RCS Measurement and Characteristic Analysis of a Sea Surface Small Target with a Shore-Based UHF-Band Radar

Effectiveness verification of weapon equipment and the selection of stealth material are inseparable from target radar cross-section (RCS) measurement. For RCS characteristic analysis of sea surface small targets, a fishing vessel was measured using a shore-based ultra-high-frequency (UHF) band radar. In this article, a full program of RCS measurement and characteristic analysis is presented, and three strategies are adopted to guarantee its high precision. For this, a scheme was designed for RCS dynamic measurement, along with the construction of a two-stage median filter to improve target positioning precision, and an RCS estimation procedure with sea clutter removal is elaborated upon, which increases RCS accuracy. Note that the test range satisfies the far-field criterion, and the multipath effect is modified by external calibration in our data. The measurement results reveal that the RCS level of the sea surface small target is sensitive to the aspect angle and wave height at a low grazing angle, but the RCS fluctuation characteristic is not. Therefore, the aspect angle and wave condition must be considered for sea surface small target detection, classification, or identification.