Analysis of sea clutter radar data

Abstract

We perform a detailed analysis of experimental data, collected at Osborne Gunnery Range with MacMaster University IPIX radar, to test the theoretical models developed in the literature. A comparison of the amplitude histograms with the K and lognormal distribution shows that VV data exhibit a K behaviour, while HH data are better fitted by a lognormal model and cross-polarised data by a K plus thermal noise model. The results have been confirmed by comparing the first four moments and through a modified version of the Kolmogoroff-Smirnoff test. The validity of the compound model, that identifies two components of clutter fluctuations, has been proved for the VV polarisation. The texture component, deriving from the spatially varying mean level has been isolated, since the speckle component was decorrelated by the frequency agility. These results are of great importance for design of optimum target detection schemes.