T. S.

RAHAMAN
TOPIC : RADAR

CLASS:- S Y Bsc
SEM: - III
SUB: - BP & LK
RADAR
UNIT 2
Parag Agnihotri Parag Agnihotri
 RADAR

RAdio Detection And Ranging

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 INTRODUCTION

The word Radar is an acronym derived from the phrase RAdio Detection
And Ranging and applies to electronic equipments designed for detecting
and tracking objects (targets) at considerable distances.

The basic principle behind radar is simple – extremely short pulses of radio
energy (travelling at the speed of light are transmitted, reflected off a target
and then returned as an echo. Radar makes use of a phenomenon we all
have observed that of the ECHO PRINCIPLE.

Radar, as designed for marine navigation applications, is pulse modulated.

Pulse- modulated radar can determine the distance to a target by measuring
the time required for an extremely short burst of RF (radio frequency)
energy to travel to the target and return to its source as a reflected echo.
Directional antennas are used for transmitting the pulse and receiving the
reflected echo, thereby allowing determination of the direction or bearing
of the target echo.

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Once time and bearing are measured, these targets or echoes are calculated
and displayed on the radar display. The radar display provides the operator
a bird’s eye view of where other targets are relative to own ship.

Radar is an active device. Radar utilizes its own energy to detect and track
the target. Radar does not depend on energy radiated by the target itself.
The ability to detect target at great distance and to locate its position with
high accuracy are two of the chief attributes of radar.

There are two groups of frequencies allocated for use in civil marine radar
systems. The first group lies in the ‘X’ band, which corresponds to a
wavelength of 3 cm and has a frequency range of 9200 to 9500 MHz. The
second group lies in the ‘S’ band which corresponds to a wavelength of 10
cm and has a frequency range of 2900 to 3100 MHz.

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 IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF A RADAR SET

Vertical Beam Width (VBW) : VBW is the vertical angle at the scanner
contained between the upper and lower edges of the radar beam. If the
VBW is too small, targets would be missed due to rolling and pitching. If
the VBW is too large, radar energy would be spread over a large angle,
which will decrease the intensity of the beam. Typical value of VBW for
marine radar is between 150 to 300.

Horizontal Beam Width (HBW) : HBW is the horizontal angle at the

scanner contained between the leading and trailing edges of the radar
beam. The value of the HBW depends on the scanner­– the larger the
horizontal size, the smaller the HBW and vice versa. Typical value of
HBW is between 0.60 and 20. With narrower HBW, greater the maximum
range

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Pulse Length (PL) : PL is the time taken for a pulse to leave the
scanner. PL is usually expressed in Microseconds. The speed of radio
waves being taken to be 300 m/µ sec, PL may also can be expressed in
metres. Pulse Length can be referred to as Pulse Width (PW) and is
controlled by the transmitter. PL does not affect range accuracy. PL does
affect range discrimination. Short pulses are suitable for shorter range
scales as they give better range discrimination. For longer ranges, long
pulses are required. Typical values of the PL are between 0.05 µ sec to
1.00 µ sec.

Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) : PRF is the number of pulses sent

out through the scanner in one second. The unit is Hertz. PRF is also
referred to as Pulse Recurrence Rate (PRR). A high value of PRF is
preferable for a clear and detailed picture. On longer range scales this is
not possible as a greater interval between pulses is required for each pulse
to go long distance and come back, making it necessary to have a low
PRF. Longer range scales therefore have a low PRF while the shorter
range scales have a high PRF. Typical values of the PRF are between 500
and 4000.
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Wave Length (WL) : WL of a marine radar may be about 3 cm (9.2 to 9.5
GHz, called the “X” band) or about 10 cm (2.9 to 3.1 GHz, called the “S”
band).. The radar pulses are influenced by external factors. Hence the
wavelength directly affects radar’s performance. The two major factors
influencing them are, attenuation (loss of energy caused by scattering,
absorption, etc.) and diffraction (bending of energy towards the object, when
passing very close to it). For “S” band radar, attenuation in the atmosphere
is less and diffraction is more than the “X” band. Thus “S” band is good for
long range detection.

