Statistical description of the RCS of 2-D ship models on rough sea surfaces

The statistical analysis of the data obtained from a Monte Carlo simulation of the radar cross section (RCS) of 2-D targets on ocean rough surfaces is presented. The numerical results of the RCS have been obtained using an accelerated version of the generalized forward–backward method, computing the RCS as a function of the incidence angle and wind speed for a large number of sea-surface realizations. It has been observed that two different regions appear, depending on the incidence angle and the wind speed. The RCS for each of those regions can be modeled using different statistical distributions, as will be shown in the Results section. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 32: 153–159, 2002.