Design radar signal interface for navigation Radar/ARPA simulator using radar display

Using radar/ARPA simulators for seafarers training is made mandatory by International Maritime Organization (lMO) as early as 1978. This paper presents a new radar simulator using one PC, one radar signal interface and one radar display. PC generates radar echo of any sea area and simulates all kinds of radar echo effects and features. Then the radar signal interface receives the radar echo through PC USB and outputs all kinds of signals to radar display. In the interface, lots of logical circuit is implemented by CPLD, which largely simplifies the design and improves the flexibility. Seafarers can operate the radar display in simulated environment of any sea area in Radar/ARPA Operation training. It provides more flexibility and fidelity and effectively improves the training effect. The result shows that this type of radar simulator meets with the requirements of radar simulator standard completely and has been used in our full mission ship handling simulator successfully.