{"id":60179,"date":"2023-05-04T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/?p=60179"},"modified":"2023-05-08T11:04:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T15:04:41","slug":"simrad-halo-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/electronics\/simrad-halo-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"Full Vision with New Halo Radars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\" <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Simrad\u2019s Halo 2000 and Halo 3000 open-array radars are designed to put power on targets.<\/span>\n Courtesy Simrad<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\n

Clear above, visibility unlimited. These glorious conditions greeted us as Simrad<\/a> ambassador Mark Maus drove us down Fort Lauderdale, Florida\u2019s Stranahan River aboard his Yellowfin 36 center-console. However, it was impossible to miss the half-dozen container ships anchored a few miles offshore. We entered open waters, and Maus turned to port, paralleling the ships and spinning his Simrad Halo 3004 open-array radar. I stared at the 19-inch Simrad NSO evo3S<\/a> multifunction display. The ships were there, of course, but the radar was also painting targets behind these giant metal walls. I studied the screen and compared it with the actual horizon. Moments later, a distant sailboat passed behind a ship and heaved into view, confirming the Halo 3004\u2019s impressive returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pulse-compression radars arrived in 2015, and Doppler processing arrived in 2016. Today, pulse-compression and Doppler are the industry standards. While other manufacturers build more powerful open-array radars, Simrad\u2019s Halo 2000 and Halo 3000 radars deliver more power on target than the company\u2019s previous-generation offerings while adding proprietary features and, for serious anglers who can accommodate a Halo 3000, Simrad\u2019s Bird+ mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halo 2000 radars are available in three sizes. As their monikers portend, Halo 2003 radars ($6,400) employ 3-foot arrays, Halo 2004 systems ($6,900) leverage 4-foot arrays, and Halo 2006 radars ($7,500) have 6-foot arrays. Halo 3000 radars are available in two sizes: Halo 3004 ($8,500), which has a 4-foot array, and Halo 3006 ($9,000), which features a 6-foot array.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Halo 2000 radars transmit at 50 watts, while Halo 3000 radars transmit at 130 watts. The Halo 2000 radars can detect targets up to 72 nautical miles away, while Halo 3000 models deliver a maximum range of 96 nautical miles. They each have a minimum range of 20 feet. Both radars spin at variable speeds, ranging from 16 to 48 rpm. Spin rate is governed by the radar\u2019s current operating mode, with closer-range operations requiring faster rotations than longer-range operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Simrad <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n The Halo 2000 radars can detect targets up to 72 nautical miles away, while Halo 3000 models deliver a maximum range of 96 nautical miles.<\/span>\n Courtesy Simrad<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

\u201cUnder the hood, everything is new,\u201d says Laurie Bates, product director of digital systems at Navico Group, about Halo 2000 and 3000 radars, adding that this is the first major platform upgrade to Simrad\u2019s open-array radar systems since 2015. That said, Simrad released its radome-enclosed Halo20 and Halo20+ radars, which transmit at 20 and 25 watts, respectively, in 2019, and Halo 2000 and Halo 3000 use this architecture. \u201cWe improved everything,\u201d Bates says, adding that this includes new RF bricks, motors, gear boxes and drivetrains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While their antenna arrays and transmitted power differ, Simrad\u2019s Halo 2000 and Halo 3000 radars offer identical feature lists, with one significant exception: Bird+ mode (more on that later). These shared features include ZoneTrack, which Bates says is effectively a zone-based automatic-radar-plotting aid (ARPA) that automatically detects and tracks up to 50 targets within its two user-designated zones (that means users can set and define the scope shape and position of their two ZoneTrack zones); VelocityTrack, which is Simrad\u2019s proprietary Doppler processing feature; and Dangerous Target Alerts, which identifies targets on collision courses and provides their relative range, bearing and heading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Halo 2000 and Halo 3000 radars support Target Tracking, where the radar concurrently seeks\u2014and tracks\u2014targets over short, medium and long ranges while recording a history of each target; and Watch Target, which allows a user to manually select onscreen targets for the radar to track. Both radars also feature preset user modes (read Bird, Harbor, Offshore and Weather) that electronically optimize the system\u2019s settings to best match the vessel\u2019s operating environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halo 2000 and Halo 3000 radars also deliver dual ranges and the ability to generate synthetic Target Trails, the latter of which graphically depicts the target\u2019s historical radar pings as onscreen trails. These trails, Bates says, provide the skipper with improved situational awareness. \u201cTarget Trails gives users confidence to see what [onscreen targets] are doing,\u201d he says, adding that ferries or ships tend to sail in straight, shortest-course lines, while recreational vessels (say, racing sailboats) tend to move more sporadically. \u201cYou can see if [the target] is professionally or amateur-operated,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Halo 2000 and Halo 3000 share many features\u2014and they\u2019re both bundled inside IP67-rated housings that can operate in winds up to 80 knots\u2014Halo 3000 also comes with Simrad\u2019s all-new Bird+ mode, which uses the radar\u2019s 130 watts to locate flyers up to 8 nautical miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Simrad <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Halo 2000 and Halo 3000 radars support Target Tracking, where the radar concurrently seeks\u2014and tracks\u2014targets over short, medium and long ranges while recording a history of each target.<\/span>\n Courtesy Simrad<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

\u201cWe actually deliberately reduce the range resolution,\u201d Bates says of Bird+ mode, adding that Halo 3000 radars leverage a series of \u201crange buckets.\u201d \u201cWe enlarge the size of those [buckets] so we can try to capture a flock of birds, so [there is] a larger number of weak targets within each given range bucket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this sounds counterintuitive, keep reading: \u201cHaving reduced range resolution, typically in a radar, this would be bad,\u201d Bates continues. \u201cBut in this case, we want to do that to help us find birds.\u201d Because of this, he says, Halo 3000 offers one range (not two) when operating in Bird+ mode. \u201cIn Bird+ mode, we\u2019re very much saying, \u2018Right now, the user has decided that they are very focused on finding birds,\u2019 so we\u2019re going to stop the radar from being distracted by any other mode or any other use case, and we\u2019re 100 percent focused on tuning it for birds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this mode, Dangerous Target Alerts, VelocityTrack and manual-target acquisition still work; however, Bates is clear that when operating in Bird+ mode, Halo 3000 has gone fishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bates also says that the Halo 2000 radar can be fitted aboard vessels ranging from center-consoles to superyachts, while Halo 3000 will work well aboard everything from large center-consoles to larger sport-fishing battlewagons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for peering behind ships, Bates says no one can escape the laws of physics. \u201cIt\u2019s always going to be challenging to see behind something very large,\u201d he says. Good results, he explains, are \u201cmore closely linked to the [post-] processing and the actual pulse scheme that we employ, as opposed to pure [transmitting] power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the impressive features and the power ratings that are found aboard both new Halos, it\u2019s evident that  Simrad has charted a smart course of investing in its newest radars\u2019 RF energy, both pre- and post-transmission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Target Practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Recognizing birds onscreen isn\u2019t always easy. If this sounds familiar, Simrad\u2019s expert suggests buying a few packs of chum and deploying it on a beach in the late afternoon. Then, position your vessel nearby and study your screen. This helps build your visual reference library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Simrad\u2019s Halo 2000 and Halo 3000 radars are helping see beyond the expected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":60181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"David Schmidt","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"157","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"The Simrad Halo 2000 and Halo 3000 radars are more powerful than the company's previous-generation models, and the latter adds Bird+ mode for anglers.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","sponsored_url":"","social_share":true,"ad_targeting":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true},"categories":[157],"tags":[167,2096,564,426],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60179"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}