Electromagnetic wave scattering from real-life rough surface profiles and profiles based on an averaged spectrum

The authors study the electromagnetic wave scattering from rough surface of three different kinds. The scattering cross section is calculated exactly for each profile and the average scattering cross sections are compared. In the first method, they use real-life measured profiles of a natural surface. The first method gives the correct scattering result or bench mark result. In the second method, they use the measured profiles to calculate the averaged spectrum. They then use the averaged spectrum to generate many profiles. In the third method, the averaged spectrum obtained from the second method is fitted with a power-law spectrum. The fitted spectrum is then used to generate profiles. They find that the third method can give results which can be as much as 6 dB different than the correct result. The second method generally give reasonable results within 2 to 3 dB of the first method solution. Examples used in this paper include soil, snow, and rock surfaces.