Parts of the system Air traffic control radar beacon system
ground interrogation equipment an atc ground station consists of 2 radar systems , associated support components. prominent component psr. referred skin paint radar because shows not synthetic or alpha-numeric target symbols, bright (or colored) blips or areas on radar screen produced rf energy reflections target s skin. non-cooperative process, no additional avionic devices needed. radar detects , displays reflective objects within radar s operating range. weather radar data displayed in skin paint mode. primary surveillance radar subject radar equation says signal strength drops off fourth power of distance target. objects detected using psr known primary targets. the second system secondary surveillance radar, or ssr, depends on cooperating transponder installed on aircraft being tracked. transponder emits signal when interrogated secondary radar. in transponder based system signals drop off inverse square of distance target, instead of fourth power in primary radars. result, effe...