Full-wave solutions for the depolarization of the scattered radiation fields by rough surfaces of arbitrary slope

Employing a variable coordinate system associated with the local features of two-dimensionally rough surfaces with arbitrary slope, full-wave solutions are derived for the depolarization of the scattered radiation fields. An outline of the analytical procedures used in the derivations of the solutions are presented. Furthermore, the engineer who is not familiar with them can also use the final result which is expressed as a definite integral whose integrand is given explicitly and in closed form. These full-wave solutions are compared with the quasi-optics solution and the iterative or perturbational solutions for slightly rough surfaces, and they are shown to bridge the wide gap that exists between them. The full-wave solutions are consistent with energy conservation, duality, and reciprocity relationships in electromagnetic theory. These solutions account for upward and downward scattering of the incident waves with respect to the horizontal reference plane, thus shadowing and multiple scattering are considered. Applications to two-dimensionally periodic structures and random rough surfaces are also presented. The fullwave solutions are examined for Brewster, grazing, and specular angles and backscatter. Special consideration is also given to good conducting boundaries.     

Full-wave solutions for the scattered radiation fields from rough surfaces with arbitrary slope and frequency

Full-wave solutions are derived for the scattered radiation fields from rough surfaces with arbitrary slope and electromagnetic parameters. These solutions bridge the wide gap that exists between the perturbational solutions for rough surfaces with small slopes and the quasi-optics solutions. Thus it is shown, for example, that for good conducting boundaries the backscattered fields, which are dependent on the polarization of the incident and scattered fields at low frequencies, become independent of polarization at optical frequencies. These solutions are consistent with reciprocity, energy conservation, and duality relations in electromagnetic theory. Since the full-wave solutions account for upward and downward scattering, shadowing and multiple scatter are considered. Applications to periodic structures and random rough surfaces are also presented.     

Electromagnetic Scattering From Multilayer Rough Surfaces With Arbitrary Dielectric Profiles for Remote Sensing of Subsurface Soil Moisture

Radar remote sensing of soil moisture content at low frequencies requires an accurate scattering model of realistic soils, which often involves multilayer rough surfaces and dielectric profiles. In this paper, a hybrid analytical/numerical solution to two-dimensional scattering from multilayer rough surfaces separated by arbitrary dielectric profiles based on the extended boundary condition method (EBCM) and scattering matrix technique is presented. The reflection and transmission matrices of rough interfaces are constructed using EBCM. The dielectric profiles are modeled as stacks of piecewise homogeneous dielectric thin layers, whose scattering matrices are computed by recursively cascading reflection and transmission matrices of individual dielectric interfaces. The interactions between the rough interfaces and stratified dielectric profiles are taken into account by applying the generalized scattering matrix technique. The scattering coefficients are obtained by combining the powers computed from the resulting Floquet modes of the overall system. The bistatic scattering coefficients are validated against existing analytical and numerical solutions. Field-collected soil moisture data are then used for numerical simulations to investigate the penetration capability at different frequencies and to address the potential of low-frequency radar systems in estimating deep soil moisture. In particular, soil moisture profiles during dry ground, wet ground, and wet subsurface layer conditions are examined. The results show that both backscattering coefficients and copolarized phase difference at low frequencies are sensitive to the roughness of subsurface interfaces and deep soil moisture. Also, much larger depth sensitivity can be achieved using copolarized phase difference than scattering coefficients     

Radio wave propagation over a rough variable impedance boundary: Part I--Full-wave analysis

A full-wave solution is developed for problems of radio wave propagation over rough surfaces characterized by variable impedance and height parameters. The analysis, which is suitable for problems involving both the radiation fields as well as the ground waves, is compared with earlier solutions to these problems. The full-wave solutions which satisfy the exact boundary conditions are shown to be consistent with the reciprocity relationships for the general case.     

Full wave analysis for rough surface diffuse, incoherent radarcross sections with height-slope correlations included

The bistatic scattering cross sections are derived for rough one-dimensional perfectly conducting surfaces using the full wave approach. The surfaces are characterized by four-dimensional Gaussian joint probability density functions for heights and slopes. Thus, correlations between the rough surface heights and slopes are accounted for in the analysis. Convergence of the formal series solution is considered. Self-shadowing effects are included. The full-wave solutions are compared with the small perturbation solutions, which are polarization dependent, and the specular point (physical optics) solutions, which are independent of polarization. Both the physical optics and the small perturbation solutions can be obtained from the full-wave solution     

Electromagnetic scattering from a buried cylinder in layered media with rough interfaces

