Navigating congested river Thames, London
- Jack Mulford
Navtech’s RAS6 radar was fitted to a patrol boat travelling along the River Thames in central London.
The radar details were as follows:
Radar Range | 500 m |
Radar update rate | 4 Hz |
Range resolution | 0.175 m |
Angular resolution | 0.9° |
Beamwidth (azimuth x elevation) | 2° x 4° non-cosecant |
GPS header | NMEA 0183 ($GPGGA, $GPRMC, $GPHDT, $PASHR) |
GPS update rate | 25 Hz |
This sample data provides an example of the radar detecting multiple surface objects such as buoys, posts, piers and jetties in a cluttered inland waterway environment with high traffic. We travel under Tower Bridge following a large passenger ferry, notably, we demonstrate the capability of detecting a boat through the bridge from the other side.
The radar data was recorded in Cambridge Pixel’s .cpr format, with GPS data baked in. The NMEA message types are listed above.
The data can be replayed using the viewer application - SPx Radar view Lite - which can be downloaded for Windows by following instructions on this page:View Live Radar Data
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