Aviation Electronics Technician 1 - Historic Naval Ships Association

feet in length and represents the flight path of asearching aircraft through the area of the submarineanomaly. If the submarine were not present, theundisturbed magnetic intensity in the area due to itsassumed natural characteristics would be 60,000gammas. (The gamma is the measure of magneticintensity and is symbolized by the Greek letter γ.) Allvariations in the field, when the submarine is present,would then be above or below this natural intensity.Therefore, 60,000 gammas is the zero referencedrawn on the moving paper tape shown in view C offigure 4-23.Refer to view A of figure 4-23. Starting with theaircraft at point A, where the anomaly is undetectable,the earth’s field concentration decreases to anintensity of 2γ (59,998) at point B. Its intensity thenincreases until a peak value of +45γ is reached at pointC. From that point it decreases to zero at point D.After point D, another zone of what amounts tomagnetic rarefaction is encountered. The earth’s fieldis less intense than its normal value. Consequently,anomalous values in this zone are considered asminus quantities. A peak minus intensity is reached atpoint E, and thereafter the signal rises back to itsnormal, or undetectable, intensity at point F.As the varying degrees of intensity areencountered, they are amplified and used to drive aswinging stylus, as shown in figure 4-23, view B. Thetip of the stylus rides against the moving paper tape,leaving an ink trace. The stylus is swung in onedirection for positive γ, and the other for negative γ.The magnitude of its swing is determined by theintensity of the anomaly signal. Figure 4-23, view C,is a sample of paper recording tape showing theapproximate trace caused by the anomaly in view A.In the illustration just given, the search aircraft’saltitude was 200 feet. At a lower altitude the anomalywould have been stronger, and at a higher altitude, itwould have been weaker.MAGNETIC NOISEFor the purposes of this discussion, any noise ordisturbance in the aircraft or its equipment that couldproduce a signal on the recorder is classified as amagnetic noise.In an aircraft there are many sources of magneticfields, such as engines, struts, control cables,equipment, and ordnance. Many of these fields are ofsufficient strength to seriously impair the operation ofMAD equipment. Consequently, some means mustbe employed to compensate for “magnetic noise”fields. The noise sources fall into two majorcategories: maneuver noises and dc circuit noises.Maneuver NoisesWhen the aircraft maneuvers, the magnetic fieldof the aircraft is changed, causing a change in the totalmagnetic field at the detecting element. The aircraftmaneuver rates are such that the signals generatedhave their major frequency components within thebandpass of the MAD equipment. Maneuver noisesmay be caused by induced magnetic fields, eddycurrent fields, or the permanent field.The variations in the induced magnetic fielddetected by the magnetometer are caused by changesin the aircraft’s heading. This causes the aircraft topresent a varying size to the earth’s magnetic field,and only the portion of the aircraft parallel to the fieldis available for magnetic induction.Eddy current fields produce maneuver noisebecause of currents that flow in the aircraft’s skin andstructural members. When an aircraft’s maneuvercauses an eddy current flow, a magnetic field isgenerated. The eddy current field is a function of therate of the maneuver. If the maneuver is executedslowly, the effect of the eddy current field isnegligible.The structural parts of the aircraft exhibitpermanent magnetic fields, and, as the aircraftmaneuvers, its composite permanent field remainsaligned with it. The angular displacement betweenthe permanent field and the detector magnetometerduring a maneuver produces a changing magneticfield, which the detector magnetometer is designed todetect.DC Circuit NoiseThe dc circuit noise in an aircraft comes from thestandard practice in aircraft design of using asingle-wire dc system, with the aircraft skin andstructure as the ground return. The resulting currentloop from the generator to load to generator serves asa large electromagnet that generates a magnetic fieldsimilar to a permanent magnetic field. Whenever thedc electrical load of the aircraft is abruptly changed,there is an abrupt change in the magnetic field at thedetector.4-18