A METHODOLOGY FOR MODELING AND SIMULATION OF RADAR CLUTTER AND MULTIPATH

A computer program is developed to simulate the propagation of a radar pulse for a defined radar scenario. The program traces the electromag netic wave in time in the radar background. The returns from various p aths and the target can be individually recorded along with time delay and Doppler shift information. The program is modular so desired rada r, target and earth surface models can be inserted to realize the desi red radar scenarios. The returns can be individually processed and the characteristics of target, multipath and clutter can be investigated in time and frequency even for scenarios which are difficult to be rea lized experimentally. The effects of various radar, target and backgro und parameters can be obtained so more reliable models of clutter and multipath can be developed. These models are extremely useful in the t est and development of target detection and clutter suppression algori thms. The operation of the simulation program is tested by implementin g a concrete radar scenario, which consists of a monostatic X-band rad ar searching for a low altitude target over the ocean surface. The res ults for the sea surface backscatter normalized radar cross section wi th respect to arrival time, wind direction, polarization, sea state an d grazing angle are presented and compared with the available data in the literature and very good agreement is observed. The multipath data in time are obtained for two different target orientations and compar ed with each other. The radar simulation program proved itself to be a versatile tool to generate radar scenarios on the computer and obtain reliable synthetic data for clutter and multipath which can be used f or more successful signal processing algorithms for target detection a nd clutter suppression.