70 YEARS OF RADAR.

Transcription

1 1947 #Radar

2 Heralding the release of commercial maritime radar in 1947, Arthur Hughes wrote in his introduction to New Eyes for a New World: If my Grandfather could pay a visit to the bridge of a big modern liner, the array of instrument would bewilder and confound him and he would most probably say I don t believe it! 1947 Whatever the future holds, now as in the past, Kelvin Hughes will continue to be at the forefront of design with SharpEye continuing to give a new set of eyes to an ever expanding new world. 2017

3 KELVIN HUGHES IS CELEBRATING 70 YEARS OF RADAR IN 2017 In 1947 the first Type 1 radar was produced and installed on a new fishing trawler. The Type 1 then went on to be the first Type Approved radar, gaining its Type Approval certificate on 11 August KELVIN HUGHES BEFORE RADAR Before the introduction of radar, ships relied on navigation methods and equipment that had not changed for centuries. Ships equipment comprised of compasses, sextants, charts and chronometers all of which could be obtained through the companies of Kelvin Bottomley and Baird and Henry Hughes and Son. In the interwar years, Henry Hughes and Son became world leaders in the design and supply of depth sounding equipment and working with S. Smith and Sons (England) also became one of the leading suppliers of aircraft compasses and instrumentation. Arthur J Hughes was a very prominent figure in these years and published numerous books including one about the history of aerial navigation.

4 The catalogues for both companies ran to hundreds of pages spanning many products. Such was their popularity that they were translated into many different languages including French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. NEW EYES FOR A NEW WORLD In November 1946, Marine Instruments Ltd, the company formed by the merger of Kelvin Bottomley and Baird and Henry Hughes and Son, published a lengthy introduction to the concept of a commercially available marine radar. In his foreword, the company Chairman Mr Arthur J Hughes said This brings me to another of those important and remarkable developments brought about by war with a great British invention that is now universally known as Radar. I refer to the alliance of those erstwhile competitors, Kelvin of Glasgow and Hughes of London, and their association in the name of Marine Instruments Ltd. United by the stress of war, we now go forward together; with the combined resources and long experience of these two great firms and backed by the extensive Marine servicing organisation we have built up during the war, who could be better qualified to introduce commercial Radar successfully to the shipping market? Marine Instruments publication from November 1946

5 Hughes concluded The new Radar equipment which I hope will very soon start to issue from this factory will be made by Henry Hughes and Son Ltd. in co-operation with Kelvin Bottomley and Baird Ltd. while Marine Instruments Ltd. will sell it and look after it. It will be a practical set, designed for seamen by experts, and every set will, I promise you, be made and tested in that same fine tradition that has made the House of Hughes famous for craftsmanship ever since they first made sextants for men like Captain Bligh. Using techniques developed during WWII and drawing on their extensive knowledge of depth sounding, the combined design teams of both Kelvin Bottomley and Baird and Henry Hughes and Son started developing the new radar system. Arthur Hughes described these designers as the backroom boys many of whom have been involved in the development of television and radio before the Second World War. Much of the work being carried out was new, so test equipment and testing procedures all had to be designed and produced. Some of the Type 1 radar calibration equipment being developed Engineers recording the results of antenna and waveguide tests

6 One of the first modulators photographed during the design process A prototype display console Robert Watson-Watt (left), the pioneer of early radar photographed inspecting a development Type 1 transmitter at the Kelvin Hughes Hainault factory

7 THE FIRST INSTALLATION In 1947, the very first Type 1 radar was installed on a newly constructed trawler based in Grimsby. The Rinovia was one of the first oil burning steam trawlers and was the first British trawler to be fitted with radar. The ship boasted many modern facilities including crew showers and a shipwide speaker system fitted to a record player. Many more approval ready sets were also installed before the all important certification was granted in TYPE APPROVAL The newly developed radar had to be tested to meet UK Ministry of Transport Type Approval. The race was on to be the first company to achieve Type Approval and Kelvin Hughes just beat the main competition by sending the approval documentation to London by taxi rather than by post. Type Approval for the Mark 1 (marketed as the Type 1) was granted on 11 August 1948 and on the day approval was announced, a party was held at the New North Road, Hainault, Essex offices to celebrate this great achievement. August 1948 Type Approval party in the production department of the Kelvin Hughes Hainault factory RADAR TO TELEVISION A rather odd spin-off of this new radar technology was television. In the late 1940s there was enormous excitement about the introduction of television with DIY magazines publishing designs for homemade television sets. The most expensive component in these designs was the screen however, Kelvin Hughes employees were able to buy old radar tubes from the company for 5 shillings.