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 LIMITATIONS OF A RADAR SET

Range Discrimination : Range Discrimination is the ability of the radar set to

clearly distinguish two small targets on the same bearing and slightly different
ranges, as two separate targets on the PPI. The factor that governs this is the
Pulse Length (PL). as per performance standards for Navigational Radar, two
small similar objects on the same bearing, separated by 40 mtrs in range, should
be separately indicated when using a range scale of 1.5 M or less when they lie
between 50% and 100% of the range scale in use.

Bearing Discrimination : Bearing Discrimination is the ability of the radar

set to clearly distinguish two targets on the same range and slightly different
bearings, as two separate targets on the PPI. The governing factor is the HBW
of the Radar. Bearing Discrimination is usually expressed in degrees and as
per IMO standards it should not exceed 2.50.

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Minimum Range : The minimum detection range of a radar set depends
on:
• The Pulse Length
• The de-ionisation delay
• The VBW and the height of the scanner
• The wavelength
Maximum Range : The maximum range of a radar set depends on the
following:
• Height of the scanner
• Power output
• Wavelength
• PRF
• Pulse length
• VBW and HBW
• Receiver sensitivity
• Nature of target
• Weather effects
• Anomalous propagation
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• Sea and Swell
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• Power Source : This unit provides the necessary AC input as per the model
of the Radar and is usually provided, if suitable, either directly from the
ship’s mains or through a transformer or a alternator
• Delay line : This unit stores the energy received from the power source.
• Trigger Unit : This unit sends spike wave signals to the modulator and the
display processor unit. Number of spikes per second equals to the PRF.
• Modulator : This device is used to switch on and off the magnetron as
required. Each spike wave received from the trigger unit causes the
modulator to release one powerful DC pulse from the delay line to the
magnetron. The duration of each pulse is the PL and number of pulses per
second is the PRF.
• Magnetron : Magnetron is a high power RF oscillator, which is switched on
and off for short duration (equal to the PL) at the desired PRF. The output of
magnetron consists of RF pulses of electromagnetic energy, which is carried
to the scanner via waveguide.
• Scanner : Scanner sends the RF pulses out and receives the echoes.
Scanner rotates at a constant speed and scans the entire area around it.
• TR cell : This is the abbreviation for transmit/receive switch. TR cell blocks
the receiver section of the waveguide during the transmission thereby
protecting the receiver section.
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• Local oscillator : This oscillator oscillates at a constant low power
RF about 30 to 60 MHz above or below the magnetron frequency,
usually below the magnetron frequency. The difference is known as
IF.
• Mixer : In the mixer, the RF echoes mix with the local oscillator
frequency and thereby the echoes are reduced from RF to IF.
• IF amplifier : This amplifier amplifies the IF signal several times
and the output is passed on to the video amplifier.
• Video amplifier : Controls the amplification of signals fed to the
Display processor unit.
• Display processor unit : This unit is the “brain” of the radar set and
perform several functions such as creation of rotating trace, display
symbols etc.
• Display unit : This is a rectangular screen within which a circular
part provides a visual display of all targets in the area. This circular
area within the screen is called PPI (Plan Position Indicator)

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 Basic Controls of a Radar

• On/ Off : This is the main power switch of the radar and is situated on the
display unit
• Standby : This switch cuts off the EHT to the transmitter when desired by the
observer. The switch may be incorporated with the main power switch with
three positions marked “Off/Standby/On”. If the radar is switched off, it would
require about three minutes for the set to warm up. Where such delay can be
afforded, the set may be switched off and when such delay cannot be afforded,
the radar may be put on standby. When a picture is required at an instant’s
notice, the “standby” switch is put “on” and a picture appears instantaneously.
• Pulse Length Selector : This switch is marked “Short/Long” and gives the
observer choice of pulse length. Long pulse is useful when making a landfall
after a long ocean passage.
• Range Selector : Observer can select the desired range with the help of this
switch. As per IMO specifications, the range available is 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.5, 3,
6, 12, and 24 nautical miles.

