MARITIME NAVIGATION Radar

Vladimir LEBEDEV Senior Technical Officer MARITIME SAFETY DIVISION

History
New technologies of Radar become available to Merchant Shipping with the end of hostilities in 1945 Radar on Merchant Ships was initially installed for commercial purposes
on ferries to maintain better schedules in fog; and large fishing vessels

Radar was treated with great suspicion by the mariners

History
With improving technology and after some time the use of Radar for safety purposes was recognized Misinterpretation of Radar information had not resulted in any reduction of the number of serious collisions at sea

History
International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea in 1960 revised the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea by adding rules to take account of the use of Radar and recommendations on the use of Radar information as an aid to avoiding collisions at sea

History
The International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea in 1974 adopted provisions to the SOLAS Convention making Radar a mandatory carriage requirement for Merchant Ships in a phased programme starting in 1980, which finally completed in 2002

SOLAS requirements
All Merchant Ships of 300 gross tonnage and over now shall carry a Radar and many carry two IMO adopted performance standards for marine Radars, which are used in connection/integration with other navigational equipment required to carry on board ships such as,

SOLAS requirements
- an automated target tracking aid - ARPA - AIS - ECDIS - GNSS - others

NON-SOLAS ships
Many small craft (millions?) also carry Radar voluntary as manufacturers have produced cost effective designs for their needs

The Shipmasters Point of View

The Key Facts are:
That Radar remains (and will remain) the primary system for Collision Avoidance; and Radar is a very important tool for Navigation

Why is Radar such a valuable tool?

The Master and watch-keepers have Confidence in information Radar provides because:
Its operation is Ship based Its not reliant on third party sources It has a proven track record Radar is useful with SARTs when engaged in search and rescue

In Short
In its display, Radar offers the watchkeepers the basic reality of all targets relative to the ship It therefore aids the watch-keepers and helps in decision making for both
Navigation; and Collision Avoidance

COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Early action is required to avoid a close quarters situation, therefore early identification of closing targets is essential Watch-keeping officers need to be competent in the use of Radar and are trained in its use and the application of ARPA

Some IMO requirements

Maximum emergency stopping distance from full speed of the ship should not be more that 15 ships lengths
Emergency turn radius of the ship should not be more that 2.5 ships length

Ship parameters
Speed up to 25 knots Length
Largest container ship 335 m Capesize bulker 300 m Panamax 220-230 m

Ship parameters
Emergency stopping distance 3.3 km 5 km (1.8 nm 2.7 nm) Emergency turning radius 550 m 840 m (0.3 nm 0.45 nm) Displacement weights 100 000 250 000 tonnes

Practical requirements
To start plotting targets and determining their course and speed when the target is between 8 and 10 nautical miles off

NAVIGATION
Radar gives accurate information on distance from charted features and assists in maintaining the ships course Radar will normally show a 60 metre high land mass at a range of 20 miles. This is considered by seafarers as a minimum requirement

Res. MSC. 192(79)

Target Description Target Feature Detection Range in NM6
Target description5 Height above sea level in metres Rising to 60 Rising to 6 Rising to 3 10 5.0 4.0 X-Band NM 20 8 6 11 8 5.0 S-Band NM 20 8 6 11 8 3.7 Shorelines Shorelines Shorelines SOLAS ships (>5,000 gross tonnage) SOLAS ships (>500 gross tonnage) Small vessel with radar reflector meeting IMO Performance Standards1 Navigation buoy with corner reflector2 Typical Navigation buoy3 Small vessel of length 10 m with no radar reflector4

3.5 3.5 2.0

4.9 4.6 3.4

3.6 3.0 3.0

Discrimination of targets from a watch-keepers perspective

To be able to distinguish a tug from its tow at sea at 12 miles range Approaching a rig on a supply vessel:
To clearly identify the standby boat from the rig at 6 miles range To be able to distinguish the anchor pennant buoys of a semi submersible rig at 3 miles range

Res. MSC.192(79)
5.5.1 Range
The radar system should be capable of displaying two point targets on the same bearing, separated by 40 m in range, as to distinct objects.

5.5.2 Bearing
The radar system should be capable of displaying two point targets on the same range, separated by 2.5 in bearing, as to distinct objects.

NAVIGATION
Radar greatly assists navigation during poor visibility
Pilots rely on Radar at close range in reduced visibility to pass buoys and beacons.

Res.MSC.192(79)
5.4 Minimum Range
5.4.1 With own ship at zero speed, an antenna height of 15 m above the sea level and in calm conditions, the navigational buoy in Table 2 should be detected at a minimum horizontal range of 40 m from the antenna position and up to a range of 1 NM, without changing the setting of control functions other than the range scale selector.

In engineering terms
Res. ITU-R M.1313 Power 30-70 kW Horizontal Beamwidth 0.75 4 degrees Pulse width 0.03 1.2 microsec PRF 4000 375 Hz Noise figure 3 8 dB

Antennae
Pitch 3 degrees
Roll 25 degrees Yaw 5 degrees

So vertical beamwidth 20 30 degrees

WP 8B Report Nov 03
Radar B 1.0 Baseline = 0.93 +/-0.016 0.9

0.8

0.7

Probability of detection

0.6

0.5

ENG OB interference 64 QAM Pulsed interference 1 us 0.1% dc Pulsed interference 2 us 0.1% dc Pulsed interference 1 us 1% dc Pulsed interference 2 us 1% dc ENG OB interference 16 QAM CDMA 2000 interference CDMA wideband interference

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

-12

-9

-6

-3

12

15

18

21

24

27

30

33

36

39

I/N ratio of interference, dB

WP 8B 2001

WP 8B 2001

Thank you!