Radar apparatus and method for generating radar images

A Radio Detecting and Ranging (RADAR) apparatus for generating echo images, comprising:

• a RADAR antenna configured to receive echo information of a plurality of electromagnetic waves at a vessel, from a plurality of objects, wherein the plurality of objects comprises at least one land object, at least one Automatic Identification System (AIS), and at least one floating object;
• an AIS receiver configured to receive AIS information from the at least one AIS;
• a smart RADAR comprising one or more processors, the smart RADAR communicably coupled to the RADAR antenna and the AIS receiver, and the one or more processors configured to extract electronic chart information from a storage module, wherein the electronic chart information is pre-stored in the storage module by a user;
• a user interface associated with the smart RADAR, the user interface configured to receive at least one input from the user, the at least one input comprising mask information of the plurality of objects, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
• generate a display output based at least on the echo information, the electronic chart information, and the AIS information;
• apply the mask information comprising at least one mask to the plurality of objects in the display output;
• and
• automatically apply dilation of the at least one mask on the display output based at least on at least one display parameter set by the user;
• and
• a display communicably coupled to the smart RADAR, and configured to display the display output with the at least one mask and the dilation, to identify at least one unknown object from the plurality of objects.