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• Brilliance : This is also called “brightness” control. To set this control, first
turn up the brilliance control until rotating trace just appears and then turn
down the control until the trace just disappears.
• Gain : Gain controls the amplification of all echoes received. Correct setting
of this control is obtained by increasing it until a speckled background of noise
is just visible.
• Manual Tuning : This control manually alters the frequency of the Local
Oscillator. A meter or magic eye gives indication of the correct tuning. If the
indicator is defective, then tuning may be carried out while watching the PPI.
• Performance Monitor : This switch is used to check the performance of a
radar set.
• Scanner On/Off : This switch starts or stops the scanner. It may be
necessary to stop the scanner when the radar is working, e.g., for maintenance,
HM alignment etc. Alternatively, the scanner may be kept rotating, while rest
of the equipment is off, to prevent icing.
• Scale Illumination : The brightness of all readouts such as range scale,
bearing scale, digital displays of VRM, EBL, etc., are all controlled by this
switch.

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• Anti Clutter : This control is also called clutter suppression or swept gain
control, or STC (sensitivity time control). In a slight sea, there will be
indications of sea-echoes on the PPI, around the center spot, up to a range of
about 3 to 4 miles. Paint on the PPI caused by sea-echoes is called clutter.
This control should be so adjusted that targets within the clutter area appear
just brighter than the clutter.
• Range Rings : The Range Rings are also called calibration rings, which are
constant equidistant circles. The brightness of the Range Rings can be varied,
as required, by the observer.
• Variable Range Marker : Variable Range Marker appears as a circle on the
PPI. The radius of this circle can be varied by the observer. The value of the
radius indicates the distance in nautical miles and is shown by a digital
display. The brightness of the VRM can be adjusted by the observer.
• Electronic Bearing Line : EBL is a radial line that is made to appear on the
PPI when required. The EBL does no flash when the rotating trace passes
over it. The EBL can be rotated and made to pass through the target on the
PPI. The angle between the EBL and HM can be displayed in a digital
display and is the bearing of the target.
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 • Procedure to switch on the Radar
• Make sure that the scanner is clear
• Set gain control, brilliance, anti clutter, and anti rain clutter to minimum
• Set the main function switch to Stand by
• Set range selector switch to desired range
• Set PL selector switch to desired pulse required
• Make sure EBL, VRM, and RR switches are set at minimum
• Set presentation mode to RM stabilized mode
• Adjust panel lights as desired
• When the Ready lamp glows, set the main function switch to transmit
• Gradually increase the brilliance until the rotating trace becomes visible. Now
gradually decrease the brilliance until the trace just disappears. The brilliance has been
now set correctly, which will not generally require further adjustment.
• If brilliance control is provided for HM, turn it down. This control will not and must
not blank out the HM completely.
• Make sure that the electronic center and geometric center of the display coincide.
• Check that the HM is properly aligned.
• Gradually increase the gain until the receiver noise is just visible as speckled
background
• Check the efficiency of the set
• Adjust other control as necessary
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Racon : A Racon is a radar responder beacon. The name is derived from Radar
beacon. When the ship’s pulse arrives at the Racon, the Racon amplifies and returns
the pulse to the scanner as a fairly strong signal of the same frequency. This signal
creates a short, bright line on the PPI. Because of a slight, pre-set, time delay, the
signal of the Racon arrives after the normal echo of the structure of the beacon. The
result is an exclamation mark whose dot is the correct position of the Racon. Bearing
and range of the Racon are, therefore, available. Once a Racon responds to a particular
frequency, it will not respond to that frequency again for a few minutes. In order that a
Racon will not unnecessarily respond to ships that are too far away, the Racon is
adjusted such that it will not respond unless the ship’s pulse that arrives is above
predetermined signal strength. The effective range of a Racon is about 30 miles.
Where several buoys etc., in same area have Racons fitted on them, the Racon signal of
each object is so designed as to appear as a different Morse letter, for identification. A
Racon is useful in identifying buoys, light-vessels, etc.

