MARCH 14--Dr. A. Hoyt Taylor, head of the Radio Division of the Naval Research Laboratory, authorized a project for development of pulse radar (as it was later called) to detect ships and aircraft. The basic concept, which had been proposed by Leo C. Young, involved special sending, receiving and display equipment all mounted in close proximity. This equipment would send out pulses of radio energy of a few microseconds in duration separated by time intervals that were tens to thousands of times longer than the duration of a pulse. Reception of an echo would indicate a target; time of travel to the target and back, the distance; and directional sending or receiving antenna, the bearing.

As compared to the beat in a continuous radio wave, a technique which had been under development at the Naval Research Laboratory for nearly four years, the pulse technique promised to be of much greater utility because it would provide range and bearing as well as detection and because the entire apparatus could be installed aboard a single ship. The feasibility of the pulse technique was based upon new developments of the radio industry including the cathode ray tube, high power transmitting tubes and special receiving tubes.