8 These second hand tubes had a black hole burnt into the centre due to their radar use and also had a very long afterglow. A retired employee who made one of these homemade televisions reported they were quite entertaining to use but produced a rather ghostly image. In today s health and safety conscious world, it is hard to imagine a magazine showing how to make a unit that used a very dangerous CRT running off exceptionally high DC voltages. TYPE 1A RADAR TYPE APPROVAL CERTIFICATE The Mark 1 (renamed Type 1) Type Approval certificate held in the Kelvin Hughes company archives

9 RADAR, THE LONDON FOGS AND THE RAILWAYS The installation of the first Type Approved radars has a curious link to the railways and the dense fogs that are a stereotypical image of old London. In the late 1940s/1950s major cities such as London were frequently enveloped in thick fog, a result of the many pollutants pumped into the atmosphere by industry and coal fires used to heat homes; these fogs were nicknamed pea-soupers due to their unhealthy green colour. But how did this affect the first radar installations? The reduced visibility caused by fog delayed ships sailing from ports. A retired employee told of a newspaper article showing 96 ships held at Southend waiting for the fog to clear so they could continue to the Port of London. Countless other ships were undoubtedly waiting in port ready to leave. The products carried by these ships were generally transported from the ports by train so ships delayed by fog meant trains could not leave on-time. This led to delays across the rail networks throwing timetables into disarray. It s not surprising therefore to find that these first Type Approved radars were installed at the insistence of the railway companies not the ship owners or crew. The first ferry to be fitted with a radar was the St Patrick which crossed from Weymouth to Rosslare, the system being installed at the request of the Great Western Railway. INSTALLATIONS The original cost of a new radar is not known but is reported to have been considerable in comparison with today s modern systems. The installation of these first radars must have been quite challenging as ships had not been designed with radar in mind. Firstly, space had to be found on the bridge for the display which had a small screen. The low brilliance meant it had to be located in a darkened room or as was more common, in an area at the back of the bridge behind a blackout curtain.

10 In some bridges space was so restricted that some displays were apparently located in cabins next to the bridge, meaning the crew had to leave the wheelhouse in order to view the radar. Once the display location had been resolved it had to be connected to the ship s power supply and the transmitter. This was done using heavy lead covered cables that could only be run for very short distances. The transmitters were mounted in a cast iron box and were too heavy to be mounted on a mast so were frequently placed on angle iron racks on top of the bridge. Detail from the Type 1 radar maintenance handbook USING THE RADAR For many crew, radar was a brand-new tool so the operation and interpretation of the display had to be learnt. The Kelvin Hughes archives do not hold a copy of an operator s handbook but an extract from a service manual states: Presentation of the information is of the Plan Position Indicator (P.P.I.) type, whereby an echo or target is identified as a brightened spot on the face on the Cathode Ray Tube; the range being given by the distance of the spot from the tube centre, and the angle in Azimuth by the angle at which it appears radially on the cathode ray screen. The Type 1 9 inch magnetic cathode ray tube showing the coast near Ronne in Denmark

11 Initially there were reports of misgivings about this new equipment as the display was only capable of being effectively viewed in night vision conditions causing headaches and eye strain when used on a bright day. At the heart of the radar transmitter was a cavity magnetron. These early magnetrons units only had an operating life of about 200 hours and because of a fear of running up substantial operating costs, strict instructions on radar use would be laid down by the ship s master. Ship s instructions reportedly stipulated that the display should only be switched on long enough for a range and bearing to be taken and then switched off. Later systems fitted to trawlers had run time clocks fitted in a locked cupboard that recorded the amount of time the system had been used. The ship s operators then rented the radar system and only paid for it when it was in use an early version of pay as you go. Crews quickly became familiar with the equipment and could confidently utilise the information displayed. Radar became an accepted feature of an increasing number of ships bridges and it was in the fogs that caused the initial installations that radar won the appreciation of the masters and navigating officers. In the early 1950s and realising the growing need for better understanding of the equipment, a training school was established at the end of the famous mile long pier in Southend, Essex. The training school remained there for many years before relocating to the top floor of Keddies department store again in Southend before finally becoming part of the main buildings within Kelvin Hughes in Hainault. The Type 1 radar display console. The unit was fitted with a panel which could be pulled up to cover the control panel

