AIRCRAFT POSITIONING WITH MULTIPLE DME

this paper discusses the use of three or more DME range measurements to determine aircraft position. Analysis of data collected by a test system shows range measurement errors with two components; a bias component of typically four hundred feet and a noise component of about two hundred feet r.m.s. By estimating and removing most of the bias error and smoothing the noise, position estimates with one hundred feet circular error probable (C.E.P.) or better are produced. Application of the techniques to special purpose high accuracy navigation systems is discussed.