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Search And Rescue Transponder (SART) : SART enables search and rescue units to
locate ships or their survival craft when in distress. It is a portable device to be taken to
the lifeboat or liferaft when abandoning ship. As the name suggests, it transmits as a
responder – responds to the radar signals, like a Racon, but is otherwise inactive.
When interrogated by the ‘X’ band radar (3 cm), SART gets triggered in to transmitting a
series of twelve 400 mW pulses. These pulses appear as a distinctive line of 12 blips on
the PPI of the ‘X’ band radar. The signals extend outwards from the position of the SART,
along the line of bearing, for distance of 8 nm on the PPI. The gap between successive
blips is 0.6 nm. As the SAR unit nears the SART, the blips change to wide arcs. These
arcs turn to concentric circles when the SAR unit is within about one mile from the SART.
A SART responds to ‘X’ band radar signals from ships with a scanner height of 15 meters
at a range of 5 nm or from SAR aircraft flying at a height of 3000 ft, at a range of 30 nm.
The SART has thermoplastic body of highly visible yellow or orange colour. SART can
operate for 96 hours in ‘stand by’ mode and 8 hours in ‘active’ mode. SART should be
capable of manual activation and deactivation. SART should not be unduly affected by
sea water or oil and be water-tight when submerged at a depth of 10 meters for 5 minutes.

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Display orientation (Head-up, North-up & Course-up)

Head-up orientation
This orientation is so called, because the observer views the picture with the
heading marker at the ‘top’ of the screen, 12 O’clock position. The attractive
feature of the Head-up orientation is that it corresponds directly with the
scene as viewed through the wheelhouse. Thus, irrespective of whether the
officer is viewing the radar screen or looking forward through the
wheelhouse, objects on the starboard side of the ship will lie on the right and
those on the port side will lie on the left. The bearings read off from this
orientation are measured relative to the ship’s head and must be
converted to true bearings for use in collision avoidance and navigation.

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North-up orientation
In North-up orientation, the heading marker is aligned with that graduation
on the fixed bearing scale which corresponds with the instantaneous value of
the ship’s heading. As a result, the 0000 graduation represents true north. Thus
the observer views the picture with north at the ‘top’ of the screen, 12 O’clock
position and it is for this reason that the orientation is so named. The
orientation compares directly with the chart. The bearings read off from
this orientation are true bearings.

Course-up orientation
In Course-up orientation, the heading marker is aligned with that graduation
on the fixed bearing scale which corresponds with the instantaneous value of
the ship’s heading, and is displayed at 12 O’clock position on the display unit.
The 0000 graduation represents true north. The bearings read off from this
orientation are true bearings. The right side of the PPI is the starboard side
of the ship and the left, the portside. The only drawback is that the radar
display is course-up while the chart is north-up. Hence comparison with the
chart is not easy. Also course alteration cause the heading marker to move
away from the 12 O’clock position on the display unit and same can be
adjusted again to align at 12 O’clock position by pressing course-up button.

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 Radar logbook

The radar logbook serves two functions :

• One technical .
• The other operational.

On the technical side, information recorded in the logbook would

include: maintenance and repairs carried out, spares on board and their
part numbers, technical and performance details and information
concerning arcs of shadow and blind sectors.

On the operational side, information recorded in the logbook would

include: details of detection ranges for various types of targets and
information concerning detection ranges of conspicuous objects.

