Large-scale, full-wave scattering phenomenology characterization of realistic trees

Scattering characterization of realistic tree structures is performed to facilitate the development of low-frequency (P-band) foliage penetration radars. The full-wave analysis approach employs a parallelized three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithm deployed on high performance computer systems to simulate the far-field electromagnetic responses of foliage scenes. The scattering behavior of a single tree is first considered as a function of frequency, polarization, signal incidence angle, and structural fidelity, and then large-scale simulations are carried out to examine the responses of a forest stand in both the frequency and imaging domains. The results featured are from the first phase of an ongoing study to investigate the feasibility of applying large-scale electromagnetic simulations to support airborne-based sensing of obscured ground targets.