High Fidelity Simulation of Radar Signatures for Low-flying Targets above Land Surfaces

This paper proposes a new procedure for high fidelity simulation of radar scattering signatures for low-flying targets above land surfaces. A digital elevation model (DEM) grid pre-processing technique is first developed, which results in terrain DEM with finer grid and rough surface from commercially available low resolution DEM data. Land scattering echo is then generated by combining the grid-refined DEM and a modified semi-empirical model of backscattering coefficient for typical terrains with different covers. A multipath scattering model combined with high frequency approximation techniques for electromagnetic (EM) scattering calculation is adopted for target scattering calculation. Simulation results for different phenomenological signatures, such as radar clutter maps, Doppler spectra and high resolution range profiles (HRRPs) of a complex scene for a generic missile low-flying above typical terrains are presented, demonstrating the validity and usefulness of the proposed high fidelity simulation procedure.