A solution to scattering from a cylinder buried arbitrarily in layered media with rough interfaces based on extended boundary condition method (EBCM) and scattering matrix technique is developed. The reflection and transmission matrices of arbitrary rough interfaces as well as an isolated single cylinder are constructed using EBCM and recursive T-matrix algorithm, respectively. The cylinder/rough surface interactions are taken into account by applying the generalized scattering matrix technique. The scattering matrix technique is used to cascade reflection and transmission matrices from individual systems (i.e., rough surfaces or cylinders) in order to obtain the scattering pattern from the overall system. Bistatic scattering coefficients are then obtained by incoherently averaging the power computed from the resulting Floquet modes of the overall system. In numerical simulations, the bistatic scattering coefficients are first validated by comparing the simulation results with the existing solutions which are the limiting cases including scattering from two-interface rough surfaces without any buried object and from a buried cylinder beneath a single rough surface. Subsequently, the numerical simulations of scattering from a buried cylinder in layered rough surfaces are performed to investigate the relative importance and sensitivity of various physical parameters of layered rough surfaces to incoherent scattering coefficients. Results show layered rough interfaces can significantly alter the scattering behaviors of a buried cylinder.     

Coupling Between Guided Surface Waves, Lateral Waves, and the Radiation Fields by Rough Surfaces--Full-Wave Solutions

In this paper explicit expressions are presented for the guided surface waves and lateral waves that are excited when radiation fields are incident upon rough surfaces. Similarly, expressions are presented for the radiation fields scattered by rough surfaces that are excited by surface waves and lateral waves. In addition, coupling between the surface waves and the lateral waves due to surface irregularities is considered in detail. The solutions, which are based on a full-wave approach to the problem, are subject to the exact boundary conditions at the irregular interface. These are shown to be consistent with the reciprocity relationship in electromagnetic theory. The validity of the approximate impedance boundary condition is examined and consideration is given to excitation at the grazing incidence, the Brewster angle, and to waves incident at the critical angle for total internal reflection. Optimum conditions are determined for coupling between the radiation fields, the surface waves, and the Iateral waves incident upon irregular boundaries. Thus this work is applicable to problems of radio wave propagation near an irregular interface between two media and excitation of guided waves by irregular dielectric structures.     

Multiple scattering and depolarization by a randomly rough Kirchhoff surface

A matrix approach has been developed to compute bistatic scattering coefficients which include shadowing and multiple scattering effects for a randomly rough Kirchhoff surface. The method permits the computation of these coefficients in terms of the existing single-scatter bistatic scattering coefficients. Thus the effects of multiple scattering are readily recognized from the expressions obtained. The bistatic scattering coefficients are shown to satisfy energy conservation to at least two significant figures. It is observed that while polarized backscattering is dominated by the single-scattering process, the depolarized backscattering is due to multiple scattering. Unlike depolarization by slightly rough surfaces or volume scattering, the angular behavior of the depolarized backscattering is similar to that of the polarized backscattering. The transitional behavior of the relative dominance between single and multiple scattering for the polarized and depolarized scattering coefficient as a function of the azimuth angle is illustrated.     

Diffuse like and cross-polarized fields scattered from irregularlayered structures-full-wave analysis

The full-wave solution for scattering from two-dimensional (2-D) irregular layered structures is expressed as a sum of radiation fields, the lateral waves and the surface waves. Only the radiation far fields are considered in this work. The lateral waves and surface waves are ignored since excitations of plane waves are considered and the observation points are in the far fields. The scattering coefficients appearing in the full-wave generalized telegraphists' equations for irregular layered structures are proportional to the derivatives of the surface heights at each interface. Using a first-order iterative procedure to solve the generalized telegraphists' equations, the diffusely scattered fields from irregular layered structures are expressed as a sum of first-order fields scattered at each rough interface. In this paper, the like and cross-polarized diffuse scattered fields are derived for three medium irregular structures with 2-D rough interfaces. The thickness of the coating material or thin film between the two interfaces is arbitrary, however, in this work it is assumed to be constant. Thus, in this case, both interfaces are rough and there are five different scattering processes identified in the full-wave results. A physical interpretation is given to the five different scattering mechanisms that contribute to the diffusely scattered fields. This work can be used to provide realistic analytical models of propagation across irregular stratified media such as ice or snow covered terrain, remote sensing of coated rough surfaces, or the detection of buried objects in the presence of signal clutter from the rough interfaces     

