PO/MEC-BASED SCATTERING MODEL FOR COMPLEX OBJECTS ON A SEA SURFACE

In this contribution a model based on asymptotic methods is proposed to compute the scattered field from complex objects on a sea surface. The scattering model combines the geometrical optics, the physical optics and the method of equivalent currents. It includes the shadowing effects and multiple-bounce up to order 3. This model is used, in the following, for Radar Cross Section (RCS) estimation and to generate Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) raw data for imaging applications. The theoretical aspects are reviewed in this paper and the proposed model is detailed. Numerical results are provided to validate the approach through the computation of RCS for canonical objects and complex scenes. Both the bistatic and the monostatic configurations are studied in this work. Finally some first results dealing with SAR imaging of objects on a sea surface are provided. These images are constructed from the simulated raw data thanks to a chirp scaling-based algorithm.