Analysis of medium grazing angle X-band sea-clutter Doppler spectra

Doppler analysis of radar sea-clutter is typically performed from a static cliff top location looking out to sea. This constrains the grazing angle to low values and the radar look direction with respect to the wind. Current research at the DSTO is interested in the properties of sea-clutter at medium to high grazing angles, over all azimuth directions, full polarisation and different spatial resolutions. The sea clutter Doppler spectrum investigated in this paper was collected by an airborne platform and analysed using the three component Walker scattering model modified to include Doppler shifts from the moving platform. The modelling results enable the underlying Doppler spectrum and autocorrelation of the sea clutter to be estimated. This will enable future analysis into the performance of medium to high grazing angle target detection algorithms in the maritime environment.