Composite terrain clutter modelling

This paper looks at a generic algorithm for characterising the statistical properties of non-stationary and non-homogeneous terrain backscattering signals of airborne and ground based radar systems. The backscattered signal from the terrain can be modelled as a sum of complex backscatter signals from a number of scattering targets which have random phase, amplitude and density variations. The compound density function for any terrain can be generated as a function of: (1) the radar range resolution cell area; (2) number of scatterer types in the range cell; and (3) for each scatterer type, the mean radar cross section coefficient (normalised), mean number of scatters, and spatial density. The result show that the composite terrain clutter algorithm accurately models data for cultivated land obtained with an X-band radar system