Transponder landing system

This complex set of antennas is expensive to install and maintain and is often difficult to site in areas with uneven terrain or obstacles that could interfere with its guidance signals.

The position tracks for all aircraft in the TLS service volume are displayed on an ATC monitor similar to a secondary surveillance radar but with an increased update rate and higher accuracy.

This allows the TLS to support multiple approach procedures at a given airport, including steeper glide slope angles for rotary-wing aircraft or increased obstacle clearance, with a single complete system installed adjacent to runway threshold.

Any aircraft conducting a PAR-type approach can be viewed on the TLS PAR format console displaying azimuth and elevation.

The TLS is designed to be installed at airfields where a conventional ILS cannot physically or feasibly operate, or where satellite-based navigation is unreliable.

These include short runways or those with obstacles or uneven terrain along or adjacent to the approach path, or those with water or real estate constraints at either end.

These also include airfields in the Arctic circle or in close proximity to the equator where satellite-based navigation is compromised due to ionospheric conditions.

TLS is an active surveillance and tracking system and its approach procedures are configured in software vs. being dependent on physical antenna locations, so its siting criteria are flexible and the entire system can be collocated on a small footprint adjacent to the runway threshold and operates on a single power supply.

[2] Since the TLS operates using the long range band of SSR (1030/1090 MHz) there is no rain fade such as experienced with a traditional PAR that uses primary radar.

The entire system can be transported in a standard 20' Conex container which can also be used as the center of operations, or on a single 463L master pallet.