12 MAINTENANCE The Type 1 was an intricate mechanism comprising of values, numerous motors, gearboxes and some hair raising high voltages. With very short magnetron lives and numerous motors that needed aligning and servicing, maintenance was a key issue when selling the equipment. Arthur Hughes recognised that a reliable service network was critical to the good name of the company and noted that. Electric motor schematics from the Kelvin Hughes Marine Radar Type 1 Instructional Handbook The Type 1 radar transmitter RF head assembly Marine Instruments Ltd maintain service depots in all major sea-ports of the world. The service engineers are now being trained in Radar Engineering in order that the operators of Kelvin Hughes radar equipment may be assured of the same worldwide service which Marine Instruments Ltd offer for the Henry Hughes and Sons recording echo sounders. The best guarantee against breakdowns, excessive maintenance and running costs is the reliability of the set itself and this is provided in all Hughes equipment.

13 Internal layout of the Type 1 radar display console The operators control panel The main valve driven output stage of the transmitter

14 CHART COMPARISON UNIT Designed at the same time as the Type 1, the Chart Comparison Unit could be viewed as a precursor to the modern day chart radar. The bulkhead mounted unit was fitted with an inverted radar display and was mounted directly above a chart table where the radar image was reflected onto a navigation chart. A pre-production illustration of the Chart Comparison Unit A Chart Comparison Unit being assembled Very little is known about this unit, its operation or how the chart would be aligned with the radar image, the following illustration is the only clue we have to its use. Illustration showing the use of the Chart Comparison Unit

15 CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT Development was and always has been key to the Kelvin Hughes philosophy. As the first sets were being installed, the design teams were already working through the problems associated with the transmitter being an upmast unit. In late 1948, the Type 1A was produced that had the same antenna and gearbox but now boasted an internal mounted downmast transmitter unit. Over the following decades, Kelvin Hughes continued to improve on the designs and were responsible for many radar firsts. 1950s: SLOTTED WAVEGUIDE AND INTERSWITCHING In 1955 Kelvin Hughes developed and patented the slotted waveguide, a design that changed the course of radar development by offering greatly improved picture quality with the removal of side lobes. The antennas were very complex and difficult to make because of the precision cutting of the slots, and new machinery had to be developed to carry out this task. At Kelvin Hughes, a jig was constructed that would cut 101 slots accurately to a certain depth and specific angle. The new waveguide was used with the next generation of radar called the Type 14/9 (9 inch display). Two years after its introduction, the Type 14/12 and 16/12 (12 and 16 inch displays) were introduced offering relative and true motion presentations. These new displays could be operated from a common transmitter and scanner effectively introducing master and slave control where each display could be operated on the same or different range scales. The 14/9R had a very high definition quality at close ranges and was particularly suited for tugs and small coastal craft operating in rivers, canals and other confined waterways. Type 14 marine radar The first interswitched unit provided by Kelvin Hughes formed part of a new installation onboard the British Railways Avalon, a 6,720grt steam turbine ferry on the Harwich to Hook of Holland service. The installation consisted of both 12 and 16 inch relative motion or true motion displays, a 6ft and 10ft antenna and a weatherproofed 12 inch relative motion unit on the bridge wing. This system offered the crew the dual redundancy and master and slave configuration that is now a common place part of all maritime radar systems.

