What is a Squitter ?

Question

What is a Squitter ?

Answer 1

It's what I get after a curry!

Answer 2

Squitter pulses are used for DME or TACAN ground stations, They are random pulse pairs (squitter) to maintain a minimum PRF. We used to check them by viewing the receiver output on the TACAN R/T units in the shop.

Here's a link to some TACAN info.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/l...

Answer 3

Mode-S transponders send periodic burst transmissions called "squitters".  These are not a result of interrogations from the secondary surveillance radar.. The squitters are used by TCAS systems on other aircraft to aid in measureing the  location and vertical rate of nearby aircraft.  TCAS uses these measurements to identify potential conflicts that might arise from a pilot or controller error.  Lately, a major new application for what is called the "extended squitter" is a set of messages used to broadcast an aircraft's GPS position, navigation system status, projected path, and identity so that other aircraft, and controllers, can track the aircraft with a high degree of accuracy.  This supports applications that are a part of "Automatic Dependend Surveillance-Broadcast" or ADS-B system that is a key part of the FAA's Next-Generation ATC system (NexGen).