ATC TRANSPONDER

The air traffic control radar beacon system (ATCRBS) is a system used in 

air traffic control (ATC) to enhance surveillance radar monitoring and
separation of air traffic.
It consists of a rotating ground antenna and transponders in aircraft. The
ground antenna sweeps a narrow vertical beam of microwaves around the
airspace.
When the beam strikes an aircraft, the transponder transmits a return
signal back giving information such as altitude and the Squawk Code, a four
digit code assigned to each aircraft that enters a region. Information about
this aircraft is then entered into the system and subsequently added to the
controller's screen to display this information when queried.
This information can include flight number designation and altitude of the
aircraft.
ATCRBS assists air traffic control (ATC) surveillance radars by acquiring
information about the aircraft being monitored, and providing this
information to the radar controllers.
 Theory of operation (basic Principle)

• The steps involved in performing an ATCRBS interrogation

are as follows:
• First, the ATCRBS interrogator periodically interrogates
aircraft on a frequency of 1030 MHz. This is done through
a rotating or scanning antenna at the radar's assigned
Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF).
• When the aircraft receives the interrogation, the
aircraft transponder will send a reply on 1090 MHz after a
3.0 μs delay indicating the requested information.
• The interrogator's processor will then decode the reply
and identify the aircraft.
• The range of the aircraft is determined from the delay
between the reply and the interrogation.
 The interrogation

 Interrogations consist of three pulses, 0.8 μs in duration,

referred to as P1, P2 and P3.
 The timing between pulses P1 and P3 determines the
mode (or question) of the interrogation, and thus what
the nature of the reply should be.
 P2 is used in side-lobe suppression, explained later.
 Mode 3/A uses a P1 to P3 spacing of 8.0 μs, and is used to
request the beacon code, which was assigned to the
aircraft by the controller to identify it.
 Mode C uses a spacing of 21 μs, and requests the aircraft's
pressure altitude, provided by the altitude encoder.
 Mode 2 uses a spacing of 5 μs and requests the aircraft to
transmit its Military identification code.
 Side lobe suppression

The SSR's directional antenna is never perfect; inevitably it will "leak" lower
levels of RF energy in off-axis directions. These are known as side lobes. When
aircraft are close to the ground station, the side lobe signals are often strong
enough to elicit a reply from their transponders when the antenna is not
pointing at them..

To combat these effects, side lobe suppression (SLS) is used.

SLS employs a third pulse, P2, spaced 2μs after P1.

This pulse is transmitted from the omnidirectional antenna (or the antenna
difference channel) by the ground station, rather than from the directional
antenna (or the sum channel).

To combat these effects more recently, side lobe suppression (SLS) is still used,
but differently.

The new and improved SLS employs a third pulse, spaced 2μs either before P3
(a new P2 position) or after P3 (which should be called P4 and appears in the
Mode S radar and TCAS specifications).

This pulse is transmitted from the directional antenna at the ground station,
and the power output of this pulse is the same strength as the P1 and P3
pulses.
 The reply
• Replies to interrogations consist of 15 time slots, each 1.45 μs in width. The reply is
encoded by the presence or absence of a 0.45 μs pulse in each slot. These are labeled as
follows:
• F1 C1 A1 C2 A2 C4 A4 X B1 D1 B2 D2 B4 D4 F2 SPI
• The F1 and F2 pulses are framing pulses, and are always transmitted by the aircraft
transponder. They are used by the interrogator to identify legitimate replies
• The A4, A2, A1, B4, B2, B1, C4, C2, C1, D4, D2, D1 pulses constitute the "information"
contained in the reply. These bits are used in different ways for each interrogation mode.
• For mode A, each digit in the transponder code (A, B, C, or D) may be a number from zero
to seven. These octal digits are transmitted as groups of three pulses each, the A slots
reserved for the first digit, B for the second, and so on.
• In a mode 3 reply, the information is the same as a mode A reply in that there are 4 digits
transmitted between 0 and 7.
• The X bit is currently only used for test targets. This bit was originally transmitted by 
BOMARC missiles that were used as air-launched test targets. This bit may be used by
drone aircraft.
• The SPI pulse is positioned 4.35μs past the F2 pulse (3 time slots) and is used as a
"Special Identification Pulse". The SPI pulse is turned on by the "identity control" on the
transponder in the aircraft cockpit when requested by air traffic control. The air traffic
controller can request the pilot to ident, and when the identity control is activated, the
SPI bit will be added to the reply for about 20 seconds .
 Ground Interrogation Equipment

• An ATC ground station consists of two radar

systems and their associated support
components.
• The most prominent component is the PSR.
• It is also referred to as skin paint radar because
it shows not synthetic or alpha-numeric target
symbols, but bright (or colored) blips or areas
on the radar screen produced by the RF energy
reflections from the target's "skin."
• This is a non-cooperative process, no additional
avionic devices are needed.
 There are several modes of interrogation,
each indicated by the difference in spacing
between two transmitter pulses, known as
P1 and P3.
 Each mode produces a different response
from the aircraft. A third pulse, P2, is for side
lobe suppression and is described later. Not
included are additional military (or IFF)
modes, which are described in 
Identification Friend or Foe.
 TRANSPONDER CODES

