F/A-18 Radar Geometry

[fastfrog]

Made this while learning the F18 radar. Thought it might help somebody out.

 

Couple of good points:

 

1. If you have a Warthog HOTAS throttle, mapping TDC L/R/U/D/DEPRESS to the middle finger mouse works well. Give it a dead zone and some curvature for better control

 

2. Mapping radar elevation to up/down on the throttle index finger 4 way switch works MUCH better than having it on the HOTAS index finger mouse. WAY better control. I can actually make desired steps to radar elevation. Throttle middle finger mouse was giving me random elevations whenever I touched it.

 

 

FF

Edited April 27, 2020 by fastfrog
typo

[fastfrog]

Flying at 16K feet, level, antenna elevation centered (or almost). Data says it's slightly down

 

Test Findings

 

1. 1 bar is bugged. TDC at any distance always shows zero difference between top and bottom number. (15/15 etc)

 

2. Bar height at 5 miles is always 10 degrees

 

3. Bar height for 2 bar gets smaller 10-160 nm, 5.5-3.5 degrees. Use it, but realize this.

 

4. Bar height for 4 and 6 bar at 10-160 nm is 5 degrees.

 

Conclusion

 

Use 4 and 6 bar, 10 - 160 nm for most consistent radar performance.

 

 

Data

 

Bar height = ATAN(H/RANGE)/BARS

 

2BAR

RANGE TDC_TOP TDC_BOT +H -H BAR_HT

160 34 -4 18 20 3.5

80 25 6 9 10 3.5

40 20 11 4 5 3.5

20 18 13 2 3 4.3

10 17 15 1 2 5.5

05 18 14 2 2 10

 

Bar height decreases with range?

 

4 Bar

RANGE TDC_TOP TDC_BOT +H -H BAR_HT

160 73 -43 57 59 5

80 44 -14 28 30 5

40 30 1 14 15 5

20 23 9 7 7 5

10 19 12 3 4 5.5

05 22 10 6 6 10

 

6 Bar

RANGE TDC_TOP TDC_BOT +H -H BAR_HT

160 99 -82 83 98 5 (+H truncated at 99)

80 64 -33 48 49 5

40 40 -9 24 25 5

20 28 4 12 12 5

10 22 10 6 6 5

05 26 6 10 10 10

Edited April 28, 2020 by fastfrog

[fastfrog]

Updated with new data

 

[fastfrog]

Now with Bricks Age out table. PRF table coming soon