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Written by Capt Rajeev Jassal on May 13, 2018

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MySeaTime&via=myseatime)

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About Capt Rajeev Jassal
mini=true&url=https://www.myseatime.com/blog/detail/radar- Capt. Rajeev Jassal has sailed for over 19
plotting)
years mainly on crude oil, product and
chemical tankers. He holds MBA in
shipping & Logistics degree from London.
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(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/radar-
url=https://www.myseatime.com/blog/detail/radar-
He has done extensive research on

plotting.jpg)
plotting) quantitatively measuring Safety culture
onboard and safety climate ashore which
he believes is the most important element
Have you been doing radar plotting? for safer shipping.

I know that the navigators get fed up with this irritating question during
third-party inspections.

And when the navigator is just about to answer that question with a Yes, it’s
frustrating for them to find that there are no radar plotting sheets onboard.
If this has happened to you too, then do not worry. It is not very uncommon
sight these days.

The reason some of us do not practice radar plotting is one or both of

these.

We do not think it would help us in any way

We do not know how to do it

In this post, I will definitely be discussing how to do radar plotting. But

before we start on that, we need to agree on the point if all this is really
required and is the radar plotting helpful to the navigators in any way.

is Radar Plotting helpful?

In one word the answer is “Yes”.

When and how?

Well, radar plotting is an alternative for ARPA and thus it will be handy when
ARPA is not working.

Let us assume a very realistic situation.

ARPA of one (or both) of your radars stopped working in the mid sea. Of
course, the vessel is not complying with the SOLAS.

Master will report the fact to the company and company will seek
dispensation from the flag
(http://www.mfa.gov.cy/mfa/consulate/consulate_toronto.nsf/a1d34c3e557412bcc22570c2003e73de/ab71da6eaa5864c6c22572fa00234c44
to sail and arrive at next port without working ARPA function of the radar.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/flag-
dispensation.jpg)

It is understandable that flag will not deny the dispensation if the ARPA can
only be repaired by shore support or by providing a spare part.

The flag will give the dispensation on a condition that the navigators will use
radar plotting for all the targets on the radar.

Now believe me when I say this.

If you haven’t been practicing radar plotting, you may find it difficult to
navigate the ship safely in this situation.

This is not the only situation where navigators need to rely on radar plotting.

Download 10 images—free

Even when your ARPA is working, you may notice that the radar is not
holding on to the some of the targets. By this I mean, the acquired vector is
moving away from the target.

A quick radar plotting for that target can give the clear picture of the
movement of the target.

The only issue is that like the celestial sight, to be effective radar plotting
too need practice.

Now that we understand the significance of radar plotting, let us understand

how to do it.

Radar plotting

We already discussed that radar plotting is an alternative to the ARPA.

With radar plotting, we aim to get all the information that ARPA can give.
These pieces of information are

CPA & TCPA of targets

Course & speed of the target

Let us see how to get this information by radar plotting.

CPA & TCPA of targets by radar plotting

This is how a radar plotting sheet looks like.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/radar-
plotting-sheet.jpg)

When we see the target on the radar, we take the bearing and range of the
target and note down the time of observation.

We then plot this on the radar plotting sheet.

let us say we noted following bearing/range of a target at 1800Hrs LT.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/bearing-
range-of-target-radar-plotting.jpg)

Let us plot this on the radar plotting sheet. This point of first observation is
named point “O”.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/radar-
plotting-point-O.jpg)

Now after some interval, take the 2nd and 3rd set of observations of the
target and plot it on the radar plotting sheet.

Here are our 2nd and 3rd observations.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/range-
bearing-second-third-radar-plotting.jpg)

Plot these on the radar plotting sheet and extend the line joining all three
points. Name the point of last observation as point “A”.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/radar-
plotting-sheet-line-OA.jpg)

This is the line of relative approach of the target towards our vessel which
we have assumed at the center of the sheet.

Now for CPA, we need to find the closest point of the line of approach to
the center.
To do that just draw a line perpendicular to the line of approach and
measure the distance of this line from the scale in the radar plotting sheet.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/CPA-
from-radar-plotting.jpg)

The CPA here is around 0.8NM.

To calculate TCPA, we just need to calculate the time required to reach at

point “C” considering it took 12 minutes to cover distance OA.

To do that measure the distance CA and that would be 5.8NM in this case.

