RADAR
Radar Glossary
Radar — Radar
Information on Radar
The term radar is an acronym for the
phrase RAdio Detection And Ranging, and is used to describe
systems that use electromagnetic energy to detect distant objects and
possibly determine other characteristics such as direction and range.
Thomas Edison
filed a patent in 1885 for what appears to be
the earliest form of radar designed to avoid
collisions at sea. Interest was again excited in the concept
of transmitting electromagnetic waves over the surface of the earth
in 1901 when Marconi demonstrated the transmission of electromagnetic signals
across the Atlantic . The British were pioneers in radar, realising the potential of the science during the
lead up to World War II]. Operational radar
systems were successfully employed during World War II to assist
with navigation and target detection. Interestingly, the field of radar-related electronic warfare (EW) was also born during this
era as both German and British engineers developed the earliest
forms of chaff (called window by the British). Radar theory and techniques continue to develop rapidly from these
early beginnings.
Radar is superior to the human eye
in a number of ways. Firstly, radar is
able to "see" in conditions associated with poor human visibility,
including darkness, rain, fog, cloud and so on. Radar also has the ability to "see" distances in excess
of the human eye and provide more precise measures of
target range, relative target velocity and target bearing (in both
azimuth and elevation).
The human eye has some advantages over radar, however. The human eye has far better resolution
than radar systems in that the human eye
can resolve two targets even if they are very close
together, where radar systems may only see one
large target. Human eyes can also gather much more detailed
visual information on a specific target such as colour, shape,
and texture. The gap between radar and human
eyes in terms of resolution, in particular, is closing as
advanced signal processing techniques associated with modern radars push radar performance to new heights.
Other topics in our resources on Radar related to Radar include:
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