Polarimetric radar detection of point targets in a forest environment

The use of polarimetric radar to detect point targets in a forest clutter environment was evaluated using a truck-mounted L-band polarimetric scatterometer. The polarimetric propagation characteristics of a dense canopy of red pines were measured. A simple polarimetric model was then used to simulate the polarimetric response of other point targets in the same forest environment. The simulation makes it possible to obtain the polarimetric response for a variety of point targets in the same forest environment without the need for detailed polarimetric measurements of each target. Several polarimetric and traditional (amplitude-only) detection schemes were used with the simulated data to evaluate the enhancement in target detection attained with polarimetric techniques as opposed to traditional techniques.<>