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 electromagnetic wave in time in the radar background. The returns from various paths and the target can be individually recorded along with time delay and Doppler shift information. The program is modular so desired radar, target and earth surface models can be inserted to realize the desired 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 realized experimentally. The effects of various radar, target and background parameters can be obtained so more reliable models of clutter and multipath can be developed. These models are extremely useful in the test and development of target detection and clutter suppression algorithms. The operation of the simulation program is tested by implementing a concrete radar scenario, which consists of a monostatic X-band radar searching for a low altitude target over the ocean surface. The results for the sea surface backscatter normalized radar cross section with respect to arrival time, wind direction, polarization, sea state and 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 compared 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 for more successful signal processing algorithms for target detection and clutter suppression.