Their echoes only fade away in accordance with the inverse square law, says David Pickles, looking at the development and current state of small-craft radar. For the foreseeable future, radar will remain a primary tool for safe navigation as the ship borne radar sensor performs its function totally independently of externally generated signals. While recently developed systems such as AIS have a significant potential to complement information provided by radar, they cannot replace it as they are heavily dependent on signals and information from sources external to own ship. Radar has been around for over 50 years now and many eminent authors have written papers about the use of radar, so why do so-called radar-related incidents still occur? Well, there are several causes, namely: 1. maladjustment of radar controls 2. misinterpretation of the radar picture 3. not watching the radar attentively enough 4. not understanding the facilities that are available.
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