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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2010

Gudrun Hilgerloh ,
Tanja Caprano  and
Eva Maria Griebeler
Gudrun Hilgerloh*
Affiliation:
(University of Mainz, Germany)
Tanja Caprano
Affiliation:
(University of Mainz, Germany)
Eva Maria Griebeler
Affiliation:
(University of Mainz, Germany)
*
(Email: gudrun.hilgerloh@t-online.de)
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Abstract

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.

Keywords

Ship radarBeam widthCalibrationSongbirds
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 363 - 371
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 2010

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