 Transponder codes are four digit numbers

transmitted by the transponder in an aircraft
in response to a secondary surveillance radar
interrogation signal to assist air traffic
controllers in traffic separation.
 A discrete transponder code (often called a
squawk code) is assigned by air traffic
controllers to uniquely identify an aircraft.
This allows easy identity of the aircraft on
radar.
• Squawk codes are four-digit octal numbers; the dials on a transponder
read from zero to seven inclusive. Thus the lowest possible squawk is
0000 and the highest is 7777.
• There are 4096 combinations of these four digit codes, which is why
they are often called "4096 code transponders." Because these
squawks are sensitive, care must be taken not to squawk any
emergency code during a code change.
• For example, when changing from 1200 to 6501 (an assigned ATC
squawk), one might turn the second wheel to a 5 (thus 1500), and then
rotate the first wheel backwards in the sequence 1-0-7-6 to get to 6.
• This would momentarily have the transponder squawking a hijack code
(7500), which might lead to more attention than one desires. Pilots are
instructed not to place the transponder in "standby mode" while
changing the codes as it causes the loss of target information on the
ATC radar screen, but instead to carefully change codes to avoid
inadvertently selecting an emergency code. Additionally, modern
digital transponders are operated by buttons to avoid this problem
 "squawk" (IFF)

• The use of the word "squawk" comes from the system's

origin in the World War II Identification Friend or Foe (IFF)
system, which was code-named "Parrot".  Parrot today
generally refers to IFF only.
• The parrot check is generally done as part of the last-
chance inspection at the runway, or after becoming
airborne. Parrot sweet, and parrot sour are given, and the
aircraft will have to abort in a real-world mission when
sour, or face being attacked by friendly forces. Modern
use of the word Parrot refers to a test transponder located
at a fixed location off the radar facility.
• The parrot verifies range and direction accuracy of the
radar facility.
 secondary surveillance radar

• The second system is the secondary surveillance

radar, or SSR, which depends on a cooperating 
transponder installed on the aircraft being
tracked. The transponder emits a signal when it
is interrogated by the secondary radar. In a
transponder based system signals drop off as
the inverse square of the distance to the target,
instead of the fourth power in primary radars.
As a result, effective range is greatly increased
for a given power level. The transponder can
also send encoded information about the
aircraft, such as identity and altitude.
• The SSR is equipped with a main antenna, and an 
omnidirectional "Omni" antenna at many older sites. Newer
antennas (as in the adjacent picture), are grouped as a left and
right antenna, and each side connects to a hybrid device which
combines the signals into sum and difference channels. Still other
sites have both the sum and difference antenna, and an Omni
antenna. Surveillance aircraft, e.g. AWACS, have only the sum
and difference antennas, but can also be space stabilized by
phase shifting the beam down or up when pitched or rolled. The
SSR antenna is typically fitted to the PSR antenna, so they point
in the same direction as the antennas rotate. The
omnidirectional antenna is mounted near and high, usually on
top of the radome if equipped. Mode-S interrogators require the
sum and difference channels to provide the monopulse capability
to measure the off-boresight angle of the transponder reply.
 Airborne Transponder Equipment
• The equipment installed in the aircraft is considerably simpler,
consisting of the transponder itself, usually mounted in the
instrument panel or avionics rack, and a small L band UHF
 antenna, mounted on the bottom of the fuselage.
• Many commercial aircraft also have an antenna on the top of
the fuselage, and either or both antennas can be selected by the
flight crew.
• Typical installations also include an altitude encoder, which is a
small device connected to both the transponder and the
aircraft's static system.
• It provides the aircraft's pressure altitude to the transponder, so
that it may relay the information to the ATC facility. The encoder
uses 11 wires to pass altitude information to the transponder in
the form of a Gillham Code, a modified binary Gray code.
 Radar display

• Detail of a radar screen: a target in skin paint mode

(amber) and as synthetic video (white)
• The beacon code and altitude were historically displayed
verbatim on the radar scope next to the target, however
modernization has extended the radar data processor
with a flight data processor, or FDP.
• The FDP automatically assigns beacon codes to flight plans
, and when that beacon code is received from an aircraft,
the computer can associate it with flight plan information
to display immediately useful data, such as aircraft callsign
, the aircraft's next navigational fix, assigned and current
altitude, etc. near the target in a data block.
• Although the ATCRBS does not display aircraft heading.
Target
 Secondary surveillance radar § Mode S

• Mode S, or mode select, despite also being called a mode, is actually a radically
improved system intended to replace ATCRBS altogether. A few countries have
mandated mode S, and many other countries, including the United States, have
begun phasing out ATCRBS in favor of this system. Mode S is designed to be
fully backward compatible with existing ATCRBS technology.
• Mode S, despite being called a replacement transponder system for ATCRBS, is
actually a data packet protocol which can be used to augment ATCRBS
transponder positioning equipment (radar and TCAS).
• One major improvement of Mode S is the ability to interrogate a single aircraft
at a time. With old ATCRBS technology, all aircraft within the beam pattern of
the interrogating station will reply. In an airspace with multiple interrogation
stations, ATCRBS transponders in aircraft can be overwhelmed. By interrogating
one aircraft at a time, workload on the aircraft transponder is greatly reduced.
• The Mode S system also includes a more robust communications protocol, for a
wider variety of information exchange. At this time, this capability is becoming
mandatory across Europe with some states already requiring its use.
SIMPLIFIED BLOCK DIAGRAM OF AIRCRAFT TRANSPONDER
EXPLANATION