Radar and ARPA Manual

This fully revised new edition covers the complete radar/ARPA installation and serves as the most comprehensive and up-to-date reference on equipment and techniques for radar observers using older and newer systems alike. Suitable for use as a professional reference or as a training text, the book covers all aspects of radar, ARPA and integrated bridge systems technology (including AIS, ECDIS and GNSS) and their role in shipboard operations. It is a valuable resource for larger vessels and also covers the needs of leisure and amateur sailors for whom this technology is now accessible.

Radar and ARPA Manual provides essential information for professional mariners, including those on training courses for electronic navigation systems and professional certificates internationally. Reference is made throughout to IMO (International Maritime Organization) Performance Standards, the role of radar in navigation and in collision avoidance, and to international professional and amateur marine operations qualifications.

• The most up-to-date book available, with comprehensive treatment of modern radar and ARPA systems and ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display & Information Systems)
• Full coverage of IMO performance standards relating to radar and navigational technology on new and established vessels
• Covers best practice use of equipment as well as underlying principles, with essential mathematics and complicated concepts illustrated through the use of clear illustrations

Professional mariners, port, ship & boat managers ashore, leisure industry users, boat & shipbuilders, yacht skippers, naval architects, ship equipment specifiers, maritime lawyers, port & harbour authorities, marine equipment manufacturers, and command level marine students studying for deck and navigation qualifications.

Dedication

Preface to the Third Edition

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1. Basic Radar Principles

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Principles of Range and Bearing Measurement

1.3 Principles of Bearing Measurement

1.4 Display Modes

1.5 Motion and Stabilization Modes

Chapter 2. The Radar System – Technical Principles

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Basic Functionality

2.3 The Radar Signal

2.4 The Radar Transmitter

2.5 Antenna Principles

2.6 Radar Signal Reception and Processing

2.7 Radar Processing Principles

2.8 The Radar Display and User Controls

2.9 Solid-State Radar Principles

2.10 The Siting of Units on Board Ship

Chapter 3. Target Detection

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Radar Characteristics

3.3 Target Characteristics

3.4 Target Enhancement – Passive

3.5 Target Enhancement – Active

3.6 The Detection of Targets in Sea Clutter

3.7 The Detection of Targets in Precipitation Clutter

3.8 The Radar Horizon

3.9 False and Unwanted Radar Responses

Chapter 4. Automatic Radar Target Tracking, Specified Facilities

4.1 Introduction

4.2 The Acquisition of Targets

4.3 The Tracking of Targets

4.4 Vectors

4.5 The ARPA Display

4.6 The Display of Alphanumeric Data

4.7 Alarms and Warnings

4.8 Automatic Ground-Stabilization

4.9 Navigational Lines and Maps (See Also Section 8.4.6.3)

4.10 Target Simulation Facility

4.11 The Predicted Point of Collision

4.12 The Predicted Area of Danger (PAD)

Chapter 5. Automatic Identification System (AIS)

5.1 Organization of AIS Transmissions

5.2 AIS Information Transmitted by a Class A Vessel

5.3 AIS Messages and Types

5.4 AIS Units and Bridge Displays

5.5 AIS Usability

5.6 Benefits of AIS to Shore Monitoring Stations

5.7 Radar/ARPA and AIS Comparison for Collision Avoidance

5.8 Other AIS Applications and Applications Associated with AIS

Chapter 6. Operational Controls

6.1 Use of Controls and Optimum Performance

6.2 Setting Up the Radar Display

6.3 Performance Monitoring

6.4 Change of Range Scale and/or Pulse Length

6.5 The Stand-by Condition

6.6 Controls for Range and Bearing Measurement

6.7 Controls for the Suppression of Unwanted Responses

6.8 Echo Stretch

6.9 Using an Automatic Radar Plotting Display

6.10 AIS Operational Controls

Chapter 7. Radar Plotting Including Collision Avoidance

7.1 Introduction

7.2 The Relative Plot

7.3 The True Plot

7.4 The Plot When Only the Target Manoeuvres

7.5 The Plot When the Own ship Manoeuvres

7.6 The Theory and Construction of PPCs, PADs, SODs and SOPs

7.7 The Plot in Tide

7.8 Manual Plotting – Accuracy and Errors

7.9 Errors Associated with the True-Motion Presentation

7.10 Radar Plotting Aids

7.11 The Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea as Applied to Radar and ARPA

7.12 Intelligent Knowledge-Based Systems as Applied to Collision Avoidance

Chapter 8. Navigation Techniques Using Radar and ARPA

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Identification of Targets and Chart Comparison

8.3 Position Fixing

8.4 Parallel Indexing

Chapter 9. ARPA – Accuracy and Errors

9.1 Introduction

9.2 The Accuracy of Displayed Data Required by the Performance Standard

9.3 The Classification of ARPA Error Sources

9.4 Errors that are Generated in the Radar Installation

9.5 Errors in Displayed Data

9.6 Errors of Interpretation

Chapter 10. Ancillary Equipment

10.1 Global Navigation Satellite Systems

10.2 Electronic Charts (ECDIS)

10.3 Integrated Systems

10.4 Voyage Data Recorders (SEE ALSO SECTION 11.3.5)

Chapter 11. Extracts from Official Publications

11.1 Extracts from Regulation 19, Chapter V, Safety of Navigation, of IMO-SOLAS Convention

11.2 IMO Performance Standards for Radar Equipment

11.3 IMO Performance Standards for Other Related Equipment

11.4 Extracts from UK Statutory Instrument 1993 No. 69, the Merchant Shipping (Navigational Equipment) Regulations 1993

Glossary of Acronyms and Abbreviations

Index