THE ANGULAR-CORRELATION FUNCTION OF WAVE SCATTERING BY A BURIED OBJECT EMBEDDED IN RANDOM DISCRETE SCATTERERS UNDER A RANDOM ROUGH-SURFACE

Radar detection of a target embedded in geophysical media can be obscu red by clutter. In this article the angular correlation function (ACF) is studied for wave scattering by an object embedded in random discre te scatterers under a rough surface. The ACF is calculated by using re alization averaging, frequency averaging, and angular averaging. The r esults of the ACF for volume scattering combined volume, and rough sur face scattering and with a buried object are shown and compared. It is found that the ACF can be used to distinguish scattering by random di screte scatterers, random rough surface, and a deterministic buried ob ject. The chatter return can be suppressed and the target becomes cons picuous. The ratio of ACF of the scattered wave with a target and that without a target can be 10 dB larger than the ratio of intensities. ( C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.