A new statistical model of sea clutter from trials in Ku band

The modeling of sea clutter presents an important problem in radar system design since model selection often drives system parameter selection. In addition to the importance of this problem, a new characterization of sea clutter is warranted in order to attend the literature in this area. Measurements of sea clutter in the Ku band using linear polarization, at very low altitude and very high grazing angles, have been performed in order to determine the statistical characteristics of the received signal when the area of the surface illuminated by the main beam of the antenna is relatively small, on the order of several square meters or less. A not widely used methodology is described to determine the probability density function of the clutter signals. Very interesting results have been obtained from the analysis of the measured signals and a family of statistical distributions, the reverse J-shaped beta distributions, normally not used for clutter signals, has proven to be representative of the random variation of the observed phenomenon. The paper concludes with an indication of the methodology usable to simulate that type of statistical fluctuation of the sea clutter signal.