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surfclutterrcs

Surface clutter radar cross section (RCS)

Since R2021a

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Syntax

RCS = surfclutterrcs(NRCS,R,az,el,graz,tau)
RCS = surfclutterrcs(NRCS,R,az,el,graz,tau,c)

Description

RCS = surfclutterrcs(NRCS,R,az,el,graz,tau) returns the radar cross section (RCS) of a clutter patch that is of range R meters away from the radar system. az and el are the radar system azimuth and elevation beamwidths, respectively, corresponding to the clutter patch. graz is the grazing angle of the clutter patch relative to the radar. tau is the pulse width of the transmitted signal. The calculation automatically determines whether the surface clutter area is beam limited or pulse limited, based on the values of the input arguments.

example

RCS = surfclutterrcs(NRCS,R,az,el,graz,tau,c) specifies the propagation speed in meters per second.

Examples

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Open Live Script

Calculate the RCS of a clutter patch and estimate the clutter-to-noise ratio (CNR) at the receiver. Assume that the patch has a normalized radar cross section (NRCS) of 1 m²/m² and is 1.0 km away from the radar system. The azimuth and elevation beamwidths are 1° and 3°, respectively. The grazing angle is 10°. The pulse width is 10μs. The radar operates at a wavelength of 1 cm with a peak power of 5 kW.

nrcs = 1;
rng = 1.0e3;
az = 1;
el = 3;
graz = 10;
tau = 10e-6;
lambda = 0.01;
ppow = 5000;
rcs = surfclutterrcs(nrcs,rng,az,el,graz,tau)
rcs = 
5.2627e+03

cnr = radareqsnr(lambda,rng,ppow,tau,'rcs',rcs)
cnr = 
75.2006

Input Arguments

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Normalized radar cross section of clutter patch in units of square meters/square meters, specified as a scalar.

Data Types: double

Range of clutter patch from radar system in meters, specified as a scalar.

Data Types: double

Azimuth beamwidth of radar system corresponding to clutter patch in degrees, specified as a nonnegative scalar.

Data Types: double

Elevation beamwidth of radar system corresponding to clutter patch in degrees, specified as a nonnegative scalar.

Data Types: double

Grazing angle of clutter patch relative to radar system in degrees, specified as a nonnegative scalar.

Data Types: double

Pulse width of transmitted signal in seconds, specified as a nonnegative scalar.

Data Types: double

Propagation speed in meters per second, specified as a positive scalar.

Example: 343 meters per second approximates the speed of sound at sea level and at a temperature of 20 °C under normal atmospheric conditions.

Data Types: double

Output Arguments

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Radar cross section of clutter patch, returned as a scalar.

Tips

  • You can calculate the clutter-to-noise ratio using the output of this function as the RCS input argument value in radareqsnr.

Algorithms

See [1].

References

[1] Richards, M. A. Fundamentals of Radar Signal Processing. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005, pp. 57–63.

Extended Capabilities

Version History

Introduced in R2021a

See Also

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