This Engineering Research Equipment Grant will enable field experiments to be performed for studying the decorrelation characteristics of radar reflected signals from various terrain targets. The proposed system consists of a portable microwave network analyzer configured as a short-range radar system, and a dynamic signal analyzer for baseband signal processing and analysis. The temporal and/or spatial decorrelation data will be gathered at various frequencies, polarizations, incidence angles, and antenna beamwidths, under varied ground-truth conditions. Simple models will also be developed in order to predict the decorrelation time/distance based on measured ground-truth parameters, and compared to measured data. The research is expected to have an impact on target identification and terrain classification for both military and commercial applications.
