Direction finder

RADAR (Radio Detecting And Ranging) RADAR is an important navigational aid, working with radio waves. The word RADAR was coined in 1941 and stand for an acronym of RAdio Detection And Ranging. The radar is useful in guiding the navigator especially when sailing in coastal waters and always when visibility is poor. Radar is used to identify any objects including ships and buoys and to measure the range, altitude, direction, or speed of both moving and fixed objects. Radar can also be used in clear visibility for navigation or collision avoidance purposes by detecting the objects or targets above the water level. also called as radio location. Waves applied in Radar are high frequency radio waves. The frequency ranges between 100MKz with a wave length of 3meters to 60,000MHz, with a wave length of 5mm.

Working Principle of Radar Basically radar works on the same principle as an echo sounder but use radio waves instead of sound waves. Radar sends radio waves with the help of directional antenna to particular direction. The radio wave travels with the speed of light that is 3x10 8 m/s, hit an object if any, on the way of radio wave and bounce back as echo. Since the waves travel at a constant speed (3x10 8 m/s), the distance of an object can be calculated by noting the time interval between transmission of a wave and reception of an echo.

Components of RADAR Modulator Modulator is the heart of the system. It produces electric pulses that triggers the transmitter to send the specified number of radio signals. Also it controls all the time related functions in radar. Transmitter. The transmitter generates powerful pulses of radio frequency (RF) in the form of short pulses with definite intervals. The radio waves are usually sent in short pulses, with each pulse duration fraction of a microsecond. (A microsecond 1/10,00,000) Enough time interval will be given for the echoes to return back to the antenna. Normally, 50 pulses per second are sent from the transmitter. Duplexer The duplexer is an electronic switch that alternately connects the transmitter and receiver to the antenna, which facilitate to transmit the pulse and to receive the echo.

Antenna (Scanner) also known as scanner takes the radio frequency energy from the transmitter and send to air in a well defined directional beam. The antenna system also receives any returning echoes and passes them to the receiver. The antenna is capable of rotating 360 o ( always rotate in clockwise) with a speed of rpm.

Receiver The receiver receives the weak echo signals from antenna, amplifies and produces them as video pulses to be applied to the indicator Indicator( display unit) indicator or display unit produces a visual output to the observer in easily understandable picture of the relative position of radar targets from the scope’s center. Radar determines distance of an object by calculating the time required for a radio signal to travel from a transmitter to an object and return back as echo. The radar can also determine bearing of an object. The common display used in radar is Plan Position Indicator (PPI). The information of return echo is converted into brightness and then displayed in the same relative direction as the antenna orientation.

Advantages The advantages of radar are : 1. It is used at night hours and low visibility time. 2. It gives the accurate picture about the objects available around the vessel. 3. It is also useful to trace heavy storms and low pressures areas 4. It is possible to take bearing of any object around a vessel. 5. The distance between the vessel and target can be measured The direction of movement of vessel can be found out

Decca Navigator Decca is a hyperbolic radio navigation system used for fixing a ship’s position with great accuracy. This system was established in UK during World War II and later used in many areas around the world. The Decca system work with minimum three shore based transmitter stations called ‘Chains’ operating within the frequency range of kHz. Each chain comprised of one Master station and two or three Slave stations ( identified in terms of Red, Green and Purple colours), usually located 80 to 110 Nm from the Master station. T he Slaves are positioned at the vertices of an equilateral triangle with the Master at the centre. Each station transmitted a continuous radio wave signal, and each station signal was identified with the phase difference from the Master and other Slaves. These phase difference formed a set of hyperbolic lines of position called a ‘pattern’. The three Slaves were identified by different colours namely, Red, Green and Purple. The hyperbola patterns were drawn on nautical charts as a set of lines with the designated colour. Decca receivers fixed onboard a vessel identified the hyperbola by phase difference and intersection of the hyperbola from different patterns. The accuracy of Decca system ranged from 50 meters during daytime to 200 meters at night.

