An experimental HF ground wave radar

The main tasks for the experimental station described were to establish, for future operational consideration, consistency of aircraft detection, to demonstrate continuous radar cover in time and in space and that it would be possible to deploy with reasonable logistic HF support. It should confirm the parameters of the HF radar equation, confirm the existence of reliable propagation paths close to the sea and show that the inevitable sea clutter could readily be filtered out; ionospheric clutter returns should not present intractable problems. The HF radar cross sections of various targets should prove large enough to enable long range detections, and most importantly the radar should be acceptable as a new user of this portion of the spectrum. Main equipment items should be procurable without extensive development, which implies that the special demands of radar, compared with communications, should be realisable by modification of existing communication, transmitters and receivers. It was to be demonstrated that with recent advances in digital data processors offering continuous throughput of some 10 million Floating Point operations per second, real time operation of the radar would be possible.<>