Backscatter Enhancement in Scattering from Rough Surfaces
Abstract
Stealth technology has advanced to the point where radar target cross sections are so small there is a great need to determine mean clutter cross sections and clutter variability with great accuracy. Established clutter prediction techniques result in forward scatter values that exceed backscatter. There is some new experimental data on light scattering from rough metallic surfaces which shows there is an enhancement of backscattering in the antispecular direction under some conditions. This unusual result has been addressed by several theoretical analyses with varying success at confirmation. In this report an integral form of a physical optics representation is used to simulate the experimental conditions. For a one-dimensional surface height variation this model predicts enhanced backscatter at optical frequencies. Additional calculations for the more significant radar case of microwave frequencies and a dielectric surface again predict an increase in backscatter for large or intermediate surface slope conditions. Keywords: Rough surface scattering, Radar clutter, Bistatic clutter.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA223110
Entities
People
- Margaret B. Woodworth
- Robert J. Papa
Organizations
- Rome Laboratory