Evaluation of Surface Craft and Ice Target Detection Performance by the AN/APS-135 Side-Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR)

• Main Authors: Robe, R. Q., Edwards, Jr., N. C., Murphy, D. L., Thayer, N., Hover, G. L.
• Other Authors: ANALYSIS AND TECHNOLOGY INC NORTH STONINGTON CT
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1985
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Active & Passive Radar Detection & Equipment; *TARGETS; *ICE; *SEA STATES; *TARGET DETECTION; *ICEBERGS; TEST AND EVALUATION; SHIPS; DETECTION; SEARCHING; ALTITUDE; OCEANS; INTERNATIONAL; LIMITATIONS; SIZES(DIMENSIONS); PERFORMANCE(ENGINEERING); PATROLLING; Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA164773; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA164773

During the Spring of 1985, the U.S. Coast Guard R&D Center conducted an open-ocean evaluation of the AN/APS-135 SLAR in cooperation with the International Ice Patrol (IIP). Data were collected to determine the system's ability to detect various surface craft (ranging from a 4-person life raft to a 55-meter ship) and ice targets. The effects on detection performance of target size, range, search altitude, and sea state were evaluated using the experiment data. Search altitudes of 2500 and 4000 feet and target ranges up to 25 kilometers were tested for surface craft. For ice targets, 2500-, 4000-, and 8000-foot altitudes and ranges up to 50 kilometers were used. Analysis of the data indicated that SLAR is capable of detecting icebergs and the 55-meter ship in seas up to 2 meters nearly 100 percent of the time. The smaller targets were detected 40 to 96 percent of the time in seas less than 1 meter and 0 to 65 percent of the time in seas of 1 to 2 meters, depending on target size. Unalerted operators detected 10 to 60 percent few targets than alerted operators depending on target size and sea state. Detection range limits of the AN/APS-135 SLAR for targets larger than the 4-person raft were not identified using the 25- kilometer range scale.