Marine radar how does it work

All boat radar has rings displayed on the screen, which let you see at a glance approximately how far off a target is. The important thing is for you to be aware of the range rings and how your unit indicates target range, so you always know how far off those targets are. While land and channel markers are static, boats are moving targets. This can be important in reduced visibility, so you know if there will be the potential for collision danger. Sea state, for example, can cause your boat to pitch in the waves.

Another example is heavy rain, which can blanket a portion of your screen and hide the returns of other targets. Many units can overlay the radar view over your chartplotter, which makes identifying land masses and markers far, far easier. This is one of the reasons why a boat radar should really be set up by a pro. The RADAR signal is sent out and comes in contact with this boat, it then bounces off the boat and registers on the receiver.

The receiver sends this signal to the computer, which measures the time it took for the signal to reflect back. If the computer knows how fast the beam is traveling, the speed of the reflection can be applied to a formula to find the distance.

The unit is constantly spinning on top of your boat, so the RADAR beam is actually being swept across the water all around you. The radar system out electromagnetic waves as a high-speed, signal which will travel several miles in the direction of radar facing. If there are no objects in the direction of the wave, the radar screen will show blank. If there is an object, which will reflect the wave back to the radar, the computer set up of the radar will determine the distance between the ship and the object along with its location.

Hence, it can be said that the radar basically reads two things — The position of the object and the direction of the same. Position of the object: The radar antenna is continuously rotating on top of the ship sending and receiving signals. Hence, the radar is sweeping the signals all around the ship. As the radar pulse waves are reflected by an object, it will travel in the same direction and will be received by the radar detecting the position of the object.

When the pulses are received back, the computer screen will log the position. Distance from the ship: As the radar antenna is constantly sending and receiving signals from the object on the way of the electromagnetic signal, the received signal is sent back to the computer unit, which calculates the time taken for the signal to reflect back to the radar.

Once the computer knows the time, it will calculate the distance by using the speed and time formula. The basic components of marine radar are shown in the below diagram:. The marine radar is a much bigger subject than is laid out in the article which only skims the surface of the operation and the uses of the radar.

As an OOW, it is important to be thorough with the radar and study its operation and features extensively along with the limitations of the radar. The most important point about marine radars is that the screens used to view the position of the objects are either LED screens or monochrome screens. With such perfect screens, the clarity of the objects is highlighted even further. Also since these screens are waterproof there is no threat of interruption to the ship radar system in times of rough weather.

The tracking ship system has further been developed to include even boats. One major advantage of marine radars is that the power and electricity consumption by them is far too less.