16 1960s: TRANSISTORS The early 1960s saw the introduction of the Type 17 series transistorised radars. The use of transistors allowed for a more compact and lightweight unit which were ideally suited for installation in coasters, fishing vessels, tugs and other crafts with limited space and power facilities. In the mid-1960s the 21 series was launched with a 25kW transmitter, transistorised computer and advance digital techniques to provide true motion. Photoplot was also introduced. This was a photographic system that took photos of a miniature display, developed the film then projected the processed photograph onto a 27 inch diameter screen covered by translucent paper. Targets could then be quickly plotted at pre-determined intervals to assist the navigator in determining the ship s position and for collision avoidance. In 1967, Kelvin Hughes was awarded a Queen s Award to Industry for both Technological Innovation (Photoplot and Interswitching) and Export Achievement having produced over 10,000 displays. Later in 1968, a further Queen s Award to Industry for Technological Innovation was granted for the Humber Fish Detection System, a sonar specifically designed to search for fish. A Photoplot in use A Photoplot shown as part of a bridge system

17 1970s: DAYLIGHT DISPLAYS AND S-BAND TYPE APPROVAL The Situation Display system utilised an early form of computer technology and introduced the concept of target trails for the first time. Primarily designed as an anti-collision radar, the technology removed the chore of plotting targets manually on a reflection plotter or separate plotting aid. The operator acquired a target which was then automatically plotted by the radar, giving detailed information, such as course, speed and closest approach distance and time, updated with each sweep of the antenna. In 1975 the Situation Display was awarded a Queen s Award to Industry for Technical Innovation. This type of radar system set the standard for the remainder of the decade and well into the 1980s when Automatic Radar Plotting Aid, (ARPA) radars took centre stage. The Situation Display was launched alongside the Series A radar which like the Situation Display also allowed an automatic build-up of moving target tracks but included the Bright Display giving the first true daylight viewing radar. Situation Display radar By now the value of having both an X and S-Band system was being realised. In 1972 the federal communications commission (FCC) in the USA granted Kelvin Hughes Type Approval for its fully-transistorised Type 19 and Type 21 S-Band series radar. This was followed by approval from the UK Department of Trade and Industry.

18 1980s: RADTRAK ARPA Microprocessors were introduced into the 1600 series which increased the intelligence of the standard display. The 1600 included E-Plot, a joystick controlled manually aided plotting system. Using microprocessor technology, the 1600 assessed the course and speed of other vessels, memorised the plots and generated a relative or true vector from the manually entered target data. Radtrack Anticol ARPA and Radpack were introduced during the early 1980s utilising one of the early microprocessor chips, the Z-80. This new design could automatically acquire and track up to 50 targets simultaneously. This was a timely addition to the Kelvin Hughes range as in 1984, the International Maritime Authority (IMO) passed legislation requiring all new ships over 10,000grt to have ARPA radars installed. Radtrak ARPA radar display The greater use of solid state circuitry enabled reliability levels to rise considerably at a time when ship construction practices and a demand for faster ships, led to an increase in vibration levels which did little for the life span of equipment with more delicate controls. CONCEPT RADAR The Concept radar was released later in the 1980s. Using ground-breaking raster display technology and a significant level of software content running on two Z-80 processors, the Concept range offered full daylight viewing in a system that had a modular concept. This helped lead the way for integration into standard consoles. Concept display The system also boasted a much reduced printed circuit board (PCB) content having only three main PCBs. One of the contributors to this new design was a young graduate engineer called Russell Gould who became the CEO of Kelvin Hughes.

19 1990s: RIVER RADAR Designed to meet new specifications laid down by the Rhine River Authority, the RSR1000 river radar was introduced in 1990 and went on to take a quarter of the market for vessels operating on the Rhine and Danube. The river radar system used an innovative spiral scanned display which gave better resolution at short distances. The picture presented a continuous 150 view ahead and a full view astern. The unit could be mounted on a bulkhead, in a console, or on a table. The RSR1000 river radar The success of the river radar lead to a Queens Award to Industry for Technological Achievement in NUCLEUS The Nucleus 1 was introduced during the early 1990s being the first full colour display. Russell Gould, commented that the Nucleus series was one of the most important radar innovations since the introduction of the Type 1 radar. The Nucleus 3 desktop display and processor The entire radar processing and control functions were compacted into one main systems PCB and also incorporating on-board diagnostics. A separate high specification ARPA tracking board was also available. Perhaps the biggest innovation in this system was the operator control. The Nucleus series did away with the multitude of control knobs and buttons replacing them with a pioneering, patented three button, trackerball and menu driven operator control system. The Nucleus series continued to evolve with the Nucleus 2 being introduced in 1995 and Nucleus 3 in the early 2000s.

