Investigation on the Multidimensional Statistical Characteristics of Sea Clutter Acquired by a Ku-Band Radar With Variable Range Resolution

It is of great theoretical and practical significance to study the multidimensional statistical characteristics of sea clutter at different range resolutions, such as optimizing clutter modeling and suppression, improving radar system design and remote sensing data interpretation ability. The analysis of the effect of range resolution based on different sea-clutter datasets poses a significant challenge in the drawing of reliable conclusions, owing to the variability in radar parameters and sea state conditions. In this article, a new method is proposed to obtain sea-clutter data with different range resolutions based on high resolution radar data by reducing the sampling time of the original intermediate frequency (IF) signal. Based on this method, the statistical characteristics of sea clutter at different range resolutions are analyzed for the first time, including the amplitude distribution, coherence length of sea texture, phase difference distribution, Doppler spectrum, and wave radial velocity of sea clutter at three range resolutions: high (0.75 m), moderate (7.5 m), and low (25 m), while all other environmental parameters and radar parameters remain constant. The results clearly show the effect of range resolution on sea-clutter properties and can be used to guide development of clutter models.