Full wave physical models of nonspecular scattering in irregularstratified media

A physical interpretation is given of each term in the full-wave expansion of the vertically or horizontally polarized electromagnetic fields scattered by irregular stratified media. These solutions provide a basis for the construction of physical models of nonspecular scatter in complex, irregular, layered structures. The full wave solutions involve a pair of nonspecular reflection scattering coefficients and a pair of nonspecular transmission scattering coefficients that reduce to the familiar Fresnel reflection and transmission coefficients for the specular case. The full-wave solutions are shown to satisfy the reciprocity and duality relationships in electromagnetic theory, and they are invariant to coordinate transformations. The relationships between the full-wave solution, the high-frequency physical optics solution, and the low-frequency perturbation solution are demonstrated. The analysis is relevant to problems of communication in irregular stratified media and to problems of remote sensing     

Mueller matrix elements that characterize scattering from coatedrandom rough surfaces

The Mueller matrix completely characterizes scattered electromagnetic waves. It relates the incident to the scattered Stokes vectors. The Mueller matrix, which contains intensity and relative phase data, is very useful for remote sensing. The Mueller matrix characterizing scattering from coated two-dimensional (2-D) random rough surfaces is obtained from full-wave solutions for the scattered fields considered in the companion paper. The general bistatic scattering case is considered in the analysis. However, for the numerical simulations presented here, the backscatter case is considered in particular, since backscatter is usually measured in remote sensing. The uniformly coated 2-D random rough surfaces are assumed here to be homogeneous and isotropic, with a Gaussian surface-height joint probability-density function. The diffuse incoherent and coherent contributions to the Mueller matrix elements are evaluated. The computer simulations of realistic models of relevant physical problems related to remote sensing of irregular stratified media can be used to determine the optimum modes of detection involving the selection of polarization, frequency, backscatter angle, and the specific Mueller matrix elements most sensitive to changes in medium parameters     

A new unified full wave approach to evaluate the scatter crosssections of composite random rough surfaces

A new unified approach, based on the original full wave solutions, is presented to evaluate the like and cross polarized scattering cross sections of composite (multiple scale) random rough surfaces. The rough surfaces are assumed to be characterized by the Pieson-Moskowitz spectral density function. To account for the surface undulations, the incoherent radar cross sections are obtained by regarding the composite rough surface as an ensemble of pixels of arbitrary orientation     

Electromagnetic scattering from slightly rough surfaces withinhomogeneous dielectric profiles

Remote sensing of soil moisture using microwave sensors require accurate and realistic scattering models for rough soil surfaces. In the past, much effort has been devoted to the development of scattering models for either perfectly conducting or homogeneous rough surfaces. In practice, however, the permittivity of most soil surfaces is nonuniform, particularly in depth, for which analytical solution does not exist. The variations in the permittivity of a soil medium can easily be related to its soil moisture profile and soil type using the existing empirical models. In this paper, analytical expressions for the bistatic scattering coefficients of soil surfaces with slightly rough interface and stratified permittivity profile are derived. The scattering formulation is based on a new approach where the perturbation expansion of the volumetric polarization current instead of the tangential fields is used to obtain the scattered field. Basically, the top rough layer is replaced with an equivalent polarization current and, using the volumetric integral equation in conjunction with the dyadic Green's function of the remaining stratified half-space medium, the scattering problem is formulated. Closed-form analytical expressions for the induced polarization currents to any desired order are derived, which are then used to evaluate the bistatic scattered fields up to and including the third order. The analytical solutions for the scattered fields are used to derive the complete second-order expressions for the backscattering coefficients as well as the statistics of phase difference between the scattering matrix elements. The theoretical results are shown to agree well with the backscatter measurements of rough surfaces with known dielectric profiles and roughness statistics     

THz全尺寸凸体粗糙目标雷达回波散射建模与成像仿真

回波仿真是研究雷达成像体制、算法及后续应用的前提条件,目标散射建模又是回波仿真的重要一环。在THz频段,目标常常具有超电大尺寸,这使得利用经典电磁计算方法面临现实困难。而波长的减小使得目标表面粗糙起伏成为不能忽略的因素,这使得传统基于点散射模型的回波生成手段难以适用。如何对目标进行THz散射建模及高效的雷达回波生成成为亟待解决的问题。该文提出了基于面片分级的半确定性建模方法,采用粗糙面全波法计算面片的散射场,再将各面片散射场转换至目标坐标系并相干叠加得到带有相位信息的雷达回波。利用小尺寸粗糙模型,通过与高频数值方法进行对比,验证了该文方法的有效性,并给出了全尺寸锥体的成像结果。初步解决了THz频段全尺寸凸体粗糙目标散射建模及回波生成问题,为后续成像体制和算法研发打下了基础。      

