SCINTILLATION RANGE NOISE AND RELATED PHENOMENA IN WATER WAVE PROFILING WITH MICROWAVE RADAR.

Abstract

Wave-profile recording by radar from a low-flying conventional aircraft offers a means of rapidly collecting large amounts of oceanographic data over wide areas of the ocean in a relatively short time. A series of radar experiments has been conducted from a laboratory suspended beneath the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The purpose of the series of experiments was to study the problems of wave-profile recording and to make comparisons with standard radar altimetry. Theoretical and experimental analyses based on the work conducted at the bridge laboratory indicate that target-scintillation noise limits the accuracy of a microwave radar used for wave profiling. However, it has been concluded that a properly designed airborne FM-CW radar can produce ocean-wave recordings of sufficient accuracy for all ordinary oceanographic purposes. The specifications for such a system have been developed. One of the basic requirements has been found to be a broad transmitted spectrum, probably in excess of 100 Mc/sec; this requirement appears to be independent of the exact form which the radar system takes. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 03, 1968
Accession Number
AD0677030

Entities

People

  • Arno M. King
  • Calvin L. Moody
  • Chauncey G. Myers
  • Christopher M. Morrow

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Chesapeake Bay
  • Continuous-Wave Radar
  • Microwave Radar
  • Microwaves
  • Ocean Waves
  • Radar
  • Scintillation
  • Specifications
  • Standards
  • Water Waves
  • Waves

Readers

  • Oceanography.
  • Radar Systems Engineering.
  • Systems Analysis and Design