Re: FT Sensor Rules -- Request for Comments [LONG]

In doing background research for a FT *short* story I'm writing (NO its
not done) I found basic books on naval methods and procedures to include
operation of various sensing equipment and operations.	The use of
civilian marine radar follows the same basic theory as military radar
operations.
 
Basically, as stated earlier, the ACTIVE sensor will generally (without
going into frequency of the radar, and wave propagation theory) let the
scanning vessel detect another vessel at a longer range than a PASSIVE
sensor would, all other thing being equal.
 
The vessel with the ACTIVE sensor would also be seen further away by
vessels with PASSIVE sensors because you are detecting the active
emissions from the radiating vessel, all other things being equal. This
is the lighting a match in a pitch black room situation where the flame
of the match provides illumination close to the source of the light, yet
can be seen by others at a longer range than the user of the match.
 
In space, I would expect radar emissions to be curved by the influence
of gravity [after all radar is merely an electromagnetic wave like
light] or EM influences, to include the passage of spaceships.	After
all, the way (by accounts of the story) that a B1 *stealth* bomber was
allegedly tracked by Aussies was the detection of the air turbulence
caused by the passage of the airplane on a non-military radar frequency.
 
In a few FT campaigns that I have been in, the use of active sensors
degraded beyond 54 mu limit set in FT/MT by one point per 12 mu band,
i.e. 54-66 would be at -1, and the effectiveness of the sensors
increased by one point per 12 mu band after the 12 mu standard range
band of 42-54 mu, so 30-42 would be at +1.  
 
What these campaign rules did not cover was the effectiveness of active
jammer also increases as the range between jamming vessel and radiating
vessel narrowed.
 
Another idea is for LOW OBSERVABILITY (misnomer is Stealth) design
features to be built into the hull to absorb or deflect the radar return
away from the radiating vessel, such as angled construction vs. round
construction and use of emission absorbing materials like carbon fibers
and RAM paint.	Also, choice of the color of paint on the hull can add
or detract from the reflective signature.  Black and White tend to
reflect the full radar return while colors like red and blue tend to
shift the radar return above or below the detection frequency range of
the vessel doing the active scan.  The US govt experimented or had
experiments performed that analyzed the effect of paint colors vs. radar
return signal strength with the only variable being the color. I can't
lay my hands on that study though. When I do, I intend to publish a
fictional discussion on the use camoflage on space ships, etc. for my
future website, though the idea sits idly on my hard disk collecting
stray elect!
 rons . . .

		
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