On the Modeling of the Bistatic Coherent Scattering from a Rough Surface

In this contribution, we investigate on the coherent bistatic scattering generated by a radar system when illuminating a rough surface. Moving from the well-known scattering theory based on the Kirchhoff approximation, we propose an extended formulation of the Fung-Eom model, by introducing a higher order expansion on the phase term of the impinging spherical wave. We demonstrate and discuss the importance of such correction for the accurate characterization of the coherent scattering generated in bistatic radar system. We give insight, for the first time, on the role played by both the antenna pattern and the wavefront sphericity in bistatic scattering in the whole incidence plane, not limiting the analysis to the backscattering and specular directions. This is particularly important for practical applications, such as the modeling of the scattering generated by sources of opportunity.