20 CRT TO FLAT SCREEN In the late 1990s and early 2000s the global manufacture of CRTs declined with PC monitors and early televisions being replaced with flat screen technology. This lead to the introduction of the Manta flat screen, multifunction display. Manta 4:3 radar display Utilising proven processing technology found in the Nucleus series, the multifunction display allowed the selection and presentation of ECDIS, radar and other information displays on any number of screens that formed part of an Integrated Bridge System. 2000s: WIDESCREEN The MantaDigital range was introduced to meet the increasing demand for electronic inputs for various navigation systems and sensors, such as position and speed and was the worlds first widescreen radar display. The MantaDigital was a multifunction display and provided radar, chart, ECDIS and route planning all in one display. MantaDigtial 16:10 widescreen radar display Widescreen paved the way for a dual PPI, and ensued a host of additional features to be developed for use in this screen area such as the ability to display different range scales, enhanced target detection mode, tactical features for naval applications and camera display.

21 SHARPEYE In 2006, Kelvin Hughes confirmed its position as the industry technology leader when it launched SharpEye, the world s first solid state radar transceiver to be made commercially available for maritime navigation. SharpEye, which does not use a magnetron but instead utilises low power solid state power amplifiers, removed all regular maintenance requirements, and transformed detection performance, making it up to 10,000 times more sensitive than conventional radars. 70 years ago, the Kelvin Hughes Type X-Band transceiver 1 radar was the first ever Type Approved system, and at the time of writing, SharpEye remains the first and only Type Approved solid state upmast X-Band radar. The solid state approach enables techniques such as Doppler processing, high pulse compression ratios and moving target detection to be offered as options which some 25 navies have adopted, including The Royal Navy. These customers use the radar as more than just a navigation and collision avoidance tool, but also as an advanced detection sensor bringing tactical capabilities and situational awareness through small target detection in severe weather conditions. Something not possible from a magnetron radar. To get some idea of the processing power required in SharpEye, it is necessary to compute some 320 billion multiplications every second something that would take the combined power of 1,000 desktop computers. Moving from sea to land, the performance and flexibility of SharpEye has enabled Kelvin Hughes to apply it to an increasing and diverse range of applications including port Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) and coastal surveillance, land based border surveillance and even drone detection.

22 The list of applications for Kelvin Hughes radars has grown from fishing trawlers to merchant ships through to the following impressive list: Naval warships and Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) Helicopter control for helicopter landing on naval ships Small boat radomes Naval submarines Vessel Traffic Management Systems (VTMS) Coastal surveillance Offshore radar Avian detection radar Radar for bird strike prevention systems Drone detection Border security Perimeter security and critical infrastructure protection Mobile surveillance and dismounted battlefield and infantry use Wildlife and game reserve protection The list is continuously growing. Where will Kelvin Hughes radar technology go next? WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF MARINE RADAR? Barry Wade commented: We live in a rapidly changing world driven by mass communication and consumer electronics. Technological advances in navigation and millimetre wave radar is already raising realistic possibilities of mass produced autonomous automotive and unmanned aerial vehicles. The shipping industry tends to be conservative and slow to adopt to new technologies but given what is happening on land and in the air, the maritime industry is about to face one of the biggest challenges in its history, autonomous vessels. Although the majority of the work in this area is currently centred on military applications, there are some who believe that unmanned autonomous crew-free merchant ships will be sailing the seas by In an autonomous vessel, the requirement for a traditional bridge could disappear being replaced with land based Maritime Traffic Control centres similar to Air Traffic Control centres perhaps using virtual reality displays with signals from ships being transmitted via secure satellite links to control centres. We may also see miniature radars similar to those used in the automotive market being used as docking aids for these vessels.

23 Written by: Will Wallis Contributors: Russell Gould Barry Wade Produced by: Kelvin Hughes Ltd Kelvin Hughes Ltd 2017 All Rights Reserved

24