The Search Factor in Detecting Weak Radar Targets

摘要

A laboratory investigation of the effect of size of area over which the radar operator searches for targets on the rapidity of detecting incoming targets is reported. Results of the investigation indicate that over very wide ranges of search area and for targets greater than ten degrees in lobe width there is no dependence of detectability on area of search, either for noise-free scopes or those cluttered with video noise. There is some evidence that for targets less than ten degrees in lobe width, however, area of search can be a significant, though relatively small factor in detectability, provided the target must be discriminated from a noise background. There are several implications of the present data for radar practice and for rational treatments of effective radar ranges insofar as they involve an expression for probability of detection. The question is raised whether overall probability of detection might not be increased by the simultaneous use of two or more operators on a given scope. If this should be a genuine problem, its method of resolution will turn, among other things, on the size of the area-of-search factor.