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Transponder
S e c o n d a r y r a d a r d e p e n d s o n a t r a n s p o n d e r ( s h o r t - f o r T r a n s mitter-resp o n d e r in the airplane to respond to interrogations from the ground station to make the aircraft visible and to report additional information like the aircraft's altitude. Figure 1 shows an older one transponder. The replays code for Mode 1 and 3/A can be choosen with the black hand wheels. The yellow painted edges mark this device as reference unit of a repair shop. Newer one transponders operate with two antennae and two receivers in diversity mode. One antenna is mounted on top and the other one at the bottom of the airplanes fuselage. A d d i t i o n a l i n f o r m a t i o n s a r e d e r i v e d f r o m t h e o n b o a r d avionics navigation systems.

The Transponder maintains avionics data in 256 different 56 bit wide Binary Data Store (BDS) Registers that can be loaded with information and read-out by the ground system. Each register contains the data payload of a particular M o d e S r e p l y o r e x t e n d e d s q u i t t e r . T h e s e B D S r e g i s t e r s a r e a l s o r e f e r r e d t o a s G r o u n d I nitiated Co m m B G I C B registers. T h e y a r e specified in the ICAO document Manual on Mode S Specific Services (Doc 9688). Registers not updated within a fixed period are cleared by the transponder. Registers are identified by a t w o d i g i t h e x n u m b e r f o r e x a m p l e B D S 0 5 h (in some publications written as BDS 0,5) is the position squitter. C o m m o n l y u s e d r e g i s t e r s a r e s h o w n i n T a b l e 1 . Register BDS 01h BDS 02h BDS 03h BDS 04h Content Data Link Capability Report Aircraft Identity ACAS Resolution Advisory Selected Vertical Intent parameters (Bit 2840: Barometric Pressure Setting) Extended Squitter Airborne Position Extended Squitter Surface Position Extended Squitter Status (transmitted only in reply to interrogation) Extended Squitter A/C Id & Category Extended Squitter Airborne Velocity Extended Squitter Event Report Extended Squitter Emergency/Priority Status (transmitted once per second during an emergency) Aircraft Operational Status
local oscillator external sensors power amplifier waveformgenerator keyboard single-chip-processor down converter A/Dconverter monitor

Figure 1: Control paneel of an older transponder

Figure 2: Possible view of a main display of a mode-s transponder

BDS 05h BDS 06h BDS 07h BDS 08h BDS 09h BDS 0Ah BDS 61h

Figure 3: Functional Block Diagram of a modern transponder

BDS 65h

Tabelle 1: Content of some binary data store registers