Maritime scene design tools for realistic radar performance predictions

The GPU computing has recently opened news efficient ways for radar simulation. For small target detection and for advanced processings such as imagery SAR/ISAR, the simulation of realistic raw data is crucial. It concerns maritime patrol applications from unmanned and manned platforms, such as presented in [1]. The aim of this paper is to present works driven by DGA and to illustrate the recent progress and capabilities offered by two recent tools: - “MOCVIEW” for target raw data generator of maritime scenes (using “MOCEM” model [2] of the ship). - “PHYS_IQ” for clutter radar IQ signal generator. Maritime scenes need to take into account: - For the target, realistic 3D ship models with right Electromagnetic (EM) materials, ship motions - For the sea clutter, it is essential to deal with the grazing angle challenge or effects associated to High sea states (shadows, sea spikes, heavy tail distributions) [3].