and understand
the concept behind the working of Instrument Landing System
and acting as the guiding spirit behind the accomplishment
and compilation of this report.

The author also thanks Mr. Amod Soni, Air Traffic Control
Officer, IGI airport for providing a valuable opportunity to
the author to join and gain first-hand experience in modern
civil aviation techniques with the Airports Authority of India.

REFERENCES
[1] Wikipedia, Runway Visual Range,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runway_visual_range
[2] ASA's 2012 FAR and AIM Series. Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc.
2011. p. 1013. ISBN 9781560278580.
[3] Wikipedia, Space Modulation,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_modulation
[4] Wikipedia, Log Periodic Dipole Antenna,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log-periodic_antenna
[5] Patent, Microwave landing system,
http://www.google.co.in/patents/US4167739

Copyright 2016 by Siddharth Saxena. Page 9