Raymarine has just announced their all new Cyclone open array radar. What makes it so new and great? First, this is Raymarine's first open array solid state radar. They've been doing this new technology for years with their Quantum domes, but now offer it in open array. Solid state radars generally use less power, emit less radiation, turn on faster, and most importantly the signal can be manipulated more. This last feature results in improved image quality, and some neat features.
The image quality is improved because this radar uses CHIRP (Compressed high intensity radar pulse). This sends out a blast of frequencies and listens back for all of them. To explain this at the most basic level, if a target is shown on multiple frequencies and missing on a few others, the system determines it is a real target. Conversely if a target only shows up on a few frequencies the system determines it is clutter and will not show it. This technology is now