Backscattering from a randomly rough dielectric surface

A backscattering model for scattering from a randomly rough dielectric surface is developed. Both like- and cross-polarized scattering coefficients are obtained. The like-polarized scattering coefficients contain single scattering terms and multiple scattering terms. The single scattering terms are shown to reduce to the first-order solutions derived from the small perturbation method when the roughness parameters satisfy the slightly rough conditions. When surface roughnesses are large but the surface slope is small, only a single scattering term corresponding to the standard Kirchhoff model is significant. If the surface slope is large, the multiple scattering term will also be significant. The cross-polarized backscattering coefficients satisfy reciprocity and contain only multiple scattering terms. The difference between vertical and horizontal scattering coefficients increases with the dielectric constant and is generally smaller than that predicted by the first-order small perturbation model. Good agreements are obtained between this model and measurements from statistically known surfaces     

Depolarization of EM waves by slightly rough surfaces

Depolarization is obtained for the scattering of electromagnetic waves from a slightly rough surface using Rice's theory. In the plane of incidence, depolarization is a second-order effect. The results are applied to backscattering from a slightly rough sea using the Neumann spectrum for a fully developed sea. The expression for the depolarized scattered power is of the form obtained in multiple scattering investigations. Therefore, it can be inferred that depolarization from slightly rough surfaces is due to multiple scattering. For the sea, depolarization increases with wind speed and with the magnitude of the complex dielectric constant of the surface.     

分层粗糙面下方介质目标散射的快速算法

为快速获取分层粗糙面与下方介质目标的复合电磁散射特性,提出了一种基于前后向迭代算法(FBM)和双共轭梯度法(Bi-CG)的快速互耦迭代算法。推导了一维分层粗糙面与下方介质目标(二维散射问题)的耦合边界积分方程组,用FBM求解分层粗糙面的表面积分方程,而用Bi-CG求解目标的表面积分方程,目标和粗糙面的相互耦合作用通过更新两方程的激励项来迭代求解。应用该算法计算了下方存在介质目标时双层介质粗糙面的双站散射系数,与传统矩量法得到的结果相吻合,验证了该算法的正确性;分析了不同极化波入射时该算法的收敛性,讨论了目标尺寸和位置变化对双站散射系数的影响。     

Scattering cross sections for composite rough surfaces using the unified full wave approach

The full wave approach is used to derive a unified formulation for the like and cross polarized scattering cross sections of composite rough surfaces for all angles of incidence. Earlier solutions for electromagnetic scattering by composite random rough surfaces are based on two-scale models of the rough surface. Thus, on applying a hybrid approach physical optics theory is used to account for specular scattering associated with a filtered surface (consisting of the large sonic spectral components of the surface) while perturbation theory is used to account for Bragg scattering associated with the surface consisting of the small scale spectral components. Since the full wave approach accounts for both specular point scattering and Bragg scattering in a self-consistent manner, the two-scale model of the rough surface is not adopted in this work. These unified full wave solutions are compared with the earlier solutions and the simplifying assumptions that are common to all the earlier solutions are examined. It is shown that while the full wave solutions for the like polarized scattering cross sections based on the two-scale model are in reasonably good agreement with the unified full wave solutions, the two solutions for the cross polarized cross sections differ very significantly.     

Short-pulse three-dimensional scattering from moderately rough surfaces: a comparison between narrow-waisted Gaussian beam algorithms and FDTD

In this paper, with reference to short-pulse three-dimensional scattering from moderately rough surfaces, we present a comparison between Gabor-based narrow-waisted Gaussian beam (NW-GB) and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithms. NW-GB algorithms have recently emerged as an attractive alternative to traditional (ray-optical) high-frequency/short-pulse approximate methods, whereas FDTD algorithms are well-established full-wave tools for electromagnetic wave propagation and scattering. After presentation of relevant background material, results are presented and discussed for realistic parameter configurations, involving dispersive soils and moderately rough surface profiles, of interest in pulsed ground penetrating radar applications. Results indicate a generally satisfying agreement between the two methods, which tends to improve for slightly dispersive soils. Computational aspects are also compared.     

Mueller matrix calculation for a slab of random medium with bothrandom rough surfaces and discrete particles

A model for a slab of random medium containing both random rough surfaces and discrete scatterers is presented in this paper. The refractive indices of the surrounding media are different from the background refractive index of the random medium. Kirchhoff rough surface theory is used to derive the transmittivity and reflectivity matrices for the scattering of electromagnetic waves from the rough surfaces. These matrices are used to determine a pair of boundary conditions for the vector radiative transfer equation. The multiple scattering due to the discrete scatterers is computed by solving the radiative transfer equation numerically, including the rough surface scattering effect. Mueller matrices characterizing the random medium are constructed from the scattered Stokes vectors due to four independent polarized incident waves. The Mueller matrices are found to have symmetrical properties, and there are eight nonvanishing matrix elements