Now with simple mathematics calculate the time the target would take to
cover 5.8NM with the relative approach speed.

This would be the TCPA. In this case, the TCPA would be 35 Minutes (at
1847 hrs LT).

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/TCPA-
radar-plotting.jpg)

Course & speed of targets by radar plotting

Next is to find the course & speed of the target.

To find that, from point “O” draw your course in opposite direction and cut
the distance your ship has traveled for the time period of “OA” (12 minutes in
the distance your ship has traveled for the time period of “OA” (12 minutes in
this case).

Let us say your course is 045 degrees and speed is 12 knots.

In 12 minutes your ship with speed 12 knots will travel 2.4 NM. SO from point
“O” draw a line in direction 225 degrees and measuring 2.4 NM.

Name this point as “W”, such that WO is your course.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/WO-
radar-plotting.jpg)

Now join W & A. WA is the course and speed of the target vessel.

Measure the distance WA. This is the distance covered by the target in 12
minutes.

With simple mathematics, calculate the distance it would travel in 60

minutes to get the speed.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/WA-
radar-plotting.jpg)

In this case, the course of the target is 300 degrees and speed is 7 Knots
(WA measures 1.4 NM).

The aspect of the target

There is one more thing that we can get from radar plotting.

Aspect of the target.

There are two areas that we need to explore in this.

One what is the aspect and how to calculate the Aspect of the target. And
second what is the significance of the aspect.

First the definition of aspect.

The aspect of a vessel is the relative bearing of own vessel from the target
vessel.

For the starters, this is what the difference between the true bearing and
relative bearing.
(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/relative-
and-true-bearing.jpg)

Here is the simplified picture of what aspect of the target vessel is.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/aspect-
of-vessel.jpg)

And here is how it would look like with real situations.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/aspect-
of-vessel-real-situation.jpg)

Now let us come back to the radar plotting sheet and the situation we have
discussed so far and let us get the aspect of the target vessel.

To get that,

Join own ship’s position (which is at the center of the plotting sheet) to
the target vessel’s last position (which is at point “A”).

Extend the course line of the target vessel (Line WA).

The angle between these two lines is the aspect of the target vessel.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Asoect-
of-vessel-from-radar-plotting.jpg)

The aspect of the vessel is written as 0 degrees to 180 degrees Red or

green.

If we will be able to see the red light of the target vessel, then the aspect
will be “Red” and the value will be anything from 0 degrees to 180 degrees.

Same applies if we will be able to see the green light of the target vessel.

Just to put this in perspective, here is what will be the aspect of the target
vessel with different headings.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/aspect-
of-the-vessel-different-headings.jpg)

If you had noticed, I have denoted the own ship with just a dot and have not
shown the heading of own ship.

This is because when calculating the aspect of the target vessel, own ship’s
heading is irrelevant.

Most navigators would get confused if we show own vessel’s heading too.

The significance of Aspect of the vessel

In radar plotting, we use the relative approach of the targets.

It is the easiest way to find the CPA of the targets. But the issue with the
relative approach is that we do not know with certainty the angle at which
the target vessel is approaching us.

The course of the target can give us this information but we need to
compare this with our own course or heading to get a sense of angle of
approach of the targets.

With the aspect of the vessel, it becomes easy and quick to understand the
direction of approach of the target.

For example, compare these two statements.

A target is 2 points on our starboard side with course 265 degrees and
our course is 330 degrees.

A target is 2 points on our starboard side with the aspect of around 60

degrees red.

Which statement would give a clearer picture of the angle of approach of

the target?

When answering this question do not forget to consider that you just have
these numbers. You do not have this information plotted on the radar screen
as ARPA is unavailable.

If you think a bit, you will notice that it is much easier with the second
statement.

Let me clarify it with a realistic example.

We are on the bridge with inoperational ARPA and I point to a target on the
radar screen and ask this question to the duty officers…

Where is this ship headed?

Two duty officers present do the radar plotting and reply with different
answers.

The first duty officer replies, “her course is 265 degrees”.

The second duty officer replies “her aspect is 60 degrees red”.

Which information do you think I will use? Again, remember we have

inoperational ARPA.

I would use the second information because with this I clearly and quickly
know where that ship is heading.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/easy-
with-target-aspect.jpg)

In simple words, the aspect of a target describes how much of the target
vessel’s profile we will be able to see.

