Detection of a buried object under a single random rough surface with angular correlation function in EM wave scattering

Detection of a buried object with an electromagnetic wave is often obscured by the scattering of the random rough surface above the buried object. Recent studied show that by taking statistical averages, the angular correlation function of scattering by random rough surfaces is small except along the memory line governed by the incident and scattered angles. In this article we study the angular correlation function of the scattering of electromagnetic waves by a buried object under a single random rough surface. Because the buried object is positioned under a single random rough surface, the angular correlation function is calculated with frequency averaging. Numerical results show that the frequency-averaged angular correlation function still exhibits the memory line. It is also shown that the angular correlation function away from the memory line will suppress the rough surface scattering and make the buried object scattering more conspicuous by a relative magnitude of as large as 23 dB. Thus, the use of the angular correlation function will give better detection of a buried object than scattering intensity.