Eli5: Radar are built to spin around, send out, and capture a signal to create a 360 degree image of the surrounding area that regularly updates.
One would think that you could build a stationary antenna that electronically pulses and limits the area it is searching to do the same thing, removing the complication of the moving parts.
Why isn’t this the norm? And is it even possible?
In: Engineering
They don’t. It’s possible to make a stationary radar system that behaves as though there is a spinning dish.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Fylingdales#/media/File:Radar_RAF_Fylingdales.jpg
This is one of the UK’s ballistic missile early warning system radars.
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