The observed characteristics of radar sea clutter were described in the previous chapter. This chapter presents some of the empirical models that describe sea clutter characteristics and that can be applied for signal processing design and radar performance predictions. The models are of limited use to the radar designer unless their parameter values can be matched to different environmental conditions, radar characteristics and signal processing schemes. While some headway has been made with direct electromagnetic modelling of the sea surface, nearly all of the models used for practical applications are based on very many measurements of different conditions. The chapter covers models for three main attributes of sea clutter: the normalised radar cross section (NRCS), the amplitude statistics, and the Doppler spectrum. These characteristics were introduced in the previous chapter and their significance will become clear in later chapters of this book.

Chapter Contents:

• 3.1 Overview
• 3.2 Low grazing angle normalised sea clutter RCS models
• 3.2.1 RRE model
• 3.2.2 GIT model
• 3.2.3 Sittrop's model
• 3.2.4 The TSC model
• 3.2.5 The hybrid model
• 3.2.6 Other results
• 3.3 Medium and high grazing angle normalised RCS models
• 3.4 Bistatic normalised RCS models
• 3.4.1 In-plane NBRCS models
• 3.4.2 Out-of-plane NBRCS
• 3.5 Low grazing angle statistics
• 3.5.1 Lognormal distribution
• 3.5.2 Weibull distribution
• 3.5.3 Compound K distribution
• 3.5.4 Compound K distribution plus noise
• 3.5.5 Shape parameter at low grazing angle
• 3.5.6 Discrete spike modelling
• 3.6 Medium grazing angle statistics
• 3.7 Bistatic amplitude statistics
• 3.8 Doppler spectra
• 3.8.1 Average Doppler spectra
• 3.8.2 Evolution of Doppler spectra with time
• 3.8.3 Bistatic Doppler spectra
• References

Inspec keywords: radar clutter; radar signal processing; radar cross-sections; Doppler radar; statistical analysis

Other keywords: Doppler spectrum; NRCS; amplitude statistics; direct electromagnetic modelling; radar performance prediction; signal processing design; radar sea clutter; normalised radar cross section

Subjects: Signal processing and detection; Other topics in statistics; Radar equipment, systems and applications