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Originally Posted by glc
Well, it sort of is, transponders do use radar beams to interrogate and send returns. If you are saying that the TCAS information is not displayed on the cockpit weather radar display, you are correct. It has its own display or can be integrated into the navigation display.
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In my experience a radar is a very directional beam that sweeps a given area. Radio waves at marine radar frequencies are generally either 10cm or 3cm and are reflected off objects and return to the antenna...painting a picture on a screen that shows whats ahead and to the side...as far as 360 degrees for ships radar. Military aircraft have a smaller arc phased array radar which points mostly ahead and to the side some for obvious aerodynamic reasons unless it is an AWACS type aircraft.
A transceiver is much simpler in that it does not need to operate at radar frequencies and all it does is send out signal with position, altitude, speed etc data which stimulates a transceiver to send a signal back with its relevant data.....this is very different technology and by definition of a radar....is not a radar.
Transceivers are on commercial vessels and are used for vessels identification and collision avoidance as well...called AIS (equivalent to IFF on military jets)
On military jets, the radar is not called the transceivers and the transceivers are not called the radar. They are two different things.
What you speak of is a type of CAS or Collison Avoidance System and so is RADAR a type of CAS...but they are not the same thing.
Sarge asked about radar on a commercial aircraft and the answer is no....there is no radar as defined by what a radar is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transceiver
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat...ication_System
http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/e3awacs/