Definition
An aircraft return on an air traffic control radar display that has been processed by computer and presented as a uniform, computer-generated symbol rather than the raw, analog blip produced directly by the radar antenna's reflected signal.
Plain English
On a controller's radar screen, the airplane shows up as a clean, computer-drawn shape instead of the rough, fuzzy mark the radar itself would produce. The computer reads the radar signal and draws a tidy symbol in its place.
Context Anchor
Used in air traffic control radar and surveillance discussions, especially when describing how aircraft appear on a controller’s display.
Derivation
Digitized' comes from 'digit,' meaning a number. To digitize is to convert something into numerical form a computer can handle. So a digitized target is a radar return that has been turned into computer data and then redrawn as a clean symbol.
Why Pilots Care
Knowing that controllers see a processed symbol -- not a raw blip -- helps pilots understand why radar contact, identification, and separation services depend on the ATC computer system functioning correctly, and why a loss of that processing can change the level of service available.
Intuition Check
A “target” here is not something being attacked or aimed at; it is the aircraft or object as shown on an ATC display. “Digitized” does not mean the aircraft is digital; it means the screen symbol is made by a computer from detection information.
Example Sentence 1
The controller identified the aircraft by watching the digitized target turn to the assigned heading on the scope.
Example Sentence 2
Modern systems automatically label each digitized target with the aircraft's call sign and altitude.