Low-Angle Radar Land Clutter

A necessary reference for all radar engineers or analysts including many levels of managers, advisors and decision makers in the U.S. and worldwide radar industry. Directly useful in both military (DOD) and civilian (FAA) applications. The result of 20 years of research at MIT Lincoln Lab, this book is of the most significant tehcnological consequence for the industry. It actually solves the problem of low angle radar land clutter by showing the reader how to design and predict the performance of radars that operate in situations where land clutter prevalent.

Radar land clutter constitutes the unwanted radar echoes returned from the earth's surface that compete against and interfere with the desired echoes returned by targets such as aircraft and other moving and stationary targets. The ability to accurately predict the effects of land clutter in surface radar has been an unsolved problem for many years. This book is comprehensive in addressing the topic, containing many interrelated results, each important in its own right. It unifies and integrates all the results so as to create a comprehensive, innovative, and unequaled work.

The results of this book directly enable the reader to predict land clutter effects in surface radar. Modern military aircraft deliberately fly low to hide their presence from radars that are also dealing with land clutter. Depending on the terrain, the performance of the radar varies greatly from very good to very poor. This book helps radar engineers provide accurate assessments of ground clutter, thus bringing their ability to detect and operate against low flying aircraft to a much higher and much more consistent level.

Engineers or analysts including many levels of managers, advisors and decision makers in the U.S. and worldwide radar industry.

1. Overview Introduction Historical Review Clutter Measurements at Lincoln Laboratory Clutter Prediction at Lincoln Laboratory Scope of Book Organization of Book References
2. Preliminary X-Band Clutter Measurements Introduction Phase Zero Clutter Measurements The Nature of Low-Angle Clutter X-Band Clutter Spatial Amplitude Statistics Summary References
3. Repeat Sector Clutter Measurements Introduction Multifrequency Clutter Measurements Fundamental Effects in Low-Angle Clutter Mean Land Clutter Strength versus Frequency by Terrain Type Dependencies of Mean Land Clutter Strength with Radar Parameters Higher Moments and Percentiles in Measured Land Clutter Spatial Amplitude Distributions Effects of Weather and Season Summary References
4. Approaches to Clutter Modeling Introduction An Interim Angle-Specific Clutter Model Non-Angle-Specific Modeling Considerations Terrain Visibility and Clutter Occurrence Discrete versus Distributed Clutter Temporal Statistics, Spectra and Correlation Summary References
5. Multifrequency Land Clutter Modeling Information Introduction Derivation of Clutter Modeling Information Land Clutter Coefficients for General Terrain Land Clutter Coefficients for Specific Terrain Types PPI Clutter Map Simulation Summary References
6. Windblown Clutter Spectral Measurements Introduction Exponential Windblown Clutter Spectral Model Measurement Basis for Exponential Clutter Spectral Model Use of Exponential Clutter Spectral Model Impact on MTI and STAP Historical Review Summary References Index