Low Grazing Angle Sea Clutter modelled by Ray Tracing and Physical Optics
conference paper
In this project we study radar scattering from the sea surface in a number of ways. We generate 3D realisations of the sea surface and models of breaking waves. These objecs are put in CAD format. A ray tracing algorithm is used to calculate the illumination of the object and the local incidence angle of the radiation. Based on these results a physical optics algorithm determines the radar backscatter. The advantages of this approach lie in the fact that it incorporates both shadowing and multiple scattering. Moreover, it solves the full three-dimensional scattering problem and it is relatively fast. Good results are obtained when applying the model to corrugated plates. The simulation results demonstrate Bragg type resonance effects. Two-dimensional results from breaking wave objects show great similarity to the results of other authors. In the three-dimensional simulations we calculate the backscatter of a breaking wave as a function of all incidence and azimuth angles. It is found that straight crested breaking wave models show a narrow azimuth directionality of the backscatter, which becomes blurred for rough crested models. Future work for this project will lie in improving both our radar and hydrodynamic models. Furthermore, we plan to obtain more and better observations for validation of the models.
TNO Identifier
95380
Publisher
NATO Research and Technology Organisation
Source title
RTO Meeting Proceedings Low Grazing Angle Cluuter: Is Characterization, Measurement and application, Ppaers presented at the RTO Sensors and Electronics Technology Panel (SET) Symposium, held in Laurel, Maryland, USA, 25-27 April 2000
Place of publication
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Pages
15/1-15/10
Files
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