A new model for the Doppler spectrum of windblown radar ground clutter

Abstract

A phenomenological model is derived for the Doppler spectrum of radar clutter echoes from windblown vegetation. The family of spectral shapes obtained, denoted K-PSD, shows an exponential decay of the spectral tails that gives a good fit to the spectra observed in MIT-LL ground clutter measurements. The exponential shape provides tails that decay much faster than in the usual power-law model, but that remain wider than in the Gaussian model. The derived model provides a theoretical basis for the spectral shapes observed in the measurements.