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janrinok [soylentnews.org] writes:

The BBC is reporting the trial of a new type of radar, being tested in Pisa, Italy [bbc.com]. Ignoring the speculation that this radar might have spotted the missing Malaysian Airways Flight MH370, the radar has performed well. From the article:

The world's first photonic radar was tested at Pisa Airport in Italy and achieved "world-class" performance, according to an independent expert. It uses lasers to produce high fidelity signals that pinpoint planes precisely. But there are doubts over its range, say researchers in Nature journal [nature.com].

Today's radar networks track planes via a combination of ground stations and satellites. The new PhoDiR (Photonics-based fully digital radar) system is a working prototype for next-generation radars — designed to let pilots and air traffic control exchange far more information in a single signal. Photonic systems promise:

• Higher precision — less noise (interference) in the radar transmission
• Higher bandwidth — able to transmit cockpit data (eg critical flight systems) as well as location data, simultaneously
• Greater flexibility — more frequencies available
• Smaller antennas — cheaper, lighter and more portable

The compact system could potentially be installed on aircraft, and has a very large bandwidth — allowing pilots to transmit detailed information directly to ground stations within range. This would not necessarily have helped in the case of MH370, where on-board avionic and communication systems appear to have been manually disabled."

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