Statistical analysis of UHF bistatic radar clutter in coastal scenarios

Abstract

This paper tackles a statistical analysis of bistatic sea radar clutter data acquired by an experimental demonstrator developed by the University of Alcalá, based on DVB-T signals. The selected scenario is located at the Military Naval School of Marín, in the Spanish North-west coast. Goodness-off-it techniques are used to fit the empirical cumulative distribution function to theoretical models, and the one-lag correlation coefficient is estimated. Results prove that a Gaussian clutter model can be assumed for high Doppler shifts. However, the zero Doppler shift and values close to it present high variability, so a non-homogeneous clutter characterization is required. The acquisition radar matrix is correlated along the range dimension and uncorrelated along the Doppler one.