MIMO Radar Clutter Modeling - MP 127-11

ABSTRACT: The goal of this effort is to develop a physics-based model and simulation capability for MIMO radar clutter that accurately characterizes the statistical and spectral properties of the clutter under a variety of operating conditions. Our clutter patch model will be capable of predicting field statistical properties including the probability density functions and their parameters (e.g. mean scattered power), as well as correlation properties as a function of frequency, time, space, polarization, and/or angle, given the observing geometry, radar sensor properties, surface dielectric properties, and surface statistics. Our clutter simulator will generate clutter patch samples with the specified statistical characteristics and combine them into correlated clutter samples at the receiver elements. The simulator will include a companion set of tools for statistical and experimental model validation and inference. The result of the Phase I effort will be a prototype simulation tool capable of generating and validating realistic clutter samples for a limited set of terrain classes and MIMO radar configurations, and a development framework that will allow us to (i) expand the capability in Phase II to include a much richer set of natural and urban clutter classes and MIMO radar configurations, and to (ii) perform an extensive and exhaustive validation of the models through statistical and experimental data analysis. BENEFIT: The availability of realistic clutter models and simulated clutter data is critical for advanced system design and performance analysis for MIMO GMTI radar systems. This tool will provide such a capability, which currently does not exist.