Calibrating the Operational Beam Width and Maximum Range of a Ship Radar Used for Bird Observations

In order to analyse quantitative radar observations of bird movements, one needs to know the dimensions of the air space surveyed by the radar. The present study shows how to calibrate the operational beam width and the maximum range of any radar for cross sections for different body sizes of songbi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of navigation 2010-04, Vol.63 (2), p.363-371
Main Authors: Hilgerloh, Gudrun, Caprano, Tanja, Griebeler, Eva Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air traffic control
Applied sciences
Aves
Balloons
Beam width
Beams (structural)
Bird watching
Calibration
Cross sections
Exact sciences and technology
Ground, air and sea transportation, marine construction
Marine and water way transportation and traffic
Radar
Radar systems
Ship radar
Ships
Songbirds
X-band
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Summary:In order to analyse quantitative radar observations of bird movements, one needs to know the dimensions of the air space surveyed by the radar. The present study shows how to calibrate the operational beam width and the maximum range of any radar for cross sections for different body sizes of songbirds. The trial used an X-band fan beam ship radar of 25 KW (Furuno Fr-2125) and a captive balloon. Metal spheres of different diameters, fastened to the bottom of the balloon at defined distances, corresponding to the radar cross sections of song birds, were moved in all three dimensions of the air space. Simultaneously to the location by radar, the position of the suspended sphere was measured by theodolites.
ISSN:0373-4633
1469-7785
DOI:10.1017/S0373463309990452