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 Radar plotting OAW Triangle

Radar plotting is used for obtaining all necessary collision avoidance and
navigational information from two or more observations of each target on a
radar screen. Plotting involves the construction of a triangle of relative
velocities. Plotting may be basically divided into two parts, i.e. relative
plotting and true plotting. For plotting purpose, plotting sheets are required.

The following letters are used to denote various points on the plotting sheet:

C Center of the plotting sheet, representing the origin of the display.

O Relative position of the target at the beginning of the plotting interval.
A Relative position of the target at the end of the plotting interval.
OA The relative movement of the target across the radar screen.
N The closest point of approach (CPA). CN is perpendicular to OA produced.
CN Nearest approach or range at CPA.
WO Own ship’s course and distance during the plotting interval.
WA Target’s course and distance during the plotting interval .

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 Weather effects on Radar Performance
As the radio waves pass through the atmosphere, some of the energy is lost due to
absorption, scattering, diffraction, etc. Weather conditions such as drizzle, rain,
snow, fog, sand storm cause varying amounts of attenuation and attenuation causes
loss of echo strength, thereby reducing the detection range.
Drizzle : Small drops of water, less than 0.5 mm, is known as drizzle. Detection
range of targets within or beyond the drizzle area is not much affected. Targets
within the drizzle area generally show up clearly.
Rain : Falling drops of water larger than 0.5 mm is called rain. Rainfall areas
clearly show up on the PPI. Targets inside the rainfall area may be distinguishable
by the use of “Rain Clutter”.
Hail : Hail stones give echoes on the PPI. Small hail stones give weak echoes and
large hail stones (larger than 6 mm diameter) give stronger echoes. The rate of
precipitation with hail usually being less than with rain, attenuation due to hail is
generally much less.
Snow : If snow falls in single crystals, echoes from snow are not troublesome,
unless snowfall is extremely heavy. However if it is as large flakes, the echoes show
up on the PPI like rain.
Fog : Echoes from fog particles is negligible, but attenuation may be severe. In
cold climates, dense fog will appreciably decrease the detection range of all targets.
Sand Storms: The sand storms (common in Red sea, Persian gulf, etc.) greatly
reduce the optical visibility, however no adverse effect on radar performance has
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 Anomalous Propagation

Anomalous (non-standard) propagation is the changing of the distance of the radar

horizon, due to changes in the atmospheric conditions.

Sub-refraction : If the radar rays bend less than usual, they will touch the earth’s
surface at some point closer than the standard radar horizon and this decreases the
detection range of surface targets. This kind of anomalous propagation is called sub-
refraction. Sub-refraction will be found whenever a cold breeze blows over a warm sea .

Super-refraction : If the radar rays bend more than usual, they will touch the
earth’s surface at some point beyond the standard radar horizon and this increases the
detection range of surface targets. This kind of anomalous propagation is called
super-refraction. Super-refraction will be found whenever a warm breeze blows over
a cold sea
Ducting : If the rays leaving the scanner are refracted downwards very sharply,
strike the sea surface, are reflected upwards , are refracted downwards again, strike
the sea at some further point and so on continuously , they effectively follow the
curvature of the earth and carry the energy to great distances, without much loss. As
the energy is virtually trapped within a narrow belt or “duct”, this form of severe
super-refraction is called ‘ducting’. Ducting can be caused where there is sharp
decrease of humidity.
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 Automatic Radar Plotting Aid

A marine radar with Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA) capability can
create tracks using radar targets. The system can calculate the tracked
object's course, speed and closest point of approach (CPA), thereby knowing
if there is a danger of collision with the other ship or landmass.

Information regarding target available on the ARPA:

RANGE
TRUE BEARING
CLOSEST POINT OF APPROACH
TIME FOR CLOSEST POINT OF APPROACH
COURSE
SPEED THROUGH WATER
BOW CROSSING RANGE
BOW CROSSING TIME

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