Clairvoyant radar sea clutter covariance matrix modelling

Closed form expressions are derived for the calculation of the clairvoyant covariance matrix for radar sea clutter arising from individual clutter components with Gaussian spectra. Two forms are presented corresponding to a power series expansion of a sinc2 antenna gain pattern and a Gaussian approximation to the mainlobe of the antenna pattern. The variation of covariance matrix eigenvalues due to factors such as coherent processing interval, spectra bandwidth, centre frequency and relative power is examined.