If the aspect is “90 degreed Red”, this means that we will be able to see the
complete port side profile of the target vessel.

If the aspect is 0 degrees, this means that we will be able to see the front
profile of the target vessel.

Now that we know exactly what the aspect of the target is, we can use this
in a number of other ways.

Identifying the targets you must monitor

If we are sailing in moderate or heavy traffic area without ARPA, it becomes
extremely important that we identify (& segregate) the targets that are
passing clear and the one that is not clear.

Applying the below principle is one of the ways.

All targets with Red aspect on our port side and with green aspect on our
starboard side are usually “no danger targets”.

All targets with red aspect on our starboard side and with green aspect
on out port side are the targets we need to watch out for.

Here is the example of the first point.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/safe-
and-unsafe-targets-radar-plotting-aspect.jpg)
and-unsafe-targets-radar-plotting-aspect.jpg)

This does not in any way mean that we should not monitor the targets with
red aspects targets on our port side (and green aspects on our starboard
side).

The above statements help to a certain extent to prioritize the targets.

If we understand the concept of the aspect of the target, we can devise our
own ways to use this information during navigation.

Change of course to maintain certain CPA

We now know the basics of radar plotting and it is time to move on to little-
advanced ways of using radar plotting.

Let us say we did the radar plotting of a target to find that the CPA is 0.8NM
but we want to maintain 2NM CPA with this target.

The best way to increase the CPA is to alter our course. But how much
course we must alter to maintain that CPA?

Radars have the functionality called “Trial maneuver” where you can set the
new course to see the new CPA/TCPA with all the acquired targets.

This is a wonderful tool to know the course/speed to change to maintain a

certain CPA with a target.

But this functionality is only required

(http://www.imo.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/Maritime-
Safety-Committee-(MSC)/Documents/MSC.192(79).pdf) for radars fitted on
vessels more than 10000 GRT.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/radar-
trial-manoeuvre.jpg)

But if our ARPA is not working or if we are on a ship less than 10000 GRT,
radar plotting can do this job too.

Let us see how.

Let us take the same example we used earlier. Target’s CPA is 0.8 NM and
we want to maintain CPA of 2.0 NM by changing our course.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/radar-
plot-initial-less-CPA.jpg)
Draw the new line of approach from point A such that this line passes
through 2NM radius (CPA 2NM).

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/new-line-
of-approach-radar-plotting.jpg)

Now as we are not changing our speed, the length WO will remain same.

So measure WO and from point W, mark a point O’ on new approach line

such that length WO is equal to WO’.

Join points W and O’.

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/new-
course-to-maintain-CPA-radar-plotting.jpg)

WO’ is the new course that we must make to maintain CPA of 2NM with this
target.

This is just one of the example. But we can use the radar plotting to solve
situations like

How much speed must we reduce to maintain a certain CPA with the
target?

How much speed must we reduce to maintain a certain CPA with the
target if we also altered our course by 10 degrees to starboard?

How much course and/or speed the target must make to maintain a
certain CPA with our vessel?

How much course must each vessel alter to maintain a certain CPA with
each other?

I will briefly cover few other situations.

Reducing own speed to maintain certain CPA

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-
content/uploads/2018/05/reducing-speed-radar-plotting.jpg)

From point “W” draw a line parallel to the new (desired) line of approach
(Dotted line in above plot)
 (Dotted line in above plot)

From point “A”, draw your opposite course. The point where it cuts the
dotted line, name this point as W’.

From W’, draw the course of the target. Where it meets the desired line of
approach, name this point as A’.

Measure O’W’. This needs to be the distance covered by own vessel in 12

minutes to maintain 2NM CPA. Calculate the required speed of own
vessel based on that

Required course change by the target to maintain certain CPA

(https://www.myseatime.com/blogadm/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/course-
change-by-target-radar-plotting.jpg)

As own course and speed remains same, from point A (also named O’ in
the new triangle) draw your own course in opposite direction such that
O’W’ is equal to OW.

From point W’, cut a point on new approach line such that W’A’ is equal to
WA as the speed of the target is not changing.

Measure the angle of W’A’. This is the new course that target must alter to
maintain CPA of 2NM.

Conclusion

With ARPA on board ships, the art of radar plotting is fading away.

But it is not that radar plotting is not relevant nowadays.

In situations like sailing with in-operational ARPA under flag dispensation,

radar plotting will be of great help.

