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OPERATION OF A
MARINE RADAR
SYSTEM
1.1 FUNDAMENTAL
PRINCIPLES OF RADAR
1.2 SAFE DISTANCE
1.3 RADIATION HAZARD
AND PRECAUTIONS
1.4 CHARACTERISTIC OF
RADAR SETS AND FACTORS
AFFECTING PERFORMANCE
AND ACCURACY WITH
REFERENCE TO DETECTIONS
TARGETS
1.4.1
What is the maximum range of radar?
Beamwidth
As an example, the WSR-57 antenna is 12 feet (3.657 meters) in diameter, and the
wavelength is (for 2885 MHz) 10.3986 centimeters. Calculating the beamwidth from the
formula would yield...
71.6 * 10.3986
0= ______________ = 2.036o
365.7
It should be noticed that the spreading
doubles as the range doubles. This linear
relationship is true for all radar beamwidths.
Finally, because of the diffraction of the beam, only about 80% of the
transmitted energy is contained in the -3dB area which we have called the
beamwidth. The same action which causes the widening of the beam also
causes some of the energy (about 20%) to be emitted (in lesser
concentrations) at even wider angles from the antenna. These areas of
energy radiation are called sidelobes. Since the beam is three-
dimensional, so also are the sidelobes, as depicted in the drawing below.
The drawing above shows one of the bursts of electromagnetic waves which could be emitted
by the radar transmitter. The energy is in the form of high-frequency oscillations, the exact
number of which depend on the transmitter frequency and the pulse width (PW).
In the WSR-57 radar, using a pulse width of 4 µSeconds, the energy burst contains about 11,540
oscillations of radio-frequency energy. If we display the burst on an oscilloscope, we can only
view the pulse envelope which contains the high-frequency oscillations. In our NWS radars, we
can view the envelope of the radio-frequency burst by connecting a crystal detector and
oscilloscope to one of the waveguide ports in the radar transmitter. We can only calculate the
number of oscillations in the pulse period.
The action of the pulsed radar energy may be simply depicted in the diagram below. In this
case, our target is meteorological in nature (a thunderstorm).
For now, we'll not discuss the details of the many variations possible in the nature of radar
"targets". Those subjects (regarding weather radar) will be included in subsequent information
sheets.
Pulse Length And Pulse Repetition
Frequency
Consider that the operation of the radar is somewhat similar in function to a
machine gun, firing a "spray" of bullets (energy bursts) as the shooter (the
radar antenna) slowly rotates the direction of aim. In both situations, there
is a discrete period of time between "bullets", and there is also a discrete
length associated with the "bullet" as it travels toward the target. Although
the velocities of the two "bullets" are considerably different, there remains a
distinct relationship (functionally) in the patterns of firings. Consider the
drawing below...
Any question?????......