Modeling radar propagation in three-dimensional environments

Abstract

APL's Tropospheric Electromagnetic Parabolic Equation Routine (TEMPER) was developed with the assumption that the terrain/ocean surface along the great circle connecting the source (radar) and the receiver (target) varies only in the range dimension. The lateral (cross-range) variations of the terrain are ignored in TEMPER. The main advantage of this assumption is that it greatly enhances the computational efficiency of the propagation model; however, it neglects the out-of-plane scattering and diffraction effects associated with lateral variations in the realistic terrain. In this article we report on the use of full three-dimensional propagation simulations to assess the impact of these out-of-plane effects on radar coverage, both in urban environments and over realistic two-dimensional digital terrain maps.