Automatic Radar Plotting Aid

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Automatic Radar Plotting Aid, ARPA, gives a maritime radar the possibility to follow targets resembling other ships, calculating their course, speed and possible collision with own vessel.

Development of ARPA started after the accident when the Italian liner SS Andrea Doria collided in dense fog and sank off the US east coast. ARPA radars started to emerge in the 1960's, and with the development of microelectronics such systems are now available even for small yachts.