Results of a Canadian shipborne radar search and rescue detection experiment

A marine radar shipborne search and rescue detection experiment was undertaken off Nova Scotia using the Canadian Coast Guard ship Sir William Alexander and US Coast Guard visual search experiment methodology. The targets were 4- and 6-man life rafts, some with 2 m² Luneburg lenses mounted on high-flyer buoys at a height equal to that of the canopy top of 4-man life rafts, and a small search and rescue radar transponder deployed on the ocean surface. The radar systems were the Sperry 340, the Sperry 4016, and the Raytheon Pathfinder ST radar. The number of searches and the target type varied for each radar. The sweep widths were very narrow for all but the radar transponder