Electromagnetic Scattering by Multiple Columns Partially Buried in a Ground Plane

Abstract

Wideband electromagnetic scattering from multiple objects partially buried beneath rough earth soil surfaces is an important topic during recent years due to its extensive applications in several fields, such as ground remote sensing, ground penetrating radar applications, and target identification. Due to the advantages of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method in calculating the wideband electromagnetic scattering from rough surface in the presence of multiple objects, the FDTD method under ultrawideband (UWB) Gaussian pulse wave incidence is utilized in the present study for analyzing the frequency response of rough soil surfaces with periodically distributed multiple rectangular cross-section columns buried partially. In this paper, the dielectric property of the actual land surface is expressed using the four-component model, and the actual rough land surface is simulated utilizing Monte Carlo method with exponential correlation function. The emphasis of the present study is on analyzing the wideband response signatures of composite backscattering coefficient varying with frequency on the basis of extensive numerical simulations, in particular for calculating and discussing in detail the influence of the root-mean-square height and the correlation length of rough soil surface, soil moisture, the length and the width of the rectangular cross-section column, separation distance, burial depth, and tilt angle on the composite backscattering coefficient.