A radar land clutter model and its verification

Presents a site-specific method to characterize terrain visibility and clutter as seen by a shipboard radar in a coastal environment. The method takes into account the ship location, terrain topography, radar parameters, and radar propagation. The method incorporates an optical ray-trace program, an electromagnetic parabolic equation model, and a data base of terrain elevations; it accounts for refraction, multipath, and diffraction with arbitrary propagation. The statistical distribution and geographical pattern of reflectivity obtained with the authors´ method compares favorably with experimental data obtained under conditions similar to those modeled