Radar cross section statistics of ground vehicles at Ku-band

Abstract

Knowing the statistical characteristics of a target's radar cross-section (RCS) is crucial to the success of radar target detection algorithms. Open literature studies regarding the statistical nature of the RCS of ground vehicles focus primarily on simulations, scale model chamber measurements, or limited experimental data analysis of specific vehicles at certain frequencies. This paper seeks to expand the existing body of work on ground vehicle RCS statistics at Ku-band for ground moving target indication (GMTI) applications. We examine the RCS probability distributions of civilian and military vehicles, across aspect and elevation angle, for HH and VV polarizations, and at diverse resolutions, using experimental data collected at Ku-band. We further fit Swerling target models to the distributions and suggest appropriate detection thresholds for ground vehicles in this band.