Comparison of bi‐modal coherent sea clutter simulation techniques

Abstract

Realistic simulation of radar sea-clutter is extremely important to evaluate radar detection algorithms and to stimulate radar processors during development and testing. Here, the authors compare a number of coherent sea clutter simulation methods designed to model not just the amplitude distribution, but also the time and range varying Doppler spectrum. This is important as the Doppler spectrum plays a key role in determining the statistics that are important for coherent processing. The models studied include the evolving Doppler spectrum model, the spatial and temporal limited clutter model and the compound G2 model which captures many of the features from the other two. To analyse the models, simulated data are generated with parameters estimated from the Ingara medium grazing angle sea clutter data set. Comparison with the original data then allows for a comprehensive study of the strengths and weaknesses of each model over a range of polarisations and swell angles.