Abstract:

This study originates from a real need encountered while lecturing inspection of radio navigation aids in the MSc Aeronautical Engineering program at the University of León. Although students have studied the basics of navigation aids in previous courses, the way in which the radio signals are constructed and the different modulation techniques used, especially the spatial modulation, are difficult to grasp. Such concepts are also difficult to exemplify from a practical point of view, since it would require the concourse of real VOR (Very High-Frequency Omnidirectional Range) and ILS (Instrumental Landing System) facilities.

Looking for feasible alternatives, we propose to drive the students to a simulated scenery where they synthesize and analyze the involved radio signals using digital signal techniques. Albeit the required skills for this task are not central for the Aeronautical Engineer curriculum, a careful design of the simulations makes possible to achieve the learning objectives with moderate student effort and a noticeable enhancement in the understanding of the working principles of VOR and ILS.

With the aim of assess the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, we designed an evaluation process of the experience that begins with a segmentation test. This test classifies the students regarding previous studies, specialization, grades, etc. Then, a competence test at three different stages of the learning process is performed: at the beginning of the course; another one after the theory was explained; and the final one once the simulation exercises were completed. Besides the evaluation of competence acquisition, another questionnaire was used at the end of the experience to evaluate the difficulties encountered by the students in applying the more lateral skills (programming and digital signal processing), as well as its satisfaction grade with the overall process.

We expect that the competence tests show a great advance in technical learning and that the final questionnaire reflects a high grade of satisfaction with no significant issues regarding the new skills. Using these simulation exercises and including the required new skills in a controlled way can be a very efficient alternative to using real facilities.

Keywords:

Radio Navigation Aids simulator, simulation based learning, aerospace engineering.