Non-Rayleigh Sea Clutter: Properties and Detection of Targets

Abstract : Sea clutter has a non-Rayleigh probability density when examined with a radar that has high resolution. This report discusses the properties of non- Rayleigh sea clutter and the detection of targets in non-Rayleigh sea clutter. The spatially varying clutter model is presented and is used to explain the non- Rayleigh nature of sea clutter. The variation of clutter distributions with various radar parameters such as frequency, pulse width, and polarization was determined, and the correlation properties of clutter were established. A way was developed of constructing a realistic realization of the sea surface on a computer, and the surface was used to predict non-Rayleigh clutter densities for various conditions and to indicate some finer points associated with the detection of small targets on the ocean's surface. Finally, various detectors were compared and the problems of pulse-to-pulse and scan-to-scan processing were analyzed.