Working principle of Decca Navigator Propagation of radio waves is dependent upon factors such as frequency of the transmission, time of the day, distance between transmitter and receiver etc,. If simultaneous transmissions are made from master and slave stations, then the signals will arrive at the same time on the Centreline, but at any point of the hyperbole with a time difference. If the time difference is obtained it can be plotted as a LOP in the Decca chart of that particular area(chain of Decca system will be overprinted on a navigation chart, called a lattice).

Decometers The phase differences between the signals of two stations are displayed on phase meters called 'decometers'. The readings of the decometers are plotted onto Decca lattice charts, on which the lines of position are numbered in the same units as those shown on the decometers. The decometer gives the readings continuously depending on the coverage. Two readings of decameters are taken simultaneously to fix the vessel’s position.

The Decca Chain A Decca chain consists a master station controlling the phase of three slaves, which are positioned about 120 degrees apart, at a radius of 60 to 100 miles from the master. This network will cover the maximum possible area. · Master Station normally transmitting signal within the range of kHz, · Red Slave Station transmitting a “ 8f ” signal in the kHz, · Green Slave transmitting a “ 9f ” signal in the kHz, · Purple Slave transmitting a “ 5f ” signal in the kHz.

LORAN (Long-Range Navigation) LORAN is a hyperbolic terrestrial radio navigation system developed by US Army in 1940’s. LORAN is an acronym for Long Range Navigation. The Loran position-fixing system was developed during World War II by the U.S. to aid marine navigation with the operating frequency 2 MHz, this system was known as Loran A. Then they developed Loran B system, which was a high-accuracy version of Loran A, was not implemented because propagation disturbances rendered cycle selection unreliable. The Loran C system is an improved system developed from Loran A to provide greater range and for accurate navigation. After the termination of LORAN A in 1980, Loran C quickly deployed. The current version of LORAN is LORAN-C. LORAN system is a net work of land based radio transmitters (one master and 2,3 or 4 slaves or secondary stations called a chain ). The LORAN system works with low or very low frequency bands raning between 90kHz kHz with the transmitting power of kilowatts. The operation range of LORAN system is more than 1000 nautical miles (1800 km). Many nations use this system, including the United States, Japan, and several European countries. Russia uses a nearly identical system to LORAN in the same frequency range, called CHAYKA.In India, Loran-c is functional at two places viz. Diamond Harbor, Calcutta (GRI 5543) and Dhrangadhra, Bombay (GRI 6042).

LORAN -Working principle LORAN is working based on the principle of the time difference between the receipt of radio signals from two radio transmitters positions at different places. The theory is to calculate the time between reception of the signals from the MASTER and SLAVE stations, which are emitted at different frequencies. The constant time difference between the radio signals from the two different stations can be represented by a hyperbolic line of position (LOP). The position of the receiver (vessel) can be determined by identifying the positions of the two synchronized stations. The vessel’s position is found as the intersection of the line of two LORAN stations. Even though LORAN-C is the latest system, which was discontinued due to costlier in operation. U.S. Coast Guard terminated the transmission of all U.S. LORAN-C signals on February 8, 2010 A LORAN Unit consists of the following parts,

SIGNAL PROCESSOR Receives the signals, process and calculate the difference between the time of arrival of each secondary station pulse group and the master station pulse group. NAVIGATION COMPUTER - converts time difference values to location corresponding latitude and longitude.

CONTROL and DISPLAY –displays the readings LORAN-C is applied in the following fields, 1. As an electronic aid to marine navigation( Position in terms of Latitude-Longitude, Bearing and distance, Ground speed and Course deviation Indicator) 2. Used in airborne and land position fixing 3. Used in determination of atmospheric winds. For this application, meteorological probes, in the form of balloon-borne radio sondes, retransmit narrow-band Loran C signals to be processed at the tracking facility. 4. Used for radiolocation, automatic vehicle monitoring in both rural and urban environments on land.