Investigation of target and ground clutter reflections on the correlation between transmitted and received noise signals

The use of noise waveforms for radar has been popular for many years; however, not much work has been done to extend their use to long range applications. To understand the practicality of using noise for this work, the correlation values between transmitted and received signals were investigated as well as the ratio of reflected to transmitted power. This was done for both ground clutter and simple shapes representing targets of interest. Reflections from these different surfaces are dependent on the frequency of operation, polarization, angle of incidence, and target material. To act as a direct comparison to the noise waveform, a chirp signal was also reflected from these surfaces and correlated with the originally transmitted signal. For terrain, it was found that the noise offers similar correlation patterns as the chirp waveform but slightly larger reflected power for certain cases. Additionally, noise waveforms have decreased correlation values compared to chirp waveforms at low angles. For the simple shaped targets, the noise and chirp signals had similar correlation patterns, values, and power ratios.