TABLE OF CONTENTS '... intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.'
W. S. Gilbert, The Mikado
This chapter presents hypothetical case studies of radar system detectability, using the spreadsheets of Chapter 14 to illustrate some of the factors meriting consideration when designing, specifying or analysing the detection aspects of typical systems. Likely importance of the major factors in play are indicated, but, rather than relying on the chapter's results as a rule of thumb, readers should take the plunge and run the spreadsheets for their specific systems. For brevity, this chapter excludes some of the re-iterations and alternatives necessary to real-life situations. None of the equipment represents any particular make or model.
Ranges are usually stated to two places of decimals. Readers of Chapter 13 will appreciate that the calculations contain so many uncertainties and approximations that range accuracy is really much poorer, with perhaps a kilometre or more error. However, if one of a pair of closely related calculations gives a range which is say 1.00 km more than the second, the true range difference will probably lie within say 20 per cent of 1 km.
The radar is a typical shipboard 9 GHz installation, the target being a small craft having RCS 15 dB m 2 (31.62 m 2), tip height 3 m, height factor n = 0.5, 10 per cent screened by waves and Swerling Case 3a fluctuation. We...
