OpenStax College Physics for AP® Courses, Chapter 24, Problem 12 (Test Prep for AP® Courses)

This is College Physics Answers with Shaun Dychko. How do we make a better radar? So number one is that a shorter wavelength gives a greater resolution and can detect smaller objects; they are not really asking for this point because they are asking how can you make it more sensitive to longer range targets? But anyway... I put that one in there. One thing for detecting longer range is to have a higher transmission power because then the reflections from the target object will be easier to detect from a greater distance when they are reflecting a more intense incident radio wave. And then you also want to have a larger receiver that can focus more reflections into a detectable intensity. So we have this, you know, maybe there's some enemy aircraft over here and you want to be able to reflect the reflections of the radio waves from the target you want to collect them all with this big receiver— this big parabolic-shaped dish— so that these reflected rays are all focused on this receiver here and the more rays get collected, the more intense the signal will be and the more easy it is to detect it.