But if we haven’t been practicing radar plotting, it can’t effectively substitute

ARPA in situations when it is desperately required to.

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26 Comments

Ankit Dubey May 15, 2018

Very interesting sir ..It would be a great help if you can make a blog covering the
various Collison prevention situations and their relevant action .Thanks a lot sir..
awaiting your positive feedback!!
Reply

Rajeev Jassal May 16, 2018

Thanks, Ankit. I will surely write on that.

Reply

FELIX Jun 11, 2019

Good morning capt Rajeev please what can i do the question says while
steering 242 at a speed of 10knot the following observations were made
1.Time 0527 Brg297 Rng 8.4 2.Time 0533 Brg 297.5 Rng 6.8 3. Time
0539 Brg 298 Rng 5.2 Determine the following 1. Speed and course of
target 2. CPA TCPA and time to CPA 3. WHAT actions are expected from
both vessels 4. if own ship stop at 0545 what is new CPA and time of
CPA .
Reply

THANT ZIN May 17, 2018

Dear Sir, Can I obtain CPA of a target while i only known range of target and vector
is 30 minutes? If possible, please kindly answer.
Reply

Rajeev Jassal Oct 14, 2018

It is two or more bearings of the target that is required to get the CPA.
 It is two or more bearings of the target that is required to get the CPA.
Reply

Capt. Chander Vart May 19, 2018

Another very well written article from you Capt. Rajeev. Shall be of great assistance
to navigating officers.Keep up the good work.
Reply

Rajeev Jassal Oct 14, 2018

Thanks Capt Chander...

Reply

ADELBERT PEREIRA May 22, 2018

Very well wriiten capt jessal , pls keep up the good work
Reply

Rajeev Jassal Oct 14, 2018

Glad you liked it...

Reply

Shahbaaz Ahmad May 27, 2018

Well written post sir, whole funda of radar is cleared, thnx alott for a wonderful post.
Reply

Rajeev Jassal Oct 14, 2018

Glad you found it useful Shahbaaz...

Reply

Boris Andreevich Jun 5, 2018

Thank you Sir, very clear and interesting post, a lot of useful information.
Reply

Rajeev Jassal Oct 14, 2018

Thanks Boris...
Reply

Mohammad Alriyati Jun 29, 2018

Thank You So Much Sir, Best And Easy Way Ever I Had Been See.
Reply

Rajeev Jassal Oct 14, 2018

Glad you liked it Mohammad...

Reply

naveen kumar Jul 20, 2018

thank you sir it was very help ful

Reply

Rajeev Jassal Oct 14, 2018

Thanks Naveen...
 Reply

HARDIK JUNEJA Nov 1, 2018

Thank you sir, explained in very easy and simple way. Great work.....
Reply

Julius gabobga Dec 4, 2018

Very interesting piece. thank so much

Reply

Kevin Dec 24, 2018

Thanks for the article, it has been very helpful. A question that has come up in my
sample exams is: Question: after a bold alteration to starboard my new CPA is well
over 3 Nm, how long do I need to hold this new course before I can return to my
original course to maintain a CPA of 2 Nm. I really hope you can help me answer this
question?
Reply

Jeffrey Tuckerman Feb 26, 2019

Thank you very much for this. I lost my radar plotting notes from college and wanted
to revise it. This was perfect.
Reply

Navjyot Singh Mar 20, 2019

I have an exam in another 2days and i want to ask 3-4 questions to u regarding the
ARPA. I have the pics of the questions too! It would be very appreciable if u can
send me ur contact number sir!
Reply

Dhir singh Apr 19, 2019

Sir i always find your articles intersting. I want to correct you that here you denoted
aspect 60 degree approx. but the correct aspect here is approx. 90 and exact value
is 92.5 R. you have taken relative brng of target from our vessel but its relative brng
of own vessel from target vessel. Thankyou sir for ur articles keep writing we find
these very intersting.
Reply

ravneet singh Mar 10, 2020

Awesomely explained specially the aspect part, very stupendous effort.

Reply

Kalyana chakravathy Jun 23, 2020

Thank you sir you cleared all my doubts about radar plotting...
Reply

milos Jun 30, 2020

http://www.splashmaritime.com.au/Marops/data/text/Radartex/Radarplottex.pdf at
least fix your example. the own vessel course given is wrong (045). no?
Reply

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