Point-Scatterer Formulation of Terrain Clutter Statistics

The first-order statistics of terrain clutter are investigated theoretically and experimentally. The return from a point-scatterer (a scintillating signal) is used as a basis for generating the statistical properties of terrain clutter as observed by side-looking airborne radars. According to the mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Valenzuela, G R, Laing, M B
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Active & Passive Radar Detection & Equipment
CENTRAL LIMIT THEOREM
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC SCATTERING
KOLMOGOROV-SMIRNOV TEST
PROBABILITY DENSITY FUNCTIONS
RADAR CLUTTER
SCATTERING
SCINTILLATION
SIDE LOOKING RADAR
STATISTICAL DISTRIBUTIONS
STATISTICAL INFERENCE
TERRAIN
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Summary:The first-order statistics of terrain clutter are investigated theoretically and experimentally. The return from a point-scatterer (a scintillating signal) is used as a basis for generating the statistical properties of terrain clutter as observed by side-looking airborne radars. According to the model the limiting distribution of terrain clutter are the Gaussian distribution and the distribution for a scintillating signal (specular clutter). An array of point-scatterers within the radar beam produces clutter which has long tails similar to those of a lognormal distribution. The convergence of the first-order statistics of a scintillating signal to the statistics of a sinusoidal signal is demonstrated. Also, the statistics of terrain clutter are inferred from data taken with the Naval Research Laboratory's Four Frequency Radar System by the Kolmogorov--Smirnov test of the cumulative distribution and by the computation of the first five central moments of the normalized radar cross section of terrain (in decibels).