Monte Carlo simulation of electromagnetic scattering from two-dimensional random rough surfaces

Abstract

The fast multipole method fast Fourier transform (FMM-FFT) method is developed to compute the scattering of an electromagnetic wave from a two-dimensional (2-D) rough surface. The resulting algorithm computes a matrix-vector multiply in O(N log N) operations. This algorithm is shown to be more efficient than another O(N log N) algorithm, the multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA), for surfaces of small height. For surfaces with larger roughness, the MLFMA is found to be more efficient. Using the MLFMA, Monte Carlo simulations are carried out to compute the statistical properties of the electromagnetic scattering from 2-D random rough surfaces using a workstation. For the rougher surface, backscattering enhancement is clearly observable as a pronounced peak in the backscattering direction of the computed bistatic scattering coefficient. For the smoother surface, the Monte Carlo results compare well with the results of the approximate Kirchhoff theory.