ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE SCATTERING OFF TURBULENT WAKES

WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AN IMPROVED, MORE ACCURATE TECHNIQUES FOR PREDICTING THE RADAR SCATTERING RETURN FROM TURBULENT HYPERSONIC FLOWS. THE WELL-KNOWN SELF-CONSISTENT FIELD APPROACH TO MULTIPLE SCATTERING WILL BE EXTENDED TO VECTOR ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES AND APPLIED TO THE PREDICTION OF TURBULENT WAKE RADAR SIGNATURES. PROJECT OBJECTIVES INCLUDE A DETERMINATION OF THE COHERENT AS WELL AS INCOHERENT FIELDS AT THE RADAR DETECTOR SCATTERED OFF A WAKE WITH AN ASSUMED SET OF STATISTICAL PROPERTIES AND A SIMPLE GEOMETRY. THIS APPROACH WILL PROVIDE A GENERAL AND SYSTEMATIC TREATMENT TO ALL ORDERS IN TURBULENCE OF THE SCATTERING OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES IN TERMS OF THE PROPERTIES OF THE TURBULENT STRUCTURE OF THE SCATTERING SYSTEM, AND IS APPLICABLE TO BOTH UNDERDENSE AND OVERDENSE PLASMAS. THIS APPROACH THUS OVERCOMES THE WELL KNOWN INTRODUCTION OF SINGULARITIES IN FINITE ORDER BORN EXPANSIONS, AND SHOULD REPRESENT A SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT OVER EXISTING APPROXIMATE METHODS.