A Time Domain Point Source Method for Inverse Scattering by Rough Surfaces

In this paper we propose a new method to determine the location and shape of an unbounded rough surface from measurements of scattered electromagnetic waves. The proposed method is based on the point source method of Potthast (IMA J. Appl. Math. 61, 119–140, 1998) for inverse scattering by bounded obstacles. We propose a version for inverse rough surface scattering which can reconstruct the total field when the incident field is not necessarily time harmonic. We present numerical results for the case of a perfectly conducting surface in TE polarization, in which case a homogeneous Dirichlet condition applies on the boundary. The results show great accuracy of reconstruction of the total field and of the prediction of the surface location.