TABLE OF CONTENTS Melvin M. Weiner
Bistatic clutter is part of the ground environment that affects the performance of a bistatic radar system. In continuous wave (CW), moving target indication, and pulse doppler radars, bistatic clutter residue (clutter return after signal processing) competes as interference with the target signal (see Chapter 11). In synthetic aperture radar, bistatic clutter is a critical part of the target scene (see Chapter 10). In planetary probing radar, bistatic clutter becomes the entire target scene (see Chapter 5). In all cases, the phenomenology of terrain and sea clutter must be characterized, which is the purpose of this chapter.
The radar return of transmitter energy scattered by terrain and sea (called surface clutter) from a specific area (called the clutter cell area) is a function of the bistatic angle. The bistatic angle is the angle subtended at the clutter cell by the lines joining it to the transmitter and receiver that are separated in space. The clutter return before signal processing can be orders of magnitude larger than returns from man-made targets such as aircraft or vehicles in the clutter cell.
Bistatic clutter phenomenology is relevant in applications such as:
Air, space, and ground surveillance of moving targets
Air and space imaging of fixed targets
Electronic countermeasures located in a radar's side lobe that jam via surface scatter through the radar's main...
