Kelvin Hughes: Radar Navigation Aid

Abstract

Kelvin Hughes won the Queen’s Award to Industry in 1967 for its ‘Photoplot’ radar navigation aid. This device was designed to increase the ease with which information obtained from marine radar could be interpreted. The company was therefore concerned with introducing a novel accessory in an established market for radar systems. Difficulties with reliability, which led to a slower than expected rate of market adoption, focussed Kelvin Hughes’s attention on Photoplot’s technical shortcomings. Following an attempt to minimise these technical problems by improving the design of Photoplot, Kelvin Hughes hit upon a new component which circumvented the difficulties associated with the original system. This post-innovation development led to a new type of radar navigation aid known as Situation Display, which produced increased sales and enabled the company to gain a further Queen’s Award in 1975. The market for this new product however, was eroded in the early 1980s by an International Maritime Organisation (IMO) ruling that ships above a certain size should be obliged to carry the more-recently developed computer-based anti-collision radar systems. These performed a similar function to the Kelvin Hughes product by using a more sophisticated technology.