Delay/Doppler radar altimeter simulation echoes from different sea states

Radar altimeter is playing an important and irreplaceable role in ocean remote sensing. The Delay/Doppler Radar Altimeter (DDA) is a new type of radar altimeter and has high spatial resolution, low power consumption and small size. It can be applied in open oceans, coastal zone and polar ice. In a fully developed linear ocean, the ocean model is generated by sea wave spectrum model which consists of swell and wind spectrum. The sea surface is of random character and can be described by random variables such as the ocean surface elevation probability density function (OSE PDF) and the ocean surface wave height probability density function (OSWH PDF). In this paper different echoes with the different OSWH PDFs and sea states are simulated. With spatial and temporal characteristics, the K-distribution echo is closer to the ideal echo model. The results from this paper are helpful to the algorithmic method and performance of the DDA. They also have directive to the DDA echo simulator.