The pulses of energy comprising the radar beam would form a single lobe-shaped pattern of radiation if emitted in free space. Figure A shows this free space radiation pattern, including the undesirable minor lobes or side lobes associated with practical antenna design.

Although the radiated energy is concentrated into a relatively narrow main beam by the antenna, there is no clearly defined envelope of the energy radiated, although most of the energy is concentrated along the axis of the beam. With the rapid decrease in the amount of radiated energy in directions away from this axis, practical power limits may be used to define the dimensions of the radar beam.

A radar beam's horizontal and vertical beam widths are referenced to arbitrarily selected power limits. The most common convention defines beam width as the angular width between half power points. The half power point corresponds to a drop in 3 decibels from the maximum beam strength.

The definition of the decibel shows this halving of power at a decrease in 3 dB from maximum power. A decibel is simply the logarithm of the ratio of a final power level to a reference power level:

where is the final power level, and is a reference power level. When calculating the dB drop for a 50% reduction in power level, the equation becomes:

The radiation diagram shown in Figure B depicts relative values of power in the same plane existing at the same distances from the antenna or the origin of the radar beam. Maximum power is in the direction of the axis of the beam. Power values diminish rapidly in directions away from the axis. The beam width is taken as the angle between the half-power points.

The beam width depends upon the frequency or wavelength of the transmitted energy, antenna design, and the dimensions of the antenna. For a given antenna size (antenna aperture), narrower beam widths result from using shorter wavelengths. For a given wavelength, narrower beam widths result from using larger antennas.

With radar waves being propagated in the vicinity of the surface of the sea, the main lobe of the radar beam is composed of a number of separate lobes, as opposed to the single lobe-shaped pattern of radiation as emitted in free space. This phenomenon is the result of interference between radar waves directly transmitted, and those waves which are reflected from the surface of the sea. Radar waves strike the surface of the sea, and the indirect waves reflect off the surface of the sea. See Figure C. These reflected waves either constructively or destructively interfere with the direct waves depending upon the waves' phase relationship.

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