User's Manual

Synapsis Radar
with Nautoscan NX Pedestal
Operator Manual
4265.DOC020102
2-40
Edition July 2015
2.3.1 Sensitivity Controls
This Radar is an aid to navigation. Its accuracy can be
affected by many factors such as equipment defect,
environmental conditions, or improper operation. It is the
user’s responsibility to exercise common prudence and
navigational judgment at all times.
The sensitivity controls describe all adjustments to find the best video
performance.
The video performance depends from the current weather conditions, Radar
sensitivity adjustments, magnetron performance, pedestal and array conditions
and transfer line conditions (coax cable and wave guide).
Radar in Slave mode:
If the Radar is working in slave mode the sensitivity controls AUTO Tune and
Pulse width selection are not possible.
2.3.1.1 Gain and Clutter Processing
The Radar uses a digital video processing technique called Scan to Scan
integration or field processing. This process requires 3 complete antenna
rotations or scans of the antenna in order to build up or decay detected targets.
To the operator, this means that when a target is first detected, it appears dim.
If, on the next scan, it is still present at the same location, it appears at medium
brightness and on the third scan, it appears at full brightness. As long as the
target is present, it will appear at full brightness.
If the target fades in and out, then it will remain on the screen, dropping from
full brightness to medium and back to full brightness.
If the target is lost altogether, then it will take three scans before it completely
disappears.
It is essential to understand that this 3 scan integration is crucial for operation of
the Gain, Sea and Rain clutter controls, because if an adjustment is made to
any of these controls, it requires 3 complete scans to properly observe the
results of the adjustment. The same applies if a Radar target is used as a
tuning indicator when manually tuning the Radar.