DESIGN AND MODELLING OF GROUND PROXIMITY WARNING SYSTEM (GPWS) FOR TRAINING AID

Abstract

Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) is the most common type of aircraft crashes in the world of aviation today. Following the sheer volume of terrain collisions, there was an introduction of CFIT classification to enable the grouping into one category of all crashes involving aircrafts colliding with terrains. To avert CFIT accidents, the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) was introduced onboard the aircraft for the flight crew to be aware of the moment the aircraft is approaching a ground terrain via automatic and very distinct acoustic warning. This paper presents a digital display ground proximity warning system as a teaching aid with audio prompt using ultrasonic sensor to produce forward distance from aircraft to obstacle ahead, height, inclination of aircraft in relation to its terrain beneath the aircraft and a digital computer interface for instrument visualization for better performance using graphic user interface (GUI) thereby enabling clearer understanding on GPWS. The Arduino IDE using Arduino sketch and C language were used on the Arduino Uno. The aircraft was integrated with different electronic modules which includes Arduino single board, Ultrasonic sensor, accelerometer and transceiver module, and all these uses the Arduino to read the signal from the sensor, processes and transmit to the base station wirelessly via radio frequency. Simulation results indicates that the responses of the models are a replica of the actual aircraft operations.