Persistent Sea-spike Detection in Medium Grazing Angle X-band Sea-Clutter

Inhalt:
Knowledge of sea-clutter phenomenology allows accurate models to improve the prediction of target detection performance. This paper focuses on the non-Bragg radar backscatter component, also known as sea-spikes which are often the cause of false detections in a radar processor. A threshold is used to detect sea-spikes in the time domain with results verified against the KK probability distribution function. Detections due to the whitecap component are then isolated to provide more information regarding the underlying cause of sea-spikes and answer the question of whetherWalker’s three component Doppler spectrum model is justified at medium grazing angles, 15deg to 45deg.