Sea-Me

A. an upright octahedral has low return sectors.

B. When heeled , the sectors become bigger.

C. Some multi-cornered reflectors have spiky returns.

D. Ideally, you need a large 'disc' giving 10m sq return through 360 degree's.

E. The Sea-me achieves this. (Matching the ideal)

Some proprietary reflectors use multiple corners to increase the number of lobes of the polar diagram,
but if this is done using a small unit, the overall response will be poor.

Because reflectors cannot return more than the energy intercepted, a cylindrical reflector whose nominal RCS
(Radar Cross Section area) is 10m² at 9 GHz cannot occupy much less than 0.05m³.
(RIN Journal of Navigation Jan 2002, page 25).

It should be noted that the standard Firdell Blipper has a volume of 0.08m³ but the larger of the two
translucent tubular reflectors is only 0.005m³ and has a claimed nominal RCS of only 4m².

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