Radar
Radar is short for radio detection and ranging, which is exactly what it does and is used for. Radar is one of the most important inventions that have been made that involve the electromagnetic spectrum. Radar has helped in winning World War II by detecting attackers while at a safe distance. Radar currently helps ships from colliding with one another and keeps planes from having mid-air collisions. Radar has many more practical uses and many more will continue to be developed for it.
Radar slowly came to be over a period of about 100 years. In 1887, the German scientist, Heinrich Hertz, discovered that radio waves at a certain frequency could travel through certain materials, would be absorbed my others, and reflected by the rest. He was the man we credit with discovering the base information of radar, and we use his name as a measurement of radio wave frequency, Hertz, or Hz. Sometime in the early 1900's, a German engineer, Chistian Huelsmeyer, invented a device called the "Telemobiloscope," a device that could detect an object up to 3 kilometers away under perfect conditions. (Clear weather, no fog, low surf if on water, and a standstill target) He had originally targeted the marine shipping industry as his main buyer, but the companies had shown no interest. The person who has received the most credit in contributing to the invention of modern radar is Sir Robert Wattson, a meteorologist. He used radio waves emitted from lightning strikes to map out their location and determine how far away it was, and he was successful in doing so. However, there was difficulty in finding which direction the high-speed wave was coming from, so in 1926, the invention of a rotating radar receptor/broadcaster solved the problem.
Different types of radar work using the same type of rays, but each type works with different frequencies. Standard radar (used with aircraft and Doppler radar systems) works with radio waves at frequencies between 1 and 2.5 GHz. (1 GHz = 1,000,000 Hz) Ground penetrating radars, like the ones used to find bodies after an avalanche or building collapse, operate in frequencies between 50-900 MHz. Radar works by first emitting a pulse of radio waves for a certain amount of time according to the distance from the area to be searched. As the radio waves travel through the air, they will bounce off of objects and sent flying in a different direction. When radio waves bounce back in the exact opposite direction from which they hit, they are sent back to the broadcasting antenna. In the receiving station, the returned radio waves are interpreted (previously an oscilloscope) into dots on a small screen and each object that was picked up carries a sound, making the operator able to identify the target.
In 1941, the first military radar system was deployed in Britain. This system was called "Chain Home" and was used in WWII to identify and locate German fighter planes on attack runs. This gave Britain the upper hand, for they were able to deploy fighters to shoot down the attackers while the Germans were still well away from their targets. Later on, the system proved to be a big help for the military in winning the battle of Britain. During the Persian Gulf War, radar systems proved a big help to America. By that time, radar tracking systems had evolved to the point where ground troops could be tracked by satellites with onboard radar systems, and this greatly reduced the amount of friendly fire, which helped boost the army's image in the eyes of the public as fast, accurate and high tech.
Radar is short for radio detection and ranging, which is exactly what it does and is used for. Radar is one of the most important inventions that have been made that involve the electromagnetic spectrum. Radar has helped in winning World War II by detecting attackers while at a safe distance. Radar currently helps ships from colliding with one another and keeps planes from having mid-air collisions. Radar has many more practical uses and many more will continue to be developed for it.
Radar slowly came to be over a period of about 100 years. In 1887, the German scientist, Heinrich Hertz, discovered that radio waves at a certain frequency could travel through certain materials, would be absorbed my others, and reflected by the rest. He was the man we credit with discovering the base information of radar, and we use his name as a measurement of radio wave frequency, Hertz, or Hz. Sometime in the early 1900's, a German engineer, Chistian Huelsmeyer, invented a device called the "Telemobiloscope," a device that could detect an object up to 3 kilometers away under perfect conditions. (Clear weather, no fog, low surf if on water, and a standstill target) He had originally targeted the marine shipping industry as his main buyer, but the companies had shown no interest. The person who has received the most credit in contributing to the invention of modern radar is Sir Robert Wattson, a meteorologist. He used radio waves emitted from lightning strikes to map out their location and determine how far away it was, and he was successful in doing so. However, there was difficulty in finding which direction the high-speed wave was coming from, so in 1926, the invention of a rotating radar receptor/broadcaster solved the problem.
Different types of radar work using the same type of rays, but each type works with different frequencies. Standard radar (used with aircraft and Doppler radar systems) works with radio waves at frequencies between 1 and 2.5 GHz. (1 GHz = 1,000,000 Hz) Ground penetrating radars, like the ones used to find bodies after an avalanche or building collapse, operate in frequencies between 50-900 MHz. Radar works by first emitting a pulse of radio waves for a certain amount of time according to the distance from the area to be searched. As the radio waves travel through the air, they will bounce off of objects and sent flying in a different direction. When radio waves bounce back in the exact opposite direction from which they hit, they are sent back to the broadcasting antenna. In the receiving station, the returned radio waves are interpreted (previously an oscilloscope) into dots on a small screen and each object that was picked up carries a sound, making the operator able to identify the target.
In 1941, the first military radar system was deployed in Britain. This system was called "Chain Home" and was used in WWII to identify and locate German fighter planes on attack runs. This gave Britain the upper hand, for they were able to deploy fighters to shoot down the attackers while the Germans were still well away from their targets. Later on, the system proved to be a big help for the military in winning the battle of Britain. During the Persian Gulf War, radar systems proved a big help to America. By that time, radar tracking systems had evolved to the point where ground troops could be tracked by satellites with onboard radar systems, and this greatly reduced the amount of friendly fire, which helped boost the army's image in the eyes